Status from Castor Seed Purchasers to Seed Producers

A Success Story from Andhra Pradesh

Abstract

India is the world’s largest producer of castor. In India, the crop is mostly confined to Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karna taka. Of late it has spread across Rajasthan, Bihar, Maharashtra, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh etc. Annually the crop is raised over an area of 7.5 lakh hectares with a turn over of 7.7 lakh tones (Annual Progress Report on Castor, 2000-01). In India, Gujarat is at the forefront in the commercial exploitation of hybrid vigour and stands first in the spread of hybrid castor while other varieties are grown predominantly in Andhra Pradesh. Castor is raised in Andhra Pradesh over an area of 3 lakh hectares and the produce is 0.8 to 1 lakh tonnes an nu al ly. Castor is the poor man's crop in Andhra Pradesh, confined mostly to Mahaboobnagar, Nalgonda and Ranga Reddy districts. The productivity of the crop in Andhra Pradesh is only 275 kg/ha, as against national average of l 027 kg/ha (Damodaram & Hegde, 2000). The reasons for low yields are the poor socio-economic status of growers, cultivation in poor soils with low input management under rainfed conditions, besides use of poor quality seed. The quality seed, though costs low, constitutes a vital and most pivotal link in the production chain. By and large, the quality seed is not within the reach of castor growing districts in general and Mahabubnagar district in particular