Off Season Short Duration Leafy Cooriander (Corriandrum Sativam) with Peri-urban Market linkage model for small holders in drylands

Abstract

Traditionally farmers cultivate conven- tional crops like sorghum, bajra, castor, paddy, red gram, etc. in the drylands depending on their resources which are vulnerable to vagaries of monsoon, pests and diseases leading to crop failure. The problem is further aggravated with fluc- tuating market price of their produce for various reasons like drought, government policies, transient waterlogging, interfe- rence by middlemen, etc. Although the productivity of these crops has improved significantly with the advent of new technologies (variety, agronomic practic- es, etc), improved income to the farmers in the same tune is missing. In the last ten years, area under green chilly and green leafy vegetables (coriander, mint, fenugreek) cultivation has increased almost 10% over 2010, which indicates the increasing preference of farmers towards them1 (Figure 1). Though the Government of India (GoI) is encourag- ing doubling the income of farmers, the risk-taking capacity of marginal farmers with marginal soil type is poor. Hence, an enterprise with low investment for a portable piece of land with tremendous income opportunities is highly pro- fitable.