Gaurav Pachauri took up freshwater pearl farming after failing to crack authorities exams for 4 years. He arrange a pearl farm in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, incomes Rs 55 lakh inside 21 months.
Rajasthan-based Gaurav Pachauri had been getting ready for the federal government examinations for almost 4 years however was unable to realize success. Roughly two years again, he was standing on the crossroads. He had two decisions — proceed to try for presidency exams or turn into a farmer.
“I finally selected the latter,” says the 30-year-old.
It was after finishing his larger schooling in mechanical engineering in 2017 that Gaurav — like his associates — began getting ready for the Rajasthan Administrative Providers. “I went to Delhi to arrange for the exams. I attempted my greatest however I didn’t get good outcomes. So I began believing that authorities exams weren’t for me,” he shares.
In a bid to do one thing distinctive, Gaurav ventured into freshwater pearl farming. “I might preserve watching tv programmes the place I used to be launched to new sorts of farming like freshwater pearl farming. I discovered it fascinating as one may earn handsomely by promoting pearls. However it was dangerous as nicely,” he says.
Greater than the chance of taking over pearl farming, Gaurav feared breaking the thought to his household. “After I shared the thought with my dad and mom, they weren’t satisfied in any respect. My household had been rising conventional crops like wheat, millet, and mustard. However I had by no means stepped out to look at what occurred on our fields. I most popular staying within the comforts of air conditioners!” he says.
“Contemplating this was a brand new form of farming for us, my dad and mom doubted me. In addition they began worrying as they’d been anticipating me to land a well-paying job as a substitute of entering into farming. However I knew I wanted to take a threat. I knew if I achieved success as soon as then I might be capable of sail by it,” he shares.
Earned 2.5x of funding
By mid-2022, Gaurav ultimately satisfied his household and went to see pearl farming ponds in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. He additionally attended a five-day coaching on the Central Institute for Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA) in Odisha.
“There, I used to be taught the nitty gritty of pearl farming. I learnt learn how to supply uncooked materials, learn how to nucleate mussels, what meals to supply the mussels and their surgical process, and learn how to make each designer pearls and spherical pearls. With this coaching, which price me Rs 8,000, I grew to become assured about implementing it on the bottom. I additionally obtained the certification to practise pearl farming,” he says.
By September 2022, Gaurav ready a pond of 150 x 80 ft in his village in Bharatpur district and added 1.15 lakh mussels to the pond. Curiously, he roped in different small farmers within the tasks as nicely.
“Initially, I’d considered beginning pearl farming at a small scale however as and once I mentioned this with increasingly farmers, they grew to become excited about investing within the work. Of 1.15 lakh mussels, I had invested in 50,000 mussels personally,” he shares.
Gaurav began the mission by investing Rs 21 lakh, of which Rs 8 lakh was spent on establishing the pond.
“After nucleating mussels, we put them in small nets and transferred them into the pond. This course of took us a month and a half. However the work was not but completed. We needed to keep the pond thereafter. Each month, we added feed and maintained oxygen within the pond for the survival of mussels,” he says.
After 21 months of patiently ready for the mussels to show into pearls, Gaurav lastly obtained the outcomes. “Our happiness knew no bounds. We fetched Rs 110 per pearl and made gross sales of Rs 1.25 crore and made a revenue of Rs 80 lakh. To have the ability to earn this revenue in a 1.5 bigha land is an enormous deal for us. Farmers in 200 villages collectively couldn’t earn this a lot by rising wheat,” he says.
“Personally, I earned Rs 55 lakh after investing Rs 21 lakh. This was 2.5 occasions earnings,” he beams.
However this feat was not as straightforward. “One of many challenges in freshwater pearl farming is managing climate situations. Rajasthan has very heat climate and it took two days of journey by prepare to supply mussels from Odisha. On this course of, the mussels grew to become very weak as they had been with out water for thus lengthy, which elevated the mortality price to 50 %,” he says.
“So, I made a decision to start out pearl farming within the excessive winters of January as a substitute of September and October when the climate remains to be sizzling in Rajasthan. In early 2023, once I procured mussels, the mortality price was simply 30 %,” he shares.
“Irrespective of what number of books I learn or movies I watched, I knew I might not study something until I experimented on the bottom. I understood the challenges after which labored on options,” he provides.
Whereas ready for the outcomes of the primary batch, Gaurav additionally began engaged on the second batch concurrently and established one other pond. “My dad and mom interrupted and taunted me for this resolution. They requested why I used to be prepared to take a position and probably waste extra money even earlier than receiving any earnings from the primary batch,” he shares, including that it takes round 21 months to arrange one batch, which is a time-consuming course of. So he was ready to be affected person and hopeful.
“I by no means replied again to any taunts however patiently waited for the outcomes. And 21 months later, we earned Rs 1.25 crore,” he smiles. Immediately, Gaurav has expanded freshwater pearl farming in three ponds in Rajasthan and two ponds in West Bengal.
“I began freshwater pearl farming to earn an earnings for myself however this has additionally helped me set up an id by doing distinctive work. In addition to, this work has turn into an earnings supply for different small farmers who invested on this mission. It was higher than investing in mutual funds or fastened deposits. It was so fulfilling to see the outcomes as a result of it formed my profession,” he shares.
Edited by Pranita Bhat; All images: Gaurav Pachauri.
