After four years of preparation, when Gaurav Pachauri was unable to clear government exams, he decided to venture into farming.
He was introduced to freshwater pearl farming after watching television programmes on new types of farming. The idea intrigued him, as selling pearls could be highly profitable.
By mid-2022, he attended a five-day training at the Central Institute for Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA) in Odisha. This training gave him the confidence to implement his learnings on the ground.
By September 2022, Gaurav prepared a pond of 150 x 80 feet in his village in the Bharatpur district of Rajasthan.
He added 1.15 lakh mussels to the pond. Interestingly, he also roped in other small farmers in the project.
Gaurav started the project by investing Rs 21 lakh, with Rs 8 lakh spent on establishing the pond.
After 21 months of patiently waiting for the mussels to turn into pearls, he finally saw the results. Collectively, he made sales of Rs 1.25 crore and made a profit of Rs 80 lakh.
“To be able to earn this profit from 1.5 bigha of land is a big deal for us. Farmers in 200 villages collectively could not earn this much by growing wheat,” he says.
Gaurav shares that, personally, he earned Rs 55 lakh after investing Rs 21 lakh—2.5 times his investment.
“I started freshwater pearl farming to earn an income for myself but this has also helped me establish an identity by doing unique work. It was so fulfilling to see the results because it shaped my career,” Gaurav adds.