Bhuvan Bhaskar
Farming has become a new status symbol as well as a lucrative career option these days. After taking higher degrees in studies, now a long list of youths who have chosen agriculture as their career has been prepared.
These youth can be divided into two categories- one, those who are doing entrepreneurship only related to agriculture and second, those who are doing their own farming and also doing their marketing to sell their products. Although both the categories are full of youth, but still every new youth, who wants to make a career in agriculture, it is very necessary to do homework before taking the first step in this regard.
What home work should a young man who wants to make agriculture a career ask him – this is the most important question. First of all it is necessary to decide which crop to cultivate. The crop should be selected on the basis of where its market is located and how it is priced relative to the cost.
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It is also important to know what kind of land is needed for it, how much water is required etc. In this context, for many people who are currently doing a job or any business, the cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants can be a great option. In this article, we will discuss about the cultivation of these crops and look at the essential elements and pre-preparation for this.
Dozens of crops come under medicinal and aromatic plants, among which lemongram, khus, mentha, etc. are to name a few. The cultivation of all these crops has different advantages and different characteristics. Whoever wants to cultivate them, he should understand these characteristics and choose one, two or more crops according to his circumstances.
For example, sowing of lemongram is done for 5 years at a time. After this, after about 6 months when the plants are big, its first harvesting is done. This harvesting is done from about 6 inches above the roots and in 3-4 months these plants are ready for harvesting again. These plants can be harvested with a single sowing for the next 5 years. The period of preparation of plants for harvesting depends on how fertile the land is or how much water the plants receive.
The cultivation of khus (vetiver) is also similar, but their specialty is that they can grow on barren and sandy soils. Soil erosion can be prevented by planting them on the banks of ponds also. While lemongrass is cultivated for its leaves, its roots are used in khus. The khus has to be sown every year and it is harvested after a year. Its roots are very hard and deep into the ground. For this, JCB has to be used, so harvesting of khus is a costly affair.
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The farmers of both lemongram and khus have two options after harvesting. Either he can sell those leaves to a trader, or he can set up his own distillation plant and extract their oil. For maximum profit, the farmer should always extract the oil himself.
There are three benefits of extracting oil- first, it is easy to store. While selling the leaves or roots from 10 acres of farmland may involve huge warehousing and logistics costs, the oil after it is extracted can be easily stored in a drum in any corner of your home.
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The second advantage is the pricing. The oils of the aromatic plants are used in soaps, perfumes, mosquito repellants, etc. Their prices are highly volatile and sometimes one may have to wait two to three years for the price to move to higher levels. Lemongrass leaves cannot be stored for that long and the warehousing cost of keeping poppy roots can be high. But you can keep the oil for years.
The third advantage is the price. The price obtained by selling the leaves or roots is much less than that of oil.
One of the major advantages of cultivating aromatic plants is that it requires little to no maintenance. Plants like lemongram and khus need attention only 2-3 months after sowing, when the plants are small and tender. As soon as it grows a little, where lemongram gets a strong smell, while the leaves of khus develop thornyness. Due to this, these plants automatically become safe from animals.
For the cultivation of any medicinal or aromatic plant, the farmer must first get proper training. The best place for this is the headquarters of CIMAP (Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants) located in Lucknow, where training classes of three days are held several times a year. Information regarding this is published on the website of the Institute, from where registration can also be done. The special feature of this training is that after the end of the class, all the participants are given a booklet, in which all the information related to the cultivation of various plants, industrial buyers of different types of oils and their complete contact will also be given. Is.
Although there are many avenues for the entry of newcomers in agriculture, but the introduction of them through aromatic plants is quite interesting. You can choose any path according to your interest, but before that there should be no shortage in homework – this is the most important formula for success in farming.
(The author is a specialist in economic and agricultural matters)
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