Category: Large-With-Image

Vivek Uniyal

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Retired Soldier-Turned-Farmer Aiming Big Through Mushroom Cultivation

The Soldiers and the farmers are the two strong pillars of a country. Where the soldiers protects our land on the frontier, on the other hand, the farmers grows food for us on the same land. And that is why the slogan given by Lal Bahadur Shastri – “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan” (Hail the Soldier, Hail the Farmer) is so popular and equitable.

This is a story about a soldier turned farmer – Vivek Uniyal based in Dehradun (Uttarakhand), who after honestly serving his motherland as an army man, returned to his roots to pursue farming and nurture the land with its love and care.

Vivek Uniyal got retired from the military after serving for a long time and then he joined the service of Uttarakhand Police for two years. Along with his police duty he also started farming in his free time. As his family members were still practicing agriculture, so Vivek’s inclination towards agriculture was natural and obvious. While pursuing his farming venture, once he got a chance to meet a mushroom farmer – Deepak Upadhyaya, who is also doing organic farming. And from this meeting, Vivek came to know about the different varieties of mushroom – Oyster, Milky and Button.

“Deepak Upadhyaya helped me initially in setting up the mushroom farm. And whenever I faced any difficulty he always assisted with his advice from his past experiences.” – Vivek Uniyal

After meeting Deepak, Vivek’s interest in mushroom farming took a big turn. He talked about this with his family, and even his sister Kusum also showed interest towards it. The duo of brother and sister together decided to start mushroom farming with their family’s consent. They started farming in a room after purchasing seeds of oyster mushroom from Solan (Himachal Pradesh)

To improve his mushroom farming skills and knowledge he also took training. The venture which he started within in a small room was well appreciated by the customers in the market after buying the product and profit was good too. Seeing the yield and the payback, Vivek decided to extend the level of the mushroom farming from one room to four rooms & he also started growing Milky and Button mushrooms. Along with it he also established a composting plant for the mushroom farming, which was inaugurated by the Agriculture Minister of Uttarakhand.

Along with mushroom farming, Vivek is also focusing towards organic farming from the last two years.

“Like we care and serve our mother, in the same way we should also understand our responsibilities towards mother nature. Farmers should focus towards organic farming and leave chemical farming.” – Vivek Uniyal

Vivek visits many villages time-to- time to convince and influence other farmers towards mushroom and organic farming. Till now he has established 45 mushroom plants collaboratively with other farmers. Students from agriculture university visits him to take his advice. And he also feels very fortunate to have the opportunity to help them.

“Mushroom farming is a business which provides employment to the whole family.” – Vivek Uniyal

Future Plans
In the coming time, Vivek is planning to produce products made up of mushroom such as Pickles, Biscuits, Papads etc. and sell them in the market.

Message
“Farmers should adopt allied-agri activities along with farming to increase their income. But in the beginning, they should start it on a small level, so that the business’s profit or loss will be known in advance & there would not be any difficulty or harm in the future.”

Amitesh Tripathi and Arunesh Tripathi

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Two Brothers Fulfilled their Dreams by Continuing their Father’s Profession of Banana Farming

It is said that a person can do anything if he has his family’s support, either it is about starting something new or taking an old work to new heights of success.

One such story is of two brothers who made their own mark in the society with their hard work and gained success by taking their inherited banana farm to new heights.

Continuing their father, Hari Sahay Tripathi’s occupation of banana farming, the two brothers worked hard and made their father proud of their achievements.

Being a resident of Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh, father of Amitesh and Arunesh was the head of the village and he used to do banana cultivation along with conventional farming in his 65 bighas of land.

Mr. Tripathi was the first farmer to start banana cultivation in his village and at that time both of his sons were studying. Amitesh (elder son) studied B.Sc in Agriculture and used to work in a private company and Arunesh (younger son) was preparing for SSC exams along with that pursuing B.Sc degree in Biology. During this time Mr. Hari Sahay Tripathi passed away.

In those difficult times both brothers returned to their village to support their family. As their father was the village’s head, the villagers decided to make Mr. Tripathi’s elder son Amitesh as the new head of the village. And along with that both the sons decided to continue their father’s occupation of banana farming.

But during this time, a storm came in the village and destroyed the entire banana crop. In those difficult times, Tripathi brothers didn’t lose their hope and courage and after trying hard they were compensated by the government for their affected crops.

After this incident, both decided to start a new beginning with the compensated money they received from the government. Animesh and Arunesh planted all the nine varieties of banana that were earlier planted by their father. They started banana farming in 30 bighas of land and in the rest of the 35 bighas they continued conventional farming.

During this time, whenever we faced any difficulty, we resolved it by consulting the experts of banana farming. – Arunesh Tripathi

As a result of the new beginning, the crop production was very good and the income was around 1 lakh per bigha. Quality of the crops grown by Tripathi brothers was excellent, resulting to which many companies started contacting them directly to do business with them.

As banana is an evergreen and nutritious fruit, so while marketing the crops we didn’t face any hurdles as the merchants directly visited our farm to buy it. Along with bananas we also grow wheat in large quantities. – Amitesh Tripathi

Both the brothers fulfilled their dreams by taking their father’s business of banana cultivation to new heights with their hard work and understanding. Apart from being a farmer, Amitesh is also the village’s head and also has some duties & responsibilities towards his village which he manages honestly. And due to this reason, both the brothers are quite famous among the good farmers of the city.

Future Plans

In the coming time, the two brothers want to prepare banana plants by setting up their own factory together and become a successful farmer like their father.

Message
“If we do something different in the field of agriculture along with following conventional farming practices, then also we can earn good profit from farming. The young generation should come up with new discoveries in the field of agriculture with their understanding and skills, so that they can earn great benefits & profit from agriculture which is also commonly known as the deficit deal.”

Harpreet Singh Bajwa

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Harpreet Singh Bajwa, A young animal lover fulfilling the dreams of horse-riding enthusiasts.

Horses are considered to be man’s favourite animal from the very beginning. In ancient times, horses were the only means of transportation. Even today, there are many animal lovers who consider animals as an important part of their lives.

This is the story of one such animal lover, Harpreet Singh Bajwa, who has made his own Horse- Farm due to his love for animals.

Harpreet Bajwa, a resident of Kharar near Mohali in Punjab, belonging to the Military family, was practicing horse riding from the age of 10-11 years. Harpreet’s grandfather and father have served the country in Military and practiced horse riding there. Harpreet was also fond of horse-riding since childhood.

After studying his B.Com and being in a military family, he was getting trained for the job in Military with the intention of serving the country. In the meantime he also learned horse riding. But for some reason, he did not succeed for Military and started working in Delhi and Mohali for 10-12 years.

During the course of a job, we have to do things that our heart does not allow. So I have always wanted to do something different and to my liking. – Harpreet Singh Bajwa

With horse riding at a young age and almost 20 years of experience in equestrianism, Harpreet wanted to turn his hobby into a reality.

As it is said, the passion of horses is very expensive. This is why many horse enthusiasts maintain a distance from this occupation, due to higher costs. Similarly, being from an ordinary family, Harpreet could not do more, but with the money he saved during his tenure, he decided to start a horse farm.

I have always wanted to do something that would satisfy my mind. Because of my love for horses and horse riding, I decided to open a farm for horses. – Harpreet Singh Bajwa

There are several areas that require horse riding to get involved. For this purpose, he took land on lease. It costs him around Rs 7-8 lakh to start the farm. He named this farm as DKPS. Harpreet Singh Bajwa named this school after his parents’ name- Davinder Kaur and Parkash Singh. In this farm, he had horses of the Throw bread Breed. Throw bread Breed is a breed of horses that is considered the best for racing.

