Department of Agronomy, C.S. Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur – 208 002, Uttar Pradesh.
To find the role of castor seed in farmers’ economy, the present study has measured the benefits to castor growers during the agricultural year 2005–06, using the multistage random sampling technique for selecting the block, village and castor growers in the district Kanpur. A total of 30 castor growers (12 small and 18 marginal) were selected randomly from 5 castor growing villages selected randomly in the block Sarsaul. The compound growth rate analysis of castor crop has been carried for one decade (1994–2004) on five-year interval basis. During 1994–1998, the compound growth rate of area has shown a negative trend, (−) 1.7 per cent per annum, while production and productivity increased @ 0.14 per cent and 1.76 per cent per annum, respectively. During 1999–2004, the area and production have both depicted a decrease with (−) 7.21 per cent and (−) 6.12 per cent per annum, while productivity has shown a positive trend of 1.20 per cent per annum. The average yield of castor crop has been recorded quite high (25.22 q/ha) due to better irrigation and input substitution at samples farmsin the study area. The net income of Rs 22,766/ha has been noticed from the sole castor crop, depicting a return of 2.5-times on investment. The intercropping of chilli with castor has been found quite attractive economically, and has yielded almost three times higher returns than those provided by sole castor crop. It has been due to lower input costs and higher yield obtained in castor+chilli intercropping system. The study has revealed that instability in prices and inefficient marketing are the major drawbacks in the extension of area and production of castor crop. A better policy support for price and efficient marketing system would encourage the farmers to grow more castor under the umbrella of assured price policy and structure.
