Mamta Patel, Ad hoc Assistant Professor, 
Dept. of Agricultural Economics, Pt.KLS, CHRS, Rajnandgaon, MGUVV
Minakshi Meshram, Ad hoc Assistant Professor, 
Dept. of Agricultural Extension Pt.KLS, CHRS, Rajnandgaon, MGUVV
Harkesh Kumar Balai, Assistant Professor, 
Dept. of Agricultural Economics, Jagannath University, Jaipur (Rajasthan)

This is the story of a small farmer Mr. Devendra Chandrakar (Mo. No. 9302912758) from village Bharregaon, district Rajnandgaon of Chhattisgarh state. He is a conventional rice farmer to grown rice cultivation in 2.60 acres.

Adoption of Technology -Mr. Devendra Chandrakar always wanted to do something different in farming. The forest department team from Maharashtra came in the village bharregaon and shared the information and cultivating technology of sandalwood farming and gave technical support to the farmers if they were willing to plant sandalwood trees on their land. After hearing about the benefits of sandalwood cultivation Mr. Chandrakar agreed to cultivate for sandalwood farming and under the guidance of agro team Mr. Chandrakar planted red and white sandalwood trees in his 0.6 acres of land in march 2021. He planted total 429 plants in 7x7 feet planting geometry. At present out of 429 sandalwood plats, 422 plants have grown successfully and have grown up to 10-12 feets.

This is the first farmer in this area who has experimented with sandalwood farming. Mr. Chndrakar family is very happy by seeing the survival and growth of sandalwood farming. After seeing the growth of these plants many farmers visiting their field to experience the sandalwood cultivation and get inspiration in farming. Mr. chandrakar saying that the growth of sandal wood plants is became possible only under of proper guidance and regular visit of the forest department team at his farm.

Benefits of sandalwood farming
Indian Sandalwood (Santalum collection L.) might be viewed as one of the world's most significant business timber and is as of now esteemed internationally for its heartwood and oil. Since progression of rules in regards to sandalwood filling in 2001 and 2002 there has been enormous interest among farmers and stakeholders across India in cultivating this tree. Mr Chandrakar said a single tree with a circumference of 2½ feet at chest height can provide heartwood of about 75 to 80 kg. So, if proper cultivation practices are followed farmers can earn up to Rs. 3 to Rs 5 lakh from a single sandalwood tree and can earn up to 1.5 Crore of income from one acre of land.