Currently he have 5 mares and 1 horse in the farm. Earlier, interested ones in horse-riding came up to his farm, which included children and the elders. The fees for horse riding in this farm is also low, which is why a number of people come to learn horse-riding even today.

Equestrian enthusiasts at my farm are from age 7 to age 50. Babbu Maan, a famous Punjabi singer, usually comes for horse-riding at my farm. – Harpreet Singh Bajwa

Harpreet also prepares his school children to participate in various horse racing competitions. His school children have participated in many regional and state level competitions and have won many awards.

A horse is such an animal that has its own heart and mind. The horse-rider explains the horse with his gestures. We teach all of these skills to our horse-riders at our school. – Harpreet Singh Bajwa

Harpreet’s decision to open a horse school is a very commendable decision, as those who cannot afford to spend a lot of money learning horse riding can fulfill their wish through DKPS.

Future Planning

Harpreet wants to create a better and healthier generation by training horse-riding.

Message
“We should never let our passions die. Hard work has to be done in everything. Young people should work hard to make themselves and their parents’ dreams come true and not to get intoxicated with drugs.”

Amandeep Singh Sarao

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Young Farmer Leading His Way By Adopting New Crop & Modern Farming Practices

In our country, farmers are more leaned towards conventional farming, but this practice does not provide expected profit as per the hard work. But, a swift shift has been encountered among the farmers of young generation.

It is observed that youngsters are adopting new farming patterns and techniques and they are giving preference to vegetable and fruit farming above conventional practices. And as we know those who dare to think and do different, only they can make a big change.

This is a story about one such young farmer, Amandeep Singh Sarao, who is cultivating a crop about which earlier he had no idea. He has gained a new identity in the society, with his hard work and passion.

Mansa (Punjab) based Amandeep Singh’s grandfather and father had bought many land pieces for their personal business interests. But due to lack of time, they rented their 32 acres of land to another farmer, on which conventional farming practices were being followed. He was not much influenced towards agriculture in the beginning, as there was not much farming work at home.

After completing his graduation, Amandeep visited Gujarat with his friends for outing. There, he visited a farm. His friends find that farm very odd, so he decided to go inside the farm and explore it. He discovered that it was a dragon fruit farm by the name GDF.

Very few farmers in our country know about dragon fruit, as it is a foreign fruit and that’s why Amandeep too did not know much about it. GDF farm’s owner Nikunj Pansuriya briefed him more about its farming. After coming back to Punjab, he consulted with his family about it and they praised their son that he has decided to do something different from the usual. Social media was the main source of information for him about the dragon fruit farming and he came to know many new things about it.

“After visiting GDF farm, Lakshmi Putra Dragon Fruit Farm and RK Dragon fruit farm, Vasupujya Dragon Fruit Farm, Shri Hari Horticulture Nursery, Sangar Nursary, I realized that our farmers have been stuck in the cycle of conventional farming from the beginning. Therefore, it’s time for the new generation to do something innovative in the field of agriculture. ” – Amandeep Singh Sarao

Through the internet, he came to know that in Punjab, a Barnala based farmer Harbant Singh Aulakh is also practicing dragon fruit farming. So, to gather more information he visited his farm and from there he felt encouraged & determined to start this new venture.

Amandeep took back 2 acres from the rented land. With the advice of GDF’s owner he get the poles ready and ordered plants from four different places. He named his farm – “Sarao Dragon Fruits Farm” and whenever he faced any difficulty, he took help from experts and internet. In the beginning, he planted red and white variety of dragon fruits.

As it is said that “Things which are happening around you are noticeable and does not require evidence or proof”, in the same way, first year’s fruit of Sarao Dragon Fruits Farm were very tasty and everybody relished it.

After starting dragon fruit farming, all my family members encouraged me and inspired me to work harder and then I never looked back. ” – Amandeep Singh Sarao

Amandeep’s sister-in-law, Harmandeep Kaur, works in the forest department and she advised him to grow sandalwood along with the Dragon Fruit. In our country, sandalwood has its own importance, as it is used for religious activities and its prices are also very high. So, he started collecting information about sandalwood farming.

Amandeep contacted and met Mr. Nitin Patel, the head of Chandan Vikas Association, Gujarat. Nitin Patel has about 2000 sandalwood plants at his farm. In the beginning, Amandeep took a few sandalwood seedlings to plant it on his farm on trial basis. And today, Sarao Farm has about 225 sandalwood plants.

“Do not let the situation overcome you so that you lose courage, rather keep courage in such a way that the situation can be defeated.” – Amandeep Singh Sarao

As a young farmer, Amandeep always thought about doing something new. So he started grafting Dragon Fruit plants. For this, he took training from Mary Ann Passaul, who is from Tangum Philipine Island.

There are 12 varieties of Dragon Fruits at Sarao Dragon Fruits Farm:
• Valdiva Rosa
• Asunta
• Connie Mayer
• Delight
• American Beauty
• Purple Haze
• ISIS Golden Yellow
• S8 Sugar
• Ausi Golden Yellow
• Vietnam White
• Royal Red
• Simple Red

Amandeep still gathers new information related to agriculture field and he has also installed drip irrigation system at his farm. Everybody nearby his village praises him because of his strong determination and hard work and many people visit his farm to know more about his farming techniques.

Future Plans
In the coming time, Amandeep is planning to start marketing its fruit produce on a larger level and along with that he also wants to prepare and sell products made up of sandalwood.

Message
“Farmers should adopt chemical free method of farming. Especially the young farmers, should come forward with their innovative thinking to create more employment in the field of agriculture.”

Pawandeep Singh Arora

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Leaving the dream of settling abroad, this Bee-Keeper engrossed himself in his father’s profession.

Now-a-days, our young generation is more eager to settle down overseas because they feel that in abroad, they can have more secure future. But if we do our job with hard work and devotion by staying at our own nation, then we can have secure future in India too and need not to go anywhere else.

One such young man is Pawandeep Singh Arora. After completing his MA, Pawandeep first tried to settle down in abroad, in light of the fact that, as other youth, he additionally feels that there are more chances to work abroad.

Pawan’s uncle lived in Spain, so only after completing his matriculation, Pawan tended to go there. But due to some reasons, this desire remained unfulfilled, nevertheless, he continued his studies. As time passed, he noticed that his dream of going abroad is not working out. After completing his graduation, he opened a coaching centre with his sister. He closed the coaching centre after 2 years, when his sister got married.

Pawandeep’s father, Mr. Shamsher Singh, is into beekeeping farming since 1990. Being educated, Pawan wished either to go abroad or to have some good job here, because he did not want to continue this beekeeping business. But then his father began falling sick. At that time, Mr. Shamsher Singh was working at his Bee farm in Madhya Pradesh. The doctor advised him to take rest, due to which Pawan himself had to go to Madhya Pradesh to handle the work. That time, Pawan did not had any information about extracting honey, but after being on the farm for 4 months in Madhya Pradesh, he got enlighted himself with knowledge on beekeeping. He benefited a lot in this work. Gradually, Pawan’s interest started growing in the beekeeping and he decided to adopt beekeeping as his business and concentrated all his attention on this. To gain more knowledge about this, he also took 7 days’ beekeeping training from Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Amritsar. After developing an understanding about the extraction of honey, now Pawan is focused on the marketing of honey. He saw that traders are buying honey for INR 70-80 per/kg from him, and selling it for INR 300 per/kg.

“Traders buy honey at a cheaper price from us and sell it at a higher price. I thought I would no longer depend on merchants for selling the honey. For this purpose I decided to sell honey myself” – Pawandeep Singh Arora

Pawandeep first had 500 boxes of honey bees, but he reduced the number of boxes from 500 to 200, so that he could focus more on the marketing for his beekeeping and he also shifted 3 workers to do the work of packaging. He profited a lot by packing and selling honey himself. He visited various farmers’ fairs too and sold honey himself, from where he got good results from the people.

