Government teacher Kishan Singh in Chandaliya village of Jodhpur's Tivari tehsil has earned a large profit by organically cultivating castor crops in a water-scarce dark zone region. Kishan Singh was selected for the post of a second-grade teacher in 2023 and manages farming alongside his government job. His family owns a total of 64 bighas of land.

Overcoming water scarcity and high salinity

The groundwater level in the local area has continuously dropped, and borewell water is currently found at a depth of exceeding 800 feet, which also has high salinity. Despite these difficult circumstances, he cultivated castor on 22 bighas of land last year. This generated an income of about 12 lakh rupees, and after expenses of 3 to 3.25 lakh rupees, resulted in a net savings of 8.75 to 9 lakh rupees.

Expanding cultivation and market rates

Seeing the good profits from the crop, the area under castor cultivation has been increased from 22 bighas to 40 bighas this year. In the market, the Myco-419 variety of castor seed is available for up to 570 rupees per kg, and overall seeds sell for 500 to 600 rupees per kg. Additionally, the market price of castor has been recorded between 5,500 rupees and 8,900 rupees per quintal.