A review on way towards mechanized castor cultivation

Castor (Ricinus communis L.) is an important non edible oil seed crop which is known for its oil content (48–60 percent) and it accounts for 0.15% of the global production of vegetable oil. In recent years, farmers have preferred castor cultivation due to its suitability for both rainfed and irrigated conditions. But the farmers face many challenges, which includes labour scarcity, pest incidence, high input and labour costs, inadequate market information, etc. Due to a significant labour shortage, the area under this crop is gradually decreasing. The high reliance on human labour which leads to the incompletion of various agronomic operations on time. In these circumstances, the cultivation of castor by adopting various mechanization techniques for critical operations such as field preparation, sowing, fertilizer application, weeding, irrigation, crop protection measures and harvesting will be the solution for getting higher productivity and profitability by spending minimum expenses. Adapting mechanization is crucial for achieving sustainable development goals by enhancing production through timely farm operations, minimizing losses and reducing operational costs through efficient management of expensive inputs.