Being young made, Pawan understands the importance of social media. So he created a website to sell honey and also promoted it online, in which he got succeeded.

Now-a-days, due to lack of knowledge about marketing, beekeepers tend to close their honey farming. If the business of beekeeping is done with a knowledge of marketing, then a lot of profit can be made in this work too.

There are various types of honey prepared by Pawandeep:
  • Mustard Honey
  • Eucalyptus honey
  • Akashiya Honey
  • Kashmiri Sawai honey
  • Shisham Honey
  • Litchi Honey
  • Multiflora Honey
  • Kher Honey
  • Jamun Honey
  • Java Plum Hone
  • Berry Honey
  • Ajwain Honey

Pawandeep extracts honey from different places such as river canals. He carries honey bees boxes on the sides of canals so that honey can be extracted, and then migrates them back so that they can be packed and made ready for selling. He prepares “A” grade honey, which completely freezes, which is the hallmark of real honey. People with low eyesight used honey prepared by his farm which improved their eyesight.

“We go to different places to extract honey, such as Jammu and Kashmir, Sirsa, Moradabad, Rajasthan, Rewari etc. Along with honey, we also extract Bee-Wax, Bee-pollen and Bee-Propolis which is sold at a very good price.” – Pawandeep Singh Arora

Along with honey, Pawan also processes turmeric. He takes raw turmeric from farmers and processes it and sells turmeric along with honey. Pawan’s father (Shamsher Singh), mother (Neelem Kumari) and wife (Ritika Saini) also helps him in this work. For this work, they get help from the girls in the village for packaging of honey.

Future Planning

After achieving success in the bee-keeping business, Pawan wants to take this business to a higher level and market different products.

Message
“A message for farmers who are a part of Bee-keeping business; they should not depend on merchants. The bee-keepers should extract, pack and market the honey themselves only then profits can be made in this work.”

Mandeep Verma

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How a Farmer is earning Lakhs of money from barren land

Land is everything to a farmer. Yield of the crop will directly depend on how fertile the land is. But if the land will be barren, then there would be no hope left for a farmer. There is a farmer from Himachal Pradesh who is earning good money by doing farming on barren and unproductive land.

Mandeep Verma, after completing his MBA, served 4-5 years in Wipro Pvt. Ltd. But he was not satisfied with his job and returned to Solan with his wife. He decided to do farming on his land, in Solan, which was not productive. He didn’t want to do conservative farming like all the farmers generally do. He decided to do something different from others and ended up at choosing horticulture.

To make this view a reality, he first got complete information about the weather in his area, then he met the doctors at Agricultural University and got the knowledge about horticultural crops cultivation. Then he decided to do Kiwi farming.

To know everything about Kiwi, i went to the university library and read a number of books on Kiwi farming. I also met University professors and then i started the Kiwi farming – Mandeep Verma

After meeting with Horticulture department of Solan and professors in Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University, he decided to prepare Kiwi orchard in 2014. He made the Kiwi orchard in 14 bigha land.

In this garden, he planted the Alicene and Hayward varieties of kiwi plant. He invested about 14 lakh rupees on his kiwi farm and then in 2017, he made a website to sell the kiwi fruit.

The attempt made to bring fruits directly from orchard to the customer was successful – Mandeep Verma

The supply of Kiwi is done after the online order is received from the website. The delivery is available in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.

All the information regarding harvesting and packing of the fruit is given on the box. A packing of 1 kg fruit is prepared and sold at Rs 350 but price of kiwi in Solan is Rs 150/kg.

According to Mandeep, kiwi cultivation in India is originated from Himachal Pradesh. But now Arunachal Pradesh contributes 60% of the total Kiwi production in India.

Mandeep cultivates the kiwi using organic methods only. He knows the importance of organic farming that’s why he prepares the vermicompost himself.

The kiwi that we grow in our farm, does not get perished for 2 months – Mandeep Verma

After successful results in Kiwi farming, he started Apple farming in 2018. He believes in “Zero Budget Farming”

Achievements

Due to getting success in Kiwi farming, in 2019, Mandeep was awarded with “Progressive Farmer Award” in Kisan Mela, HP.

Future Planning

Currently Mandeep Verma has two nurseries and he want to increase the number.

Message
“Before doing any type of farming, weather related information of the place should be obtained. Every type of information is available on social media, so we must use it properly. To get more profits, we should go for organic farming and Zero Budget Farming.”

Inder Singh

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Potato and Mentha Cultivation Is What Helping This Farmer Thrive In Agriculture Field with Success

Inder Singh, 67, hailing from Jalandhar city of Punjab, is a farmer who has kick-started his agriculture business by adopting Potato and Mentha cultivation.

In a tender age of 19, Inder Singh stepped in the soil and since then he has been following agriculture passionately. After dropping his study after 8th, he decided to grow potatoes, wheat, and paddy. But after putting continuous efforts for years in wheat and paddy, it doesn’t provide much profit and financial conditions were still hand to mouth. So, with the time to increase the profit inflow, he moved towards lucrative crops rather than sticking to the conventional crops. On the recommendation of an American Company – Indomit, he started growing Mentha for oil extraction alongside potato cultivation.

“In 1980, few of the workers of Indomit Company (American) visited our village and advised me to grow Mentha for oil extraction purpose.”

In 1986, when the head of Indomit Company visited India, he was very happy by seeing the mentha production by Inder Singh. Inder Singh grabbed the second position in mentha oil extraction of about 71 Lt from the harvest of one acre and was honoured certificate and a cash prize. Appreciation boosted Mr. Inder Singh’s effort and he expanded mentha cultivation into 13 acres.

Along with mentha, he was still cultivating potatoes. On the recommendation of two wise persons – Dr. Paramjeet Singh and Dr. Minhas, he started preparing potato seeds with different ways. Seeds prepared by him were so good in quality that now it is sold across Gujarat, Bengal, Indore and many other cities of India.

“Dr. Paramjeet Singh suggested me to prepare the potato seed when it is completely ripe and mature, and this technique helped me a lot.”

In 2016, Inder Singh got the license from Punjab Government for potato seed preparation.

Currently, Inder Singh is cultivating Mentha (Peppermint & Kosi Variety), Potatoes (Govt. Variety: Jyoti, Pukhraj; Private Variety:  1533), Maize, Watermelon, and Paddy. The profit he earned in his successive years was invested in machinery and best agriculture practices. Today, Inder Singh has all the modern agriculture equipment at his farm and for this, he gives all the credit to adopting mentha and potato cultivation.

Inder Singh is getting nice price for all his harvest as there is no problem in marketing because watermelon is sold from the farm, mentha is used for oil extraction which gives him an average return of 500/Lt, his prepared potatoes seeds are sold across many different cities in India.

For his tremendous efforts in the field of agriculture, he has been honoured by Punjab Agriculture University on 1st February 2018.

Future
In future, Inder Singh is planning to open his own potato chips processing plant.

Message
“Agriculture is becoming expensive day by day because of the increased rates of fertilizer, pesticides, and other agri-inputs, so farmer should focus on sustainable agricultural practices and methods to take out the best harvest.”

Davinder Singh Mushkabad

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Farmer Achieving Success by Implementing Foreign Agriculture Model in India

Proliferated common mentality among the Indians is to go abroad and get settled there, no matter what they got to do there, whether it’s a cleaning job or any other type of labour job, but if the same work is offered in their own country then they feel ashamed. Yeah, the fact is true that there is more money in working abroad, but what if we bring the foreign technology to our homeland and make our profession a profitable venture. This is the story of a Malwa Region based farmer, Davinder Singh, 46, who very well utilized the opportunity of visiting abroad and brought back the foreign agriculture model back to Punjab.

