Guar or cluster bean (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub) is a drought-tolerant annual legume crop. Guar is being grown in India since ancient time and the Tender Green Guar is an important source of nutrition to animals and humans and is consumed as a vegetable and cattle feed The Guar legume plant is an agricultural product grown in arid zones of west and North West India and parts of Pakistan.

India accounts for 80% of the total guar produced in the world and 70% is cultivated in Rajasthan. Apart from Rajasthan, it is being grown mainly in Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab. It is also grown in some parts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Global Scenario

Pakistan, Sudan and parts of USA are the other major Guar growing countries. 75% of the Guar Gums or their derivatives produced in India are exported mainly to USA and European countries. The value added derivatives of Guar Powder are used by the various industries in India as well as abroad

Geographic/Agronomic suitability

Guar grows best in sandy soils and it needs moderate, intermittent rainfall with lots of sunshine. Too much precipitation can cause the plants to become more leafy, thereby reducing the number of pods and/or the number of seeds per pod which affects the size and yield of the seeds. Guar is a rain fed monsoon crop, which requires 8-15 inch of rain in 3-4 spell and is generally sown after the monsoon rainfall in the second half of July to early August and is harvested in October - November. Guar requires 2 rainfalls before sowing, one rainfall when the crop buds and one rainfall when the crop comes up well and blossoming starts.

Guar is a photosensitive crop and it comes into flowering and fruiting when sown in Kharif season only. Small plants are either uprooted or cut from the stem and kept in open for sun drying. Seeds are then taken out of beans either mechanically or manually at farm level

The Guar has the properties to regenerate soil nitrogen and the endosperm of guar seed is an important hydrocolloid widely used across a broad spectrum of industries.

Guar Production

Rajasthan accounts for 70% of the Guar Seed cultivation. The year wise details of Guar production along with the other details are listed in the table below:

* The details are for the state of Rajasthan. Source: NABARD @ Assumption of 70% of the crop production is from Rajasthan. ^ Estimated at current market value of Rs 1100 per quintal

The Processes

Guar Seed -The pods are sun dried, manually separated from the seeds and the seeds are supplied to the industry for processing. Guar By-products, viz, Churi and Korma are used for Cattle feed. Undehusked Guar Splits -The gum is commercially extracted from the seeds essentially by a mechanical process of roasting, differential attrition, sieving and polishing. The seeds are broken and the germ is separated from the endosperm. Two halves of the endosperm are obtained from each seed and are known as Undehusked Guar Splits. Refined Guar Splits -When the fine layer of fibrous material, which forms the husk, is removed and separated from the endosperm halves by polishing, Refined Guar Splits are obtained. Gaur Powder - The refined Guar Splits are then treated and finished into powders by a variety of routes and processing techniques depending upon the end product desired.

Guar Extracts
Extracts from Guar seed accounts for Guar Split/Gum- 29% (+/- 4% variance). The ratio of Churi and Korma varies from 30% to 41% depending upon the quality of the seed. While Split/Gum is further refined to Guar Powder, Churi and Korma are used as Cattle Feed.

Pricing Pattern
Guar seed has shelf life of more than 3 years without losing out on any of its properties or qualities. It requires the barest minimum maintenance and handling environment. The price range of Guar seed ranges from Rs 850/- per qtl to Rs 6500/- qtl.

Market Estimate
The following chart indicates the daily price of Guar Seed in Bikaner market for the last three years. Based on the prevailing market price, the cost and volume of trade of the potential Guar market has been arrived at based on the 2003-04 estimated production of 85.7 lac quintals of Guar seeds and is valued at Rs 1002.83 crores.

Product	Approx %	Price per qtl	Quantity estimate (lakh quintals)	Amount (Rs crore)
Churi	30	Rs 520	25.71	133.69
Korma	37	Rs 625	31.71	198.19
Split/Gum	29	Rs 2700	24.85	670.95
Total				1002.83

The value chain
The flow of the value chain for Guar Seed is as follows:

Properties of Guar Powder

Guar Gum Refine Splits is the sole raw material for processing Guar Gum Powder for pharmaceutical and Food grade material. The properties of Guar Powder, which make it useful in various applications, are:

Easy solubility in cold and hot wate Film forming property Resistance to oils, greases and solvent Better thickening agent Water binding capacity High viscosity Functioning at low temperatures

Various Industrial applications of Guar Powder