05 February 2022, Indore: A group of farmers from Kathora village near Mandaleshwar, Khargone district in Madhya Pradesh decided to take up medicinal crop Kalonji (Black Cumin) in order to improve their income from agriculture. They started with forming a group in order to put in collective effort to research on crop selection, finding the best package of practice, harvesting and even finding the market to sell their produce. With this effort, they unlocked a fortune which has inspired many farmers from the nearby villages.
Tilok Yadav, a progressive farmer of village Kathora, near Mandleshwar road, 6 km from Kasrawad in Khargone district, told Krishak Jagat that 7-8 farmers of the local community from the village tried to take Kalonji crop for the first time in their fields by forming an informal group. They were inspired by a farmer Raghuram Yadav who produced 4 quintals of Kalonji from one acre of land and had a net profit of about Rs.65 thousand.
Speaking on the current crops in his field, Yadav said “Apart from sugarcane, dollar chana (gram) in his 12-acre field, Kalonji was planted in 3 acres on 24th November last year. Currently, the crop is in good condition and production is expected to be 10 -12 quintals. The price of Kalonji ranges from 18 to 25 thousand rupees per quintal. Neemuch Mandi is a suitable market for this crop. Another medicinal crop, Ashwagandha has also been planted in half an acre as an experiment.”
This group of farmers was formed 6 months ago. Now the farmers are in the process of getting their group registered formally. The farmers hope to get good benefit from medicinal crops and reduce field crops slowly to get more benefit.