In 1992, Davinder Singh planned to go abroad, but he was failed with his efforts and at last, decided to start farming. At that time he was unaware from the fact that living in abroad was not that easy because it demands hard work, but making a good profit from agriculture was also not that easy anymore, as agriculture demands sweat and blood both. Though he started farming, when it came to marketing, then from the fear of getting cheated from the middlemen he decided to hold beam balance in his own hands.

“I cannot forget my first experience of visiting the sabzi mandi (vegetable market) of Sector 42, Chandigarh, with mother’s given white dhurrie (carpet), beam balance and a sack of green chillies. I sat there the whole day, I was so confused and ashamed, whether to take money from the customer or not. I was mum. After observing me like this, few of my farmer brothers told me that this is not going to work like this, you have to call out your customers and shout out loud your crop’s selling price; this is how I learned to sell vegetables.”

Moving forward with the staggering steps that season, Davinder Singh earned 45 thousand rupees from his first crop and he was very happy with it. Well, till that time, Davinder Singh already came to know that the path of agriculture is going to demand lots of strength and determination. Without turning back, Davinder Singh started working hard and passionately. Slowly with the time he expanded his farming area and to upgrade his skills he visited Spain in 2007 for a training camp with one of his friends.

In Spain, he observed the agriculture model and he was very amazed by it. Without missing any piece of information, Davinder Singh jotted everything in his notes.

“I observed that the agriculture model which is being practices in Italy is very different from India. Farmers work in groups, and there are no middlemen in the agriculture model of Italy. I also observed that the climatic condition in Italy was not that favourable for agriculture as compared to India, still, they were taking high productivity from their fields. People were using POLY-HOUSE to give an ideal atmosphere to the crops for their growth and development. Seeing all this was very surprising to me.”

After exploring the remarkable agriculture techniques, Davinder Singh decided that he will go the POLY-HOUSE way. In the beginning, he got no assistance for poly-house creation, so he decided to make it himself. With the help of bamboos, he established his own poly-house at 500 square metres and started planting vegetables in it. When the nearby people came to know about it many experts also visited his farm but they returned with negative feedback and said that this POLY-HOUSE is not going to be successful. But still, Davinder Singh with his hard work and passionate spirit made it successful and took good yield from it.

Happy from his work, the national horticulture mission decided to assist him for poly-house and help him in its creation. When the agriculture department was in the favour of Davinder Singh at that time his father – Sukhdev Singh was not in his favour. His father doesn’t want to give their land, as the poly-house technology was new and he was not sure that it will yield profit or not; and in any case, if the loan is not repaid then the bank will snatch away their land.

Without depending on his family, Davinder Singh decided to start his venture in partnership with his friend by taking a loan of 30 lakhs on one acre of land to establish the polyhouse. That year he grew coloured capsicum in his poly-house (Red Bell Pepper & Yellow Bell pepper), the production and quality were so good that within one year he cleared his loan debt with his earning.

The next stage on which Davinder Singh stepped on was group formation in 2010, he slowly expanded the work in the people and groups whoever deserved to learn the poly-house technology under Agro Help Aid Society Mushkabad Group. This step of Davinder Singh was a very wise step, as his group started getting seeds, fertilizers and other necessary agricultural input at 25 to 30% subsidized rate. Moreover, all the farmers who are the member of the group now don’t have to knock on different doors to gather the agricultural inputs, they get everything under one roof. Group formation provided more benefits to the farmers on transportation charges, marketing, packaging, and as a result, one farmer doesn’t get overburdened with the expenses. Farmers Agri Mart is the brand name under which all the crops harvested by the group is sold in the vegetable markets of Chandigarh and Delhi, people trust their brand and they don’t have to make extra efforts.

When I was alone at that time marketing level was different but today we have a group and marketing is easy in the group, but in group quality matters. GROUP is a very powerful thing because everything gets shared in the group except profit. – Said by Davinder Singh Mushkabad

In the span of 20 years, Davinder Singh’s efforts have made him reach from the level of an ordinary vegetable seller to the head of Agro Help Aid Society Mushkabad Group under which currently there are 230 farmers. Starting from a small area, presently he has expanded his farming zone into a larger extent out of which poly-house farming is done at 5 ½ acres and other than this he has mechanized some modern agriculture technologies like drip irrigation, sprinklers to properly manage the water distribution. For his success, he gives a huge credit to PAU, Ludhiana, and their organized events and fairs which supported him with good knowledge bank.

Today, Davinder Singh’s group has become a model of diversification in agriculture sector, with their innovative technologies and sustainable agriculture methods. For his tremendous efforts in the field of horticulture, Davinder Singh has been honoured with many prestigious awards and has attended many delegation meetings in abroad.

• Awarded with Ujagar Singh Dhaliwal Award in 2008
• Received Chief Minister Award by Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi at Pusa Krishi Vigyan Mela in 2009
• Received Praman Patra by Govt. of Punjab in 2014
• Received Dr. Mohinder Singh Randhawa Memorial Award in 2014
• Nominated for Punjab Agricultural University Scientific Advisory Committee
• Member of Research Council, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
• Member of Delegation sponsored by Department of Agriculture, Govt. of India, Agro-based Industry Malaysia and the ASEAN Secretariat for the Exchange Visit Programme for Young Farmers. (April 2013)

• Also visited Baki, Azerbaijan as a progressive Farmer member of the Delegation led by Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of Punjab, in October 2016.

Message
For a farmer facing difficulties is compulsive, the more you face difficulties fastest you cover the path to success. Difficulties prepare the person, so don’t feel panic from difficult situations, instead learn from it. Always keep yourself motivated and think positive, because everything depends on our thinking.

When it comes to water management then water plays the major role in farming. Farmer has to get his water checked and after that get his own tank established from the canal water and use it in poly-house, it results in increase in income up to 25-30%.

Future Plan
Planning to provide home delivery to the consumers so that they can eat fresh vegetables rich in nutrients with fewer chemicals.

While sharing his farming experience with Apni Kheti, Davinder Singh also shared a happy moment of his life story with us – “Earlier I used to dream about going foreign, even not knowing that what exactly I have to do there! But later, when I visited as a delegation team member to Malaysia and other countries then I felt so happy and proud, it was like a dream come true. I realized the difference between “going abroad to do labour work” and “going abroad as a member of delegation team”.

Without feeling ashamed, the efforts that Davinder Singh has put in his fields, its results are in front of everyone, currently, he is guiding 230 farmers under his Agro Help Aid Society Mushkabad Group and is making good changes in the agricultural practices. Davinder Singh is a great example and inspiration for the struggling farmers. If by reading his story you feel motivated and want to join him in his venture, then you can contact him by clicking Contact Us button given below.

Binsar Farm

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Binsar Farm: How the Trio of Three Friends Succeeded In the Establishment of Farm to Table Milk Business

How many of you have ever thought about contributing to the agriculture society along with your busy job schedule? The answer is very few…

For a person who is professionally devoted to the agriculture field for him taking out time for the agriculture society is not a big deal, but for those who are in the service sector, for them yes it is a big deal.

Well, this is the story of three friends who realized their dreams while still attached to their respective job profiles and worked upon it mutually to make it true as Binsar Farm.

Pankaj Navani, 40, the idealist behind Binsar Farm, comes from a background where his grandfather used to work for the betterment of their village Gawani in Pokhara Block, Uttaranchal. His grandfather established three primary schools, one Kanya vidyalas, one intermediate and one degree college for the village children. The upbringing of Pankaj Navani in such environment where his grandfather’s unconditional voluntary work for the society, has built up a positive attitude of responsibility for the community and it has stayed with Pankaj till now.

