Some two years ago, a man in Zhemgang ventured into the mass cultivation of castor beans. And his project was a success. To further boost the business, he procured a castor oil manufacturing plant recently. But much to his dismay, the plan couldn’t materialize as there is a lack of expertise to set up the plant.
Sixty-seven-year-old Guru Tsewang started the cultivation of castor beans in 2020 on trial. He grew it on five acres of leased land and enjoyed a bountiful harvest every season.
And over the last two years, he has stocked about 2,000 kilograms of castor beans to be converted into oil.
He even sought help from some of the government officials to install the oil extraction plant but to no avail.
“Due to the pandemic, we couldn’t bring in the machines from India. It was stuck in Siliguri for about four months. It has been about two months since the machines arrived in the country. But I couldn’t install the machine due to a lack of expertise,” said Guru Tsewang.
Meantime, he requested an expert from the machine manufacturing company in India to set up the machine.
Guru invested about Nu 4 M to procure the castor oil manufacturing plant. Once the plant is operational, he hopes to employ about 15 youth.
Pema Samdrup, Zhemgang
