A retired TTD employee turned farmer, Mr. Raju has been growing white gingelly for more than a decade at his farm in Tirumanyam Rajula Kandriga village of Vadamalapeta mandal in Chittoor district. When monsoon vagaries and lack of remunerative price for regular crops like paddy, sunflower and groundnut started taking a toll, the farmer found a lucrative alternative in white gingelly, a crop that is altogether new to the region. Despite being discouraged by fellow ryots, Mr. Ananda Raju procured the ‘Swetha 96’ variety from Jagityal Agricultural Research Station in Karimnagar district in 2009, sowed it in the early Rabi season and harvested a whopping 450 kg of yield in one acre of land. “I found a readymade market in Telangana, where it is in great demand. This apart, I directly tied up with supermarkets, bakers, confectioners, wholesale food grain merchants and cold-pressed oil extractors to sell my yield,” Mr. Raju told The Hindu. At a time when middlemen bought gingelly seeds for a mere ₹80 per kg from other farmers, this tie-up helped him sell his produce for ₹150-₹200 a kilo. Mr. Raju was also among the first to go for solar-powered pump sets when they were first sanctioned more than a decade ago. Mr. Ananda Raju’s success story spread like wildfire and many farmers are ready to replicate the concept. He has supplied ‘white til’ seed to several farmers in Chittoor district this year alone, who have evinced interest in growing the remunerative crop.