Carrying his dreams with him, Pankaj was still looking for an opportunity, and while working in the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, he finally met his future partners, Deepak and Sukhvinder (who were interning under him). The idea of Binsar farm came into reality when three of them went on a trek in the hills of Binsar and lost their way while coming back. But luckily they met a kind shepherd and he invited them to his shed and they spent that night comfortably in his hut. Next morning the shepherd showed them the right trail back to the city and this is how their trek to Binsar which seems like a fairy-tale came to an end. Thinking about the kindness and humbleness of the shepherd they decided to do something for the people of Uttaranchal. Basically, first, they thought of picking up the fruits, vegetables, and lentils grown in mountains and sell them in the plains by gathering more village farmers. The trio working along with their respective jobs also started acting on this project and they started gathering support.

It’s the matter of 2011 when the trio almost began to discover the process to proceed with their dream project. As being the election year, wherever they went everybody supported their plan, and in the same year Pankaj flew to New Zealand while working on an official assignment. But it didn’t created much difference in their efforts on their dream project. In New Zealand, Pankaj met Earl Rattray, Founding Director of Fonterra Dairy Group. After having a warm and genuine talk with Earl Rattray, Pankaj shared his idea of dream project with him and after hearing the tale of Uttaranchal, Earl showed interest in joining the trio team and turning it into a quadruple dream. Earl Rattray came aboard as Partner-cum-Investor to turn the Binsar Farm project into reality.

As the election polling took place and the ruling party lost the polls, all the commitments and words vanished overnight and they were again at the zero level of the staircase to their dream project- Binsar Farm. But Pankaj, Deepak, and Sukhvinder never lose their hope and decided to adopt alternative option to help the agriculture society, and this is when Earl Rattray came up with his extensive experience of dairy farming to back up the Binsar Farm project.

resurgence-of-a-white-revolution
Sukhvinder Saraf, Pankaj Navani, Earl Rattray, A Friend, Deepak Raj (From Left to Right)

Both Deepak and Sukhvinder come from the families where their culture and traditions are still the same as in the old times and their sense of living is very deep rooted in the communities. Knowing about the project, Deepak’s father offered his 10 acres of land near Sonipat, Haryana on lease to this project. By 2012 they started the dairy farming business with the inputs of dairy management and advanced techniques of Earl.

That’s not all, working responsibly towards community development, they (Pankaj, Deepak, Sukhvinder & Earl) have leased 40 acres land to five local farmers in the area to grow fodder, they supply seeds, fertilizer, and other resources. This group of five farmers is assured of their regular income and they don’t have to worry about the market price of the crop, which has enabled them to think futuristically about their family and invest in their children’s education and other things.

When it comes to the cattle health, then fodder is the most important thing to work upon and that’s why they have instructed the farmers already to use any kind of pesticide almost 21 days before the harvesting of the fodder. Pankaj and team have spent a lot of time and energy on the better dairy management practices and that’s why they have no water logging or puddle kind of situation in the cattle’s stable. Moreover, paying much attention to the shed they have kept a soil flooring rather than concreting the whole floor, as hard floor affects the milk yielding capacity of the cattle and most of the dairy farmers are still not aware of this.

Pankaj also shared a very interesting information about dairy farming: He told that in his dairy farm the cow lameness point is only 1%, while in comparison to other dairies cow lameness is up to 12-13%.

This is a very unique fact that Pankaj shared because it is sad to know when the cow is lame then she doesn’t turn towards its feed regularly which ultimately affects the milk production.

Well, currently they have more than 1000 cows at Binsar Farm, from which they are supplying farm-to-table milk to more than 600 families in Delhi and NCR region.

Later they planned to start donating the cows to the local farming families, share their expert dairy management knowledge with them and eventually buy back the milk from them. This will help the farmer to earn a stable income and make a positive change in their lifestyle with the time.

Currently, Binsar Farm is working with 12 other dairy farm owners in Haryana and Punjab region, and collaboratively they are producing products like yogurt, cottage cheese, clarified butter etc.

The trio with their united efforts tried to create a governing framework through which they can not only help in the development of the society but can also share their advance agriculture practices with the farmer society. The idea of Binsar Farm project came during the hilly trek in the mind of Pankaj, Deepak, and Sukhvinder and after that, it completely changed the life of many farming families.

Pankaj and team believe that in the coming time money will no longer is going to be the driving force for the next generation; passion to accomplish their dreams is what will motivate the younger generation to realize their virtue and make it come true.

Vinod Kumar

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MECHANICAL ENGINEER LEFT JOB TO PURSUE PEARL FARMING AND NOW EARNS MORE THAN 5 LAKH YEARLY

Vinod Kumar who was a mechanical engineer by profession often used to take out time from his busy job life to explore his interest in farming to discover new trending agri-technologies. One day while surfing the Internet, Vinod Kumar came to know about Pearl Farming, allured toward this profession he dug more information about it and came to know that pearl farming can be carried out in less water and less area as well.

When he came to know that the only pioneer institute which trains in design pearl farming is situated in Bhubaneshwar – Central Institute of Fresh Water Aquaculture (CIFA), Vinod Kumar lost no time and listened to his heart, left his job and went to Bhuvneshwar in May 2016 for one-week training.

Started pearl farming in 20 x 10 foot area with 1000 mussels and today he has expanded the pearl farming business from which he is earning more than 5 lakhs from 2000 mussels. Well, this was the determination and passion of Vinod Kumar towards agriculture which showed his this path to success.

Vinod Kumar shared with us some of the pearl farming information for the newbies –

 

• Minimum investment – 40,000 to 60,000.
• Water temperature necessary for pearl farming- less than 35°C.
• A water tank is necessary for pearl farming.
• Mussels can be purchased from Meerut and Aligarh in Rs 5-15 from fishermen.
• These mussels are kept in the water tank for 10-12 months and when the shell starts changing its color to silver then pearl is ready.
• Well, it takes 2 – 2.5 years to form a good round shape pearl.
• Shell is recognized by its inner shine
• Generally, the size of the shell is in between 8 – 11 cm.

• The ideal market for pearls is in Rajkot, Delhi, Nearby Delhi and Surat

Main Work in Pearl Farming:

The main work is mussel surgery and for this work, special training is provided by the institute. Other than pearl different shapes and designs can also be formed inside the mussel.

Vinod is not only practicing pearl farming but he is also providing training to other farmers. He is certified by ICAR- Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture in training of freshwater pearl farming for entrepreneurship development. Till now more than 30,000 people have visited his farm and he has never anyone let down.

Message

“Today farmers have to think different if they want to move ahead in their life, but this spirit also demands patience, because many of my students came to me for training and immediately after the training they tried to set up their business, but they were not successful. People have to understand that success comes with patience and frequent practice.”

 

Mr. Vinod Kumar hailing from a small village Jamalpur of Farrukhnagar tehsil, Gurugram, has proved with his experience and determination that freshwater mussel culture has a vast potential.

Sirbeerinder Singh Sidhu

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Punjab – Malwa Region Based Farmer Paired Agriculture With Mechanized Technology, Have You Tried It…

Sirbeerinder Singh Sidhu, 44, keeping in mind about the Mother Nature, implements the best Eco-friendly farming practices through which time and money, both can be saved. And this thought of working in harmony with nature comes in his mind while he was far away in a foreign land.
Farming, as we know, is an age-old practice, which was followed by our ancestors and their ancestors… to cultivate food and sustain life. But, with the revolution and change in demands, today, agriculture has come a long way creating a vast history behind. Yes, there are some negative impacts of modern agriculture practices, but now not only the farming community but a lot of individuals from the city are also taking initiative towards sustainable agriculture practices.

Sirbeerinder Singh Sidhu is also one of those individuals who realized while living in abroad that he has done nothing for the land which provided him everything since his childhood. Although he was very successful living in abroad, learning about new farming technology, machinery and serving the community, he felt very despondent. And that was when he decided to take a long respite from his life in abroad and came back to his motherland, Punjab (India).

