A Fast Growing Widely Adapted Tree Providing Food, Medicines, and Safe Pesticides
Azadirachta indica, translates as "flourishing tree from India", an accurate description of this fast growing and valuable multi purpose tree.
This widely adapted, vigorous specie has many attributes and uses, being a true biochemical production facility -- hundreds of active compounds are produced with a wide range of useful medicinal and pesticidal activities.
You can read the National Academy of Sciences "Neem, a Tree for Solving Global Problems" online for free.
Twenty foot tall Neem tree with two seasons of growth in the desert
Commercial Potential
Many Neem products are currently found in the natural products marketplace, making it a good candidate for commercial production of ingredients plus processing into several finished products.
Curently products include Neem leaf powder, capsules, teas, extracts, Neem oil, toothpaste, cosmetics, skin care, shampoo, veterinary products, with others waiting to be developed. LBCAS has extensive experience with Neem product development and can assist in formulation and processing methods.
LBCAS assists with all aspects of Neem production, including providing plant material, sustainable and organic cultivation methods, plus processing and finished product development. Commercial quantities of Neem tree plant material available with contract propagation.
Neem leaf powder, very high in bioactive compounds
Uses
Young leaves are used for food, including Neem leaf chutney in India. Contains many valuable active compounds having antibacterial, antiviral, anti-diabetic, ant-inflammatory, anti-ulcer, anti-cancer, relaxant, and several other activities. Neem oil and leaf are used topically for many dermatological disorders including psoriasis with a high rate of success. (Neem oil should never be used internally).
Neem has so many medicinal uses, it is known as the "village chemist" (pharmacy) in India due to its wide range of uses. The oil is also effective for safe elimination of parasites of the skin and hair for humans and animals. The tree is used extensively in the Indian system of Ayurvedic medicine.
Neem oil has strong insecticidal properties and is found in many safe pesticides currently in widespread use for large scale organic and conventional agriculture. Due to the wide range of compounds, insect resistance is not encountered. Oil and leaf powder can be utilized for on-site pesticide production for organic and sustainable farms.
The leaf powder and oil are effective for mosquito borne malaria control. Neem oil kills mosquito larvae in water, and can be used on mosquito nets as an effective repellant. This provides a true village level solution, as malaria kills 1-3 million a year, mostly young children.
Neem tree at Upper Meherabad, Maharashtra, India
Adaptation and Production
The tree is widely adapted and tolerates both wet and dry conditions, in soils ranging from very acidic to very alkaline. It is capable of withstanding the highest temperatures of the worlds deserts, and uses relatively little water. Excellent for deep nutrient cycling. Adapted to tropical and sub tropical conditions to USDA Zone 9.
Vegetative material is produced in close hedgerows, coppiced several times per year to obtain high yeild leaf and stem material. Trees are grown farther apart and allowed to flower for seed and oil production. It is a very fast growing tree, which can produce 10 feet of growth in one season. Excellent in sustainable mixed cropping and multi level agroforestry systems with efficient water usage in dry and desert areas.
India has a long standing tradition of saints living under Neem trees, such as the famous Hazrat Babajan of Pune.
Hazrat Babajan living under her Neem tree in the cantonment area of Pune, Maraharashtra, India.
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