Castor cultivation-an approach to get sustainable income under rainfed condition

The main focus of the present study was to assess the effect of cultivation of improved castor variety YTP 1 as pure crop under rainfed ecosystem in Tiruchirappalli district, Tamil Nadu. ICAR-Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Sirugamani, Tiruchirappalli district, Tamil Nadu introduced high yielding improved variety castor YTP 1 as pure crop through demonstrations in 4.0 ha (10 demonstrations). Interview schedule and focus group discussions were used on one hundred respondents randomly selected in the study area. The demonstrations were conducted during kharif season of 2019. Trainings on seed to seed castor cultivation techniques were imparted to selected farmers. Source seed (certified seed 1) was given to the farmers for sowing. Frequent field visits and inspections were made by the KVK scientists. The farmers harvested a castor yield of 12.7 q/ha from YTP 1 variety compared to 10.3 q/ha using inferior quality castor seed. There was a gross margin of Rs 1, 60, 625 per hectare and average cost-benefit ratio of 1: 2.28 due to YTP 1 variety. It was noticed that more yield and easy marketing were influencing factors for higher profitability of castor cultivation. The study concluded that the respondents preferred high yielding varieties like YTP 1 over local varieties.