“After completing my graduation from Punjab University, I went to Canada to pursue higher studies and later on I got settled there. But after 5-6 years I felt a strong urge from the bottom of my heart that I need to go back to where I belong.”

Already aware of the foreign agriculture practices, Sirbeerinder Singh Sidhu decided to mechanize his own way of farming and then he paired commercial farming and agriculture technology together. Moreover, he decided to start Kinnow farming rather than wheat and paddy.

“Wheat and paddy are the conventional crops of Punjab which needs only 4-5 months of labour in the field. Instead of getting stuck in the cycle of wheat and paddy, farmers should focus on horticulture crops and other agri-allied activities which can be done around the year.”

Mr. Singh designed a machine which can be taken in the orchards by attaching it with a tractor and that machine can grade the Kinnows in 6 different sizes. The machine has inbuilt 9 cleaning brushes and 4 drying brushes; mechanization of the machine up to this level has reduced the cost of labour to almost zero.

“Machine designed by me can grades around 1-1 ½ tons of Kinnow in an hour and the running cost of this machine is 10-litre diesel per day.”

According to Mr. Singh – Earlier, the main obstacle faced was during the marketing of Kinnow, labour cost of harvesting Kinnows from the orchard and then taking care of it was very time and labour consuming and also was not economical. Since the grading machine is developed by Mr. Singh, half of the problem of harvesting and grading is already solved.
This mechanized way of grading Kinnows in six different sizes has created a valuable place for Mr. Singh’s harvest in the market, as it gets more pre-eminence and better return on investment. Using this mechanized way for grading the Kinnows is a valuable addition to the “Sidhu Model Farm”, and from the last 2 years, fruits produced by Mr. Singh is achieving first and second prizes at the State Level in Citrus Shows.

This is not the only approach that Mr. Singh is following; drip irrigation, crop waste management, green manuring, bio-gas plant, vermicomposting, organic production of vegetables, cereals, fruits, and wheat, are other means through which he is trying reduce the harmful footprints of conventional farming practices on his behalf.

Sirbeerinder Singh Sidhu’s contribution in the agriculture field has bagged him many awards and honour at state and national level, out of which these two are the main:

• Won State Level Citrus Show at Abohar, Punjab
• Received award form PUSA Delhi for Innovative Farming
Along with farming, Mr. Singh is also master of other animal husbandry and agri-allied activities, just because of his hobby. He rears dairy animals, poultry birds, kennel dogs, goats, and Marwari horses. He has also maintained a fish pond in half acre and forestry which includes 7000 Eucalyptus trees and 25 Bush Bamboos.
With his 12 years of experience in the agriculture field, Mr. Singh has focused his attention on some important matters and want to give the message to the society through these issues, which are the major concerns in Punjab ….

Subsidy and agriculture schemes:
Farmer assumes that Government is helping us by giving subsidy and making different agricultural schemes, but this is not true; this is a way of making farmers handicapped and grabbing their land. Farmers have to understand their good and bad themselves because agriculture is such a wide field that if it is done properly with determination then it can make anyone rich.

Mind Set of Young Generation:
Nowadays, the young generation is all set to go abroad or get settled in the city, they don’t care what kind of work they have to do in there; for them farming is a dirty job. What’s the sake of investing in the education and employment, if ultimately it will result in brain drain! Youth is unaware of the fact that agriculture is such a prosperous and diverse field that it can provide more advantages, profit, and happiness than the life in abroad.

Marketing in agriculture field:
Today, the farmer also has to become the seller by eliminating the middlemen and this is the only way by which farmer can clinch their forgotten position from the society. Farmer has to adopt modern eco-friendly practices which will lead them towards sustainable agriculture results.

Everyone should remember that-
” once in your life you need a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman and a preacher but every day, three times a day, you need a farmer.”

Dhada Goat Farm

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With The Troupe of These Four Futuristic Men, Goat Farming Is Getting Better In Punjab

Dhada Goat Farm – a farm run by four futuristic men (Birbal Ram Sharma, Jugraj Singh, Amarjeet Singh, and Manjeet Kumar), who saw the fledgling future market of goat meat and milk in Punjab at the right time and established a goat farmhouse where you cannot only buy milk and meat but you can also buy different breeds of goat for further goat rearing purpose.

Initially, the idea of establishing goat farm was of Birbal and his uncle Manjeet Kumar. Earlier working as a college supervisor Birbal was bored and had a desire to set up his own business. So before investing in anything, Birbal wanted to do a complete market research. He visited many farms in Punjab and also went to Delhi to analyse the market and gain some market knowledge.

After the analysis, Birbal found out that there are very few goat farms in Punjab and the demand of goat meat and milk is high. Manjeet Kumar, Birbal’s uncle was always a partner in the venture from the beginning. And this is how the idea of Dhada Goat farm came into reality. The other two main partners joined the venture when Birbal was looking for an empty plot where he can establish his goat farm and then he met Subedar Jugraj Singh and Amarjeet Singh. Both are military retired people. Coming to know about the idea of Goat Farm, Jugraj Singh, and Amarjeet Singh showed interest in the venture. Jugraj Singh gave his 4 acres land on lease for 10 years to Birbal. Finally, in July 2015 Dhada Goat Farm was established with the investment of 23 lakhs.

The farm began with 70 animals (40 female goats, 5 male goats, and 25 kids), later on with the time they bought 60 more. To give their business better management and protection, all the four members took 5 days goat farming training from GADVASU.

Well, the journey of Dhada goat farm was not that smooth, they faced many problems too. While buying goats in bulk they bought some goats from the local goat farmers without any proper vaccination. Which gave rise to PPR disease resulting in the death of many goats in some time. From this instance, they learned about their mistake and then they started proper vaccination of their farm goats from Veterinary Dr. Sarbjeet.

Dr. Sarbjeet helped them a lot in the establishment of a disease free healthy goat farm, he used to visit Dhada Goat farm every week and guide them. Currently, the count of the goats has exceeded 400. Beetal, Sirohi, Barbari, Totapari, and Jakhrana are the goat breed which can be found at Dhada Goat Farm. They sell breed, milk, and manure prepared from goat dung in the market. During Bakrid they also sell Bucks (male goats) to earn good profit.

Feed is the most important thing of which they take proper care. In summer they prefer to give green grass and leaves, grinded mixture of Green Chickpea and Green Gram plants, and in winter they give Berseem, grass of Mustard, Guar, and Peanut. There are two permanent workers which help in managing the goat farm. All the fodder is grown in-house for better feed preparation. Taking proper care of the goat’s needs, they have also left 4 Kanal area clear for the goats to roam there freely. Deworming gun, machine to grind the fodder, medical kit and medicines are some necessary things that Birbal and his other members use to make their goat rearing process easier and smooth.

Average profit of around Rs 750000 is made annually which is divided in between all the four members of the Dhada Goat Farm. Even after running such a good goat farm business, no member of Dhada Goat Farm brags about their success and whenever any farmer calls or visit their farm for guidance they help them with their whole heart.

For their success in goat farming, Mr. Jugraj Singh was also received Mukhyamantri Award on 23rd March 2018 on the behalf of Dhada Goat Farm.

Future Plans:

In future, the futuristic men of Dhada Goat Farm are planning to expand their goat numbers up to 1000.

Message
“Goat farming is an allied activity which any farmer can follow along with crop cultivation and can earn good profit from it. Farmers should be aware of the leading edge of this business and its profit.”

Today the main thing that the agriculture society has to understand is that there is an advantage in staying together. These four men understood this thing very well, which helped them in running a successful business. For any goat farming related queries you can contact Dhada Goat Farm and take guidance from them. Read more interesting stories by downloading Apni Kheti mobile app from Google Play Store.

