Uttarakhand’s spiritual solution to stem migration – Rudraksh farming

Uttarakhand's spiritual solution to stem migration – Rudraksh farming What makes Rudraksh a viable option is that it addresses a number of difficulties that mar other crops: It is not eaten by wildlife, requires little maintenance, and has a sizeable domestic and export market.

Key points

• 7 min read Dehradun Sep 18, 2026 06: 35 PM IST First published on: Sep 18, 2026 at 05: 20 AM IST.
• Uttarakhand's proposed growing zone – 500 to 1, 800 metres high with 22-35°C average temperature, and 1, 000-2, 200mm of rainfall – falls within a comparable range.
• The report estimates that a hill migrant working in a city typically saves Rs 10, 000 to Rs 15, 000 a month.
• The delegation included Upadhyay, Rudraksh expert Prince Agrawal, and Ramesh Singh Pal, a senior agricultural scientist.
• Speaking to The Indian Express, Pal remarked, Our villages in Uttarakhand have become ghost villages.

For a state touted as Dev Bhoomi (land of the Gods), Uttarakhand is not alien to the significance of Rudraksh – the seed applied to produce prayer beads and is revered by Hindus and Buddhists.

Now, the state administration has aims to channelise these particularly beads to stem a challenge that it has been battling for decades: Migration, especially from the hill districts.

As part of an effort to create new income sources in these districts, the Uttarakhand administration has directed its Horticulture Department to draw up a formal cultivation policy for Rudraksh.

Notably, the instruction came in a notification on August 31. Signed by Under Secretary Sandeep Sharma of the state's Agriculture and Farmers Welfare department, and addressed to the Director of Horticulture and Food Processing, the letter instructed the authorities to study a proposal "on cultivation methods, farm management, post-harvest processing, marketing and soil suitability". It asked the department to "submit a clear proposal to the government as soon as possible."

For context, the letter follows a request from Tehri MLA Kishore Upadhyay to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, and a four-member administration delegation's visit to Nepal in March to study Rudraksh cultivation there.

Notably, the delegation included Upadhyay, Rudraksh expert Prince Agrawal, and Ramesh Singh Pal, a senior agricultural scientist. The group's findings are laid out in a 197-page technical report and an accompanying presentation, 'Strategic Introduction of Rudraksha Cultivation in Uttarakhand', presented to CM Dhami, in July.

Uttarakhand's hill districts have long been losing residents to Dehradun, Delhi and other cities – a trend the state's own migration commission has tracked and attributed, in part, to a lack of viable income from agriculture, crop damage from wildlife, and fragmented landholdings.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Pal remarked, "Our villages in Uttarakhand have become ghost villages. It's happening since there is simply nothing there. The land is just lying empty."

In practice, the expert team's presentation to the administration frames "the wildlife menace, " "fragmented, low-yield holdings" and "lack of cash-generating assets" as the core drivers of migration from the hills. It describes Rudraksh as a crop that addresses each of these challenges: It is not eaten by wildlife, requires little maintenance once established, and has a substantial, and mostly unmet, domestic and export market.

Much of the case for the project rests on demand from China. It the presentation identifies as the world's largest importer of Rudraksh. Citing customs data, the report states that China accounts for 63.7% of total recorded Rudraksh exports, followed by the United States at 19.3%.

In practice, a table in the presentation estimates China's 2025 Rudraksha imports, sourced mainly from Nepal's collector and raw-bead trade, at $100, 800, 000 – roughly five times India's own import bill of $20, 140, 000, more than 95% of which, the presentation states, comes from Indonesia and Nepal.

Pal stated a specific example from the delegation's trip to illustrate the scale of that market: "We went to Nepal and saw a 29-mukhi Rudraksh there ourselves." Referring to the bead with 29 lobes or ridges – a rare variety, he remarked, "A single piece is for concerning Rs 1.5 crore. China imports more of this than India does."

Notably, the presentation notes that large-scale commercial production of Rudraksh is at present dominated by Nepal and Indonesia, and argues that Uttarakhand. It shares similar soil and climate conditions with Nepal's growing regions, has not yet captured any share of that trade.

"China is buying a lot of Rudraksh since it has both religious and medicinal uses there. There are different rituals and traditions in which Rudraksh is applied, and residents additionally wear it as a necklace, considering it sacred. They have their own traditions and monasteries where it is believed in and applied, " stated scientist Pal.

It additionally has medicinal value in Ayurveda. "Some people believe that using water in which Rudraksh has been soaked helps with skin ailments and other health problems, " remarked Pal.

Besides China, the bead is in demand in Singapore and Japan. "Followers believe it brings prosperity and well being, " remarked Singh. Lessons from Nepal trip.

Notably, the team visited Bhetedhar and Dingla in Nepal's Bhojpur district from March 23 to 29 and collected soil samples for comparison against sites in Tehri Garhwal, Rishikesh, Haridwar's Chilla forest range, and the Mansa Devi and Manokamna temple areas of Uttarakhand.

According to the presentation, Nepal's Rudraksh belt sits between 600 and 2, 000 metres in altitude, with average temperatures of 25-30°C and annual rainfall of 1, 500-2, 500mm. Uttarakhand's proposed growing zone – 500 to 1, 800 metres high with 22-35°C average temperature, and 1, 000-2, 200mm of rainfall – falls within a comparable range.

"The comparative soil analysis indicates that Uttarakhand soils are largely suitable for Rudraksh cultivation and comparable to Nepalese growing regions, " the presentation remarked.

Based on those findings, the presentation listed Pauri, Tehri, Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Almora and Bageshwar as "high potential" districts for plantation, and Nainital, Champawat, Pithoragarh and the hill areas of Dehradun as that of "moderate potential."

Pal additionally triggered concern concerning challenges that have affected earlier, less organised attempts to grow Rudraksh in the state. He remarked a similar-looking but different species, known as Bhadraksh, is often mistaken for or substituted for genuine Rudraksh.

"The two are entirely different species – same genus, but Bhadraksh grows in Rudraksh's place in a lot of areas. In the early stage, the sapling looks exactly like a Rudraksh plant. After fruiting starts, two or four years in, that you can tell the difference, " he went on, it's only afterwards.

Herein lies another difficulty that the report additionally acknowledges: Rudraksh trees do not commence fruiting for six to eight years, and take concerning 10 years to reach peak production stage.

Notably, the report estimates that a hill migrant working in a city typically saves Rs 10, 000 to Rs 15, 000 a month. By comparison, it states, a single mature Rudraksh tree can produce 1, 000 to 2, 000 beads a year, which, at a conservative wholesale cost of Rs 10-20 per bead for the common five-faced variety, would generate Rs10, 000 to Rs 40, 000 annually per tree. As the report notes, a family managing 20 mature trees could earn Rs 2 lakh to Rs 8 lakh a year.

To cover the years before the trees commence bearing fruit, the plan proposes using the Centre's rural employment guarantee scheme to fund labour for digging pits, planting and fencing for the first three years. The Horticulture Department would supply saplings for free or at subsidised rates for the purpose, it adds.

As the report notes, pays significantly more than selling raw beads, a afterwards phase calls for training women's self-help groups in cleaning, grading and oiling harvested beads, and training young residents in stringing prayer beads, silver-capping and packaging – work that.

In practice, the report sets a target of 10, 000 hectares under Rudraksh cultivation by 2047, with 10 million trees planted, 50, 000 to 70, 000 farmers involved, and up to 150, 000 rural jobs created. © The Indian Express Pvt Ltd. An Award-winning journalist covering the state of Uttarakhand, Vidheesha Kuntamalla.

In short, uttarakhand's spiritual solution to stem migration is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.