Butterfly Pea Blossoms Turn Into New Cash Crop

A humble blue flower is quietly remaking livelihoods across parts of India. What used to climb wild through hedges is now being harvested, dried and sold as tea and a natural dye — and some farmers are seeing real money from it. In Assam, Nilam Brahma discovered the value of butterfly pea two years ago when village women started selling the blooms. A first sale of about $50 (£37) convinced her to invest further. With a small loan she bought solar dryers to speed up drying, protect the colour and meet buyers’ quality expectations. The plant, known locally as aparajita, has long been common in Asia. Thailand and Indonesia are the biggest growers, but demand is rising worldwide as consumers favour natural ingredients and regulators tighten rules on synthetic dyes. The US approved the flower as a food additive in 2021, while European authorities raised safety questions in 2022; both the EU and UK currently treat it as a “novel” food, so broader use still needs clear approvals. Indian entrepreneurs and exporters are trying to turn that interest into local business. Varshika Reddy of THS Impex is building supply chains, signing contracts with farmer clusters, and offering agronomy advice to improve yields and quality. Nitesh Singh, who launched Blue Tea in 2018, began by importing flowers because local supplies were poor. Over seven years, he’s gone from five growers to 600, teaching farmers how to select varieties with more petals and pigment so the colour survives drying. Women have played a central role in the transformation. Their delicate touch makes them well suited to plucking fragile blooms, and many of the early processing tasks are undertaken by women. Drying is another critical step: too much heat ruins the colour and medicinal qualities, so controlled, low-temperature drying is key. There are early signs the crop can be more than ornamental. A small human study led by V. Supriya in Chennai suggested butterfly pea tea might help with blood sugar control in people with pre-diabetes, though researchers caution that larger trials are still needed. For growers like Pushpal Biswas in West Bengal, butterfly pea has become a reliable alternative when rice and vegetables weren’t selling. Improved methods have lifted his yields, allowed him to lease more land and knit nearby villages into a commercial network. The opportunity is clear, but so are the obstacles: inconsistent plant varieties, patchy standards, no formal pricing or government classification and pending regulatory approvals overseas. If those pieces fall into place, a once-overlooked garden flower could become a genuine rural income stream. --- Managing your business finances? TaxAce provides smart online accountancy services for UK businesses with flexible monthly plans. Image and reporting: https://www.bbc.co.uk | Read original article