Bhupinder Singh Sandha

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Meet Progressive Beekeeper Bhupinder Singh Sandha Who Is As Busy As Bees in Propagating Apiculture

By remembering the first bee sting, generally, most of the people just hate being around the bees, unaware from the fact that these little busy bees can help you make an unbelievable sum of money, not only from honey but from many other by-products of honeybees.

But it was never money for which Bhupinder Singh Sandha started beekeeping; it was the buzz, the art of bees, and the boons of beekeeping which fascinated Bhupinder Singh Sandha more towards it.

It was 1993 when Bhupinder Singh Sandha came to know about the process of apiculture during a visit to honeybee farm in Rajpura organized by Agriculture Department. Watching the bees at work inspired Bhupinder Singh so much that he decided to start beekeeping with mere 5 subsidize honeybee boxes.

To say, Bhupinder Singh Sandha had a diploma degree in pharmacy and he was a pharmacist, but his life was surrounded by the buzzing bees and sweetness of honey.

In 1994, Bhupinder Singh Sandha also opened a Pharma store and also use to sell processed honey at that store and steadily his beekeeping business was also expanding. His purpose of coming in the pharmacy line was to really help the people, but later he realized that he was just selling the prescribed medicines, which was not what he actually thought. He did market research in 1997 and analyzed that beekeeping is the line on which he needs to focus. So, after 5 years of running the pharma store, he finally dropped the medical line and decided to completely focus on the bees.

And it is said that – You feel the real happiness in life when you choose a job you love.

Same was with Bhupinder Singh Sandha, he found beekeeping the real pursuit of happiness. In 1999, he expanded his bee farm to 500 boxes and came up with 6 types of honey varieties like Himalayan, Ajwain, Tulsi, Jamun, Kashmiri, Eucalyptus, Litchi and many more. Other than honey, he also sells bee pollen, bee wax, and roasted flax-seeds powder. The brand name which he chose to represent his honeybee products is Amolak and currently, it has a very good market in Punjab. With the group of 10 workers, he manages his whole bee farm and his wife also supports him in his business.

For Bhupinder Singh Sandha beekeeping is a major part of his life, not only because it is the source of income, but also because he loves to see bees at work and it is one of the great ways to experience this nature’s wonder. Through beekeeping, he wants to rise along with other farmers in the different field. He also guides the farmers who visit his farm regarding practical training for honey harvesting, Queen Bee rearing and packaging the products. Through Radio programmes and print media, he tries his best to contribute to the society and propagate apiculture and its diversification.

Bhupinder Singh Sandha’s farm is situated in his village Tiwana, Patiala, where he has taken 10 acres on lease. He generally keeps 900-1000 honey boxes and sells the rest. His wife is his second business partner and supports him at every step. To make his work more successful, he has attended many training to improvise his skills and has also displayed his work in many national and international platforms across the globe. He is also the recipient of many appreciation letters by various departments of Punjab Agriculture University in the field of beekeeping. He has his own ATMA Kissan Hut by the name Amolak under ATMA scheme where he sells his processed products.


Future Plan:

In future, he is planning to come up with one more by-product of honey bees and that it propolis. Other than beekeeping he wants to introduce chemical free organic jaggery powder under the Amolak brand. He has many other great ideas on which he is still working and will disclose it later with the time.

Message

“For beekeepers marketing honey themselves is the best thing because in this way they can reduce the adulteration and the role of mediators who seize most of the profit.”

 

Bhupinder Singh Sandha has kick started his profession with his own passion for beekeeping and in the future also he will try to explore the potential hidden in apiculture field for the welfare of the society. If the story of Bhupinder Singh Sandha has kindled you to know more about beekeeping then you can contact him to know more.

Uma Saini

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Uma Saini: The Woman behind the Revolution of Turning Waste Food into Soil Food to Make Earth A Better Place

It’s been years, since our soil is getting exploited and abused with the use of chemicals, fertilizers, and dumping of poisonous waste in the earth, and by understanding this situation, Uma Saini, a Ludhiana based female entrepreneur and Managing Director of Agricare Organic Farms, decided to take an initiative of preparing soil food which can help in regaining all the nutrients and richness which has been lost in the past decades. Other than contributing to the Mother Nature, she is also playing the role of a powerful protagonist in the field of women empowerment. With her dynamism, she is making earth a better place and will continue to do so in the future also…

Have you ever imagined…what will be the life on earth if anything that died or is waste is not getting decomposed but it is just lying on the ground!

Thinking about this view can send chills down the spine, and by making you think about this situation, is an indication towards the soil health. The soil is considered as an important element because directly or indirectly, people are dependent on it. Green Revolution and Urbanization are the major factors that have led to the deterioration of the soil, and still, farmers, big pesticide companies and other MNC’s are unable to understand this.

The endless use of chemicals kindled Uma Saini to turn towards organic practices. It all started in 2005 when Uma Saini decided to start organic farming. Well, organic farming sounds very easy but when it comes to its implementation then some of the experts even don’t know where to start and how to make it fruitful.

“Although, I decided to start organic farming on large scale, but from where to get good quality manure in large quantity was the major hurdle. So, I decided to establish my own Vermicompost plant.”

Establishing organic farm and Vermicompost plant in the middle of the city was almost impossible, so Uma Saini started investing in small land masses in the villages and slowly Agricare brand came into reality. Today, there are multiple units of vermicomposting plant and organic farms of Agricare in different parts of North India.

“Purchasing land in the village area was also a very difficult thing that we finally overcame. Villagers use to ask us multiple questions like… what is your purpose of buying land here, will your production unit pollute our area… etc.”

One of the production units of Agricare is established in the small village- Sidhwan Kalan of Ludhiana (Punjab), where Uma Saini has employed most of the women at the farm.

“I believe, a woman plays an important part in our society, so with the motive of women empowerment, I have employed most of the women of Sidhwan Kalan village and other nearby villages at my farm.”

Moreover, other than advocating women empowerment, Uma Saini is also a great mentor. She invites college students, especially female student to make them aware of this blooming field of Organic farming, vermicomposting and agri-business. For young aspiring women, Uma Saini also conducts free training sessions.

“Student who pursue B.Sc. in agriculture have larger scope in the field of agriculture and especially to make them aware, my husband and I provide free training, deliver guest lectures in various colleges.”

Uma Saini has also prepared a vermi hatchery in his Ludhiana vermicomposting plant where she prepares worm seeds. Vermi-hatchery is a term, about which very few people are aware of. We all know that worms are the real worker in making the soil mineral and nutrient rich, so, in this unit, Eisenia fetida also known as red worm (species of earthworm) adapted to decaying of organic material are prepared for further selling purpose.

Most of the vermicomposting units of Agricare are fully automized giving a boost in the production leading to good sales. Other than this, Uma Saini has contracted more than 700 farmers from different parts of India under organic farming.

“By contract organic farming and vermicomposting, our work is getting done, but along with that the society is also getting the benefits of employment and healthy nature.”

Today, Agricare has become the largest seller of Vermicompost in North India after knocking down major brand of organic compost like TATA. Himachal and Kashmir are the leading markets of SOIL FOOD currently. The major input that Agricare is utilizing in the production of Vermicompost- Soil Food is food waste of big companies like Nestle, Hindustan Lever, Cadbury, etc. Agricare is playing a major role in keeping the environment healthy by consuming food waste of big MNC’s.

Very soon Uma Saini and her husband- Mr. V.K. Saini is planning to launch a new organic label brand in Ludhiana for fresh organic vegetables and fruits where they will deliver their products door to door to the customers.

“Going organic is the need of the hour, people have to learn from their grassroots, then only they can do well in the field of farming by keeping harmony with nature.”

