Because of extreme poverty when Vishwarao Kachare was only 16 years old he started working at the farm as a laborer. He managed to purchase an acre of land and planted pomegranate. The secret of his success was the adoption of scientific methods of cultivation, value addition to make the venture more economically attractive, and direct marketing of the produce. The use of high tech horticulture and drip methods of irrigation in the farm was an added advantage. He has modern cold storage with a capacity of 120 tones and about 60 workers have been employed.
The methods they use to store the Pomegranate is pre-cooling chambers for 5 hours at 5 degree and relative humidity of 95%. Then they are moved to cold storage for 12 weeks. For processing and export of chilled fruits through individuals quick frozen technique that retains the freshness of the individual fruits pieces, he is planning to procure an Israeli plant at a cost of Rs 10 crores. Wines production pomegranate is also in his agenda.
The weight of the fruit may be as high as 700 gm. The produce is sold in the domestic market as well as in the market. Earlier the price was only Rs. 8-10 kg and now the price in the local market is as high as Rs. 150/kg. The total annual production is 4000 tones. The estimated income amounts to be Rs 600 million. If the cost is assumed to be 33%, the net income amounts to Rs. 400 million.
The area they use is 120ha: 4000 production: 600 million rupees.
Yield(t/ha) : 33.33
Income (Rs million/ha) : 4.9995
Net profit (CB ratio=1:2)/ha : 3.3330 million rupees/annum
Total profit (Rs): 400 million
The name of the farmer is Shri Vishwarao Kachare and he is from Telangwadi
(Maharashtra). His education qualification is class 10th.
