: Food processing units in Rajasthan attract prospects, profits for farmers #IndiaNEWS #INSIGHT By S. R. PareekJodhpur, June 1 (IANS/ 101Reporters) In Rajasthan, the districts of Jalore and Sirohi

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Food processing units in Rajasthan attract prospects, profits for farmers #IndiaNEWS #INSIGHT
By S. R. PareekJodhpur, June 1 (IANS/ 101Reporters) In Rajasthan, the districts of Jalore and Sirohi have always been major centres of cumin (jeera) and fennel (saunf) production, respectively. In 2020-21, cumin was planted in 1,35,000 hectares of land in Jalore and production was around 66,402 metric tonnes. In 2021-22, notwithstanding bad weather having confined sowing to 87,303 hectares, around 32,003 metric tonnes of cumin was produced. Similarly, fennel was grown in 5,000 hectares of farmland in Abu and Revadar towns in Sirohi.
However, in spite of the high production of cumin and fennel in these parts, Rajasthan has always lacked the necessary marketing and processing facilities, for which farmers have had to transport their produce to the agricultural market (mandi) in Unjha in Gujarat. Transporting the produce to Gujarat meant an additional expense of Rs 2,000 per quintal for a farmer, since Unjha is 260 km from the Jalore district headquarters. The situation was just as bad for the farmers of Sirohi.
Hence, with processing units coming up here over the past few years, the farmers of Sirohi and Jalore are very pleased.
Entrepreneurs arise with government initiatives
Take the case of Yogesh Joshi of Jalores Sanchore town. Joshi worked in an organic food company earlier. Armed with a diploma in organic farming, he took up agriculture in 2010, growing cumin sans artificial chemicals. Initially, he teamed up with seven other farmers in his venture; the group later grew to 60 in number, with each farmer growing cumin in 2 bighas of farmland.
However, they incurred huge losses the first couple of years. Joshi then got in touch with scientists at the Central Arid Zone Research Unit (CAZRI) in Jodhpur. After undergoing training, he went on to grow organic cumin as per their directions. Selling 120 kg of cumin, Joshi made a profit of Rs 50 per kg. Even so, the profits didnt match the effort involved.
In 2015, he set up his processing unit. Thereafter, 200 farmers joined him. In the market, loose cumin sells for Rs 180 per kg. If one is to add Rs 15 to7w clean up the grains, it would add up to Rs 195 per kg. But when this cumin is packed, it sells at Rs 250 to Rs 400 per kg. Smaller grains sell at Rs 250 per kg, medium-sized grains at Rs 300 per kg, and large grains fetch between Rs 400 and Rs 450 per kg.
Today, there are 3,000 farmers involved in processing cumin here, and the turnover has crossed Rs 50 crore.
Selling cumin in its processed form has helped farmers earn much more than what they did selling their raw produce in Unjha. Besides selling their product in various states of India, their cumin is also sold in Japan, Dubai, the US, and the Netherlands.

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