Context: Cultivation of ‘monk fruit’ from China has started in Kullu, Himachal Pradesh. The fruit was introduced for field trials in Himachal Pradesh by Palampur-based Council of Scientific Research and Industrial Technology-Institute of Himalayan Bio-resource Technology (CSIR-IHBT).
About Monk fruit 

• It is known for its properties as a non-caloric natural sweetener. The sweet taste of monk fruit is because of the content of a group of cucurbitane-type triterpene glycosides called mogrosides.
• It is about 300 times sweeter than sucrose or cane sugar.

Benefits

• It can help in preventing life-threatening diseases such as insulin resistance, Type 2 diabetes, liver problems, metabolic syndrome, heart disease, etc.
• As per the world health organization, (WHO) report, worldwide 346 million people are diabetic. 
• Several synthetic sweeteners of low calorific value still have health hazards due to harmful side effects, this can be a better replacement.
• This can help in exports as the demand for monk fruit is gradually increasing in the international market, as of now, only China is producing it. 

Naming

• Monk Fruit gets its name from the Buddhist monks who first used it. During the 20th century, Professor GW Groff had also made an unsuccessful attempt to grow the Monk plant because flowers did not appear.

Environmental Conditions

• It is a perennial crop having a life span ranging between four to five years and its fruiting starts eight to nine months after germination.
• The plant prefers mountainous areas with an annual mean temperature of about 16–20 °C and humid conditions.

Seed germination rate of monk fruit is slow and low

• Flowering pattern, pollination behaviour and fruit setting time were also documented in order to draw the complete life-cycle of monk fruit in agro-climatic conditions of the region.