If you want to earn better from farming in less time and less cost then pearl farming is a better option. Its craze has increased in the last few years. Many farmers in different parts of the country are cultivating pearls and earning good profits. Narendra Garwa, a resident of Jaipur, has been cultivating pearls for the last 6 years. He has prepared its set up at his own home. Presently they are marketing pearls online and offline all over the country. Due to this, he is making a profit of Rs 4 lakh every year.
Narendra's financial condition was not good. Along with their studies, he also had to work. After completing his graduation, he could not find a job anywhere, so he started working as a carpenter. He did the same thing for a few years. After this, he started running stationery and a bookstore with his father. This work was good for him. He started earning well. However, as soon as people turned to marketing on the online platform, the pace of their shop started slowing down, the income remained negligible.
Narendra says that in the year 2015, information about pearl cultivation was received through the newspaper. There was mention of good profit at low cost. After reading the news, he became interested in it. After that, he started collecting information in this regard. Then he came to know about the Central Institute of Fresh Water Aquaculture (CIFA) in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, where training in pearl farming was imparted.
Narendra says that in 2015 he decided that now he have to do pearl farming and went to Bhubaneshwar for training. There he took 7 days of training in CIFA, he was given every information related to pearl farming. After that, he returned to Jaipur and started cultivating pearls at home with 500 shells. He didn't have space for a pond, so Narendra made cement tubs. Since there was not much practical information in the beginning. Because of this most of my sips got spoiled, out of 500 only 35 sips survived. Then many people made fun of Narendra. However, even after this, he made 70 pearls and for this also got customers.
After this Narendra once again turned to CIFA. In this regard, he talked to the officials there. Then Dr. SK Swain, Director of CIFA, helped Narendra and told him such a trick that would cause the least damage to the shells. After this, he planted a thousand shells. This time he was successful and lost very few shells. In this way, Narendra gradually understood the process of pearl cultivation and started producing goods.
Narendra says that we started our marketing with social media. Even today we are using that platform the most. Also, we have started our website. Where people can shop online. Many people order via phone as well. After that, we send the pearls to them through courier. Apart from this, we are also doing our marketing from India Mart. Even after Corona, there has been a profit of Rs 4 lakh.
At present, Narendra has 3 thousand shells. They make 2 types of pearls right now. One round pearl and the other designer pearl. Its price also depends on the quality. The cost of a pearl ranges from Rs 200 to Rs 1500. They do both Brand to Customer (B2C) marketing and Brand to Business (B2B) marketing.
Narendra says that when I myself learned the cultivation of pearls well, then I started training it. So that poor farmers can get employment. Before Corona, Narendra used to train farmers of Jaipur and other parts of the country by setting up camps, but now they have come in online mode. They virtually train farmers in pearl farming. Till now more than 300 farmers have been trained. Most of these farmers are cultivating pearls and they are also getting good income from this. For this, Narendra has also registered an NGO named Alkha Foundation, with which more than 250 farmers are associated.
According to SK Swain, Director of CIFA, three things are necessary for the cultivation of pearls. The first should be a pond of at least 10×15. whose water is potable. If you do not have space for a pond, you can also make a cement tub at home. The second thing is shellfish, from which pearls are made. If you want, you can also pick up mussels from the river or even buy them. Good quality mussels are found in the southern states. The third thing is the seed of the pearl, that is, the mold on which beads of different sizes are made by coating. That is, like a mold, like a pearl.
It takes about a year to make pearls from mussels. For this, the first musk is tied in a net for two three days and kept in their pond so that they can adapt themselves in that environment. This makes their surgery easier. They are then pulled back from the pond. After that, the surgery work starts. That is, open the clamshell box a little and put pearls in it. Then it is turned off. During this, if the CP gets more injuries, then he is also treated. You can buy equipment from the market for surgery. Many people also perform surgery with the help of common screw drives and screws.
After the surgery, these shells are placed in a mesh bag made of nylon and hung through a net in a pond in one-meter deep water. Make sure the pond does not get too much sunlight. You can cover it with a tarpaulin to protect it from the heat. It is better to cultivate it during the rainy season. Then some algae i.e. fungus and cow dung cakes are put for their food. Monitoring is done every 15-20 days. So that if a CP dies, he should be fired. An average of 40% of CP dies in this process.
For training, you can contact the nearest Krishi Vigyan Kendra. A new wing has been created under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, which is at Bhubaneswar. The name of this wing is CIFA i.e. Central Institute of Fresh Water Aquaculture. SK Swain says that PM Narendra Modi had mentioned pearl farming in Mann Ki Baat. Since then people's interest in this field has started increasing. He says that before Corona, we used to give training for a week.
In this, the whole process of pearl cultivation was taught. For this, a fee of eight thousand rupees was kept from the farmers. Sheep were also provided to the farmers after training. However, now we are giving virtual training. Its fee is one thousand rupees. Till now we have given online training to more than 600 people. Apart from this, training is given in many private institutes in the country and also at the private level.
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