Contract farming is an understanding developed between farmers and processing units to satisfy their common interests. Basically there is an agreement between two financially unequal partners. In the present study a contract was done with Jayant oil mill and derivates, located in Gujarat. A fixed agreement was done for the period of one year with the farmers of Akola and Buldhana districts. From a total sample size of 65 farmers, some constraints were observed in the cultivation of the Castor crop. Major constraints faced by the farmers were harvesting problems, followed by the occurrence of pests and diseases. Overall cost incurred by farmer was found to be Rs. 28243.12/ha and overall gross returns were Rs. 29750.00/ha, whereas the net profit obtained was Rs. 8243.42. The overall benefit cost ratio at cost 'C' was 1.38 in the study area. It was observed that the cultivation of castor under contract farming is a profitable proposition under dry land condition, as the returns are remunerative. Castor, being an industrially important non edible oilseed crop, if cultivated on large scale under contract farming, can improve substantially the economic conditions of small, medium and large size farmers.