Undying spirit of Uma Saini to work for nature and by nature, signifies that there is no periphery to work in harmony with nature. Moreover, children of Uma Saini- daughter and son, both are very interested in following their parent’s footsteps and to invade this field magnificently in the future they are pursuing their studies in the field of agriculture.

Message:
“Nowadays, many children are opting B.Sc. Agriculture field, but when they complete their degree, at that time, they just have the bookish knowledge and they are satisfied with it. But this is not enough to succeed in the field of agriculture unless they put their hand in the soil. Practical knowledge is very much necessary and youth has to understand that and progress accordingly.”

Rajesh Kumar

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Haryana Based Rabbit Farmer Playing the Role of Real Life Magician by Empowering More Than 700 Farmers with the Knowledge of Rabbitary

Rajesh Kumar is a real-life magician farmer from Haryana, for whom pulling bunnies out of the hat is the main source of income for livelihood. Don’t be amazed! Here we are talking about rabbit farming.

Rabbit farming is a field about which either most of the farmers are unaware or uninterested. But, in the present time, rabbit farming is a profitable source of income and in the future also it can fetch good revenue.

In the year of 1977, there was an initiative taken by the central government towards rabbit farming. A project was started by the government to support rabbit farming in India, in which they use to fund farmers, to begin with, 10 units (1 unit include 70 females and 30 males) of rabbits for their farming. But this project was not that successful and was soon closed down. But this was not the doom of rabbit farming. In 2007, many private rabbit farming firms were opened after some time that started following the same guidelines of the project started by the government earlier, and Paradise Rabbit Farm owned by Rajesh Kumar was also one of them.

In 2007, Rajesh Kumar visited CSWRI (Central Sheep and Wool Research Institute) in Avikanagar, Tonk (Rajasthan) where he first got the exposure towards rabbit farming. He was so much fascinated by rabbit farming that he decided to invest in this venture. Now it’s been 11 years since he is successfully pursuing rabbit farming.

And that is not all!

Rajesh Kumar has expanded his rabbit farming contract business all over India (covered almost all the states). Under his contract business, he provides 10 units of rabbits to the farmer and also gives complete training to take care of the rabbits. He also provides transportation for the delivery and collection process of rabbits from the farmer’s farm.

Rajesh- “Rabbit business is mostly adopted by small farmers, so basically rabbit farming is done where there are small farmers. Currently, I am doing contract farming with more than 700 farms, located all over India.”

How Rajesh Kumar made marketing easier for other rabbit farmers….

Rajesh Kumar has done one more advantageous thing for the farmers who started rabbit farming through him and that is marketing. The purchasing price of the rabbits back from the farmers is decided in the beginning and after every year there is 10% increase in the price of the rabbit. Moreover, he has made marketing easier for the farmers, because when the rabbits get mature for selling purpose, then Mr. Kumar send his own vehicle to collect the rabbits from their farms. There is only one condition that every farmer has to follow and that is investing in 10 or more units of rabbits in the beginning to get free transportation of the rabbits. The farmers who invest in fewer rabbits (less than 10 units) they have to use their own transportation for rabbit delivery.

Some basic stats about rabbit farming that Mr. Kumar shared…

• Female gets pregnant maximum 6 to 7 times in a year
• From one pregnancy a doe can give birth to minimum 1 baby and maximum 14
• Pregnancy period of a doe is 30 days
• If the litter size is increased, then chances are there that weak babies will be born. So on an average, we can say that 5 average babies survive per doe.
• In case a doe has given birth to more than 5 babies then the farmer has to shift some of the babies to another doe to provide complete nutrition to the babies.
• A baby rabbit gets ready for selling purpose in 3 months if the proper feed is given.
• Newborn babies open their eyes in 12-14 days
• Weight ranges between 1.45 kg to 2 kg depending on the feed.
• Rabbits are used for meat purpose and for making vaccination for swine fever in piggeries

Rajesh says- “Farmer should try to get their female rabbit 8 times pregnant in a year to earn good profit.”

How Rajesh Kumar prepares feed for rabbits…

In India, there is no specific feed company for rabbits, because rabbits consume less amount of feed. So, Rajesh Kumar prepares rabbit feed at home.

Ingredients of Dry Feed- Maize, Wheat, Soybeans granules, Choker, Rice Bran for fat, Salt, Mineral Mixture.

This feed changes according to the area.

During June, July and August moisture content is very high in the atmosphere, so farmers should make only 100 kg feed according to 10 units of rabbits. Because rabbits fell sick by eating bad feed. Rabbits are just like humans and they should be taken care very carefully. Although there is no specific vaccination for rabbits, if the rabbit has caught some disease then Rajesh Kumar assist the farmers with its medications.

Currently, Rajesh Kumar is living with his mother, father, wife, two sisters, two brothers and his son in his hometown Dhatrath, district Jind (Haryana). His brother Parveen Kumar help him in his rabbit farming venture. His monthly income from rabbit farming is Rs. 30 to 40, 000.

Awards & Achievements:

• 3rd award in best rabbit competition at Pant Nagar
• Certified by Haryana Government
• Registered with CPCSEA (Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals) in 2016

Future plan: He wants to expand and expose his rabbit farming contract business to more farmers in India.

Message

“Rabbit farming is a profitable venture because it needs less investment and more profit. Small-scale farmers who have less land can invest in this venture and gain good profit out of it.”

Details of contract rabbit farming provided by Rajesh Kumar

Rajesh Kumar provides 2 days full training for rabbit farming in batches. Training includes vaccination, medication, checking pregnancy, taking care. If any farmer is interested in doing rabbit farming then minimum 3 lakh rupees is required for the investment in 10 units of rabbit and for shed 1 lakh rupees. In India, most founded breeds of rabbits are Angora (in cold region), Chinchilla, Grey Giant, Newzealand White, and Dutch Half Black-Half White.

Rajesh Kumar also has an office in Kurukshetra from where he manages all the official work of his farm.

Rajesh Kumar as being a B.Sc. Graduate in Multimedia Animation proved that rabbit farming is a field which any person can adopt and continue successfully with little guidance and training. Although he could have chosen the field of Multimedia Animation, but he chose his real interest to pursue in the future.

Captain Lalit

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HOW A MAN REALIZED HIS TRUE CALLING AND CHOSE HORTICULTURE AS HIS RETIREMENT PLAN

Growing pomegranate on the dry sandy land of Rajasthan, sound like a funny, fruitless, idea but with strong determination, perseverance, and high-density farming technology, Captain Lalit has made it possible.

After mastering many fields and pursuing many careers in his life, at last, Captain Lalit chose horticulture as his retirement plan and came back to his native place- 11 Eea in Ganganagar district of Rajasthan. Well, for many city-living-people, farming is not a good retirement plan, but Mr Lalit realized his true calling and thought of giving a chance to the very noble and basic profession of farming.

Earlier Life-

Mr Lalit was an active and enthusiastic man from the beginning, He started his professional career since he was studying in the college. After completing his graduation, he also obtained the license of a commercial pilot and pursued the profession of a pilot. Well, this is not all that he did. There was an era when computer education was just introduced in India everywhere, so by not missing the opportunity, he started a new venture and opened a computer education centre in Jaipur city. Soon after some time he also qualified the Oracle test and became an Oracle certified computer trainer. His computer education centre business went well for some years, but as the computer craze came down he had to wrap up his business because it wasn’t generating enough profit.

From his career choices, it was clear that from the beginning he was interested in choosing a unique profession which includes something new, whether it’s about the trend, technology or thing. And the next thing that he started was farming English vegetables and flowers for commercial purpose by taking a small piece of land on rent in Jaipur city, and many big five star hotels purchased his produce from him.

“When I was growing English vegetables like thyme, baby corn, broccoli, lettuce etc., at that time the localities use to make fun of me because for them these English vegetables were new. And they were amazed to see the smaller version of corn and greener version of cauliflower. But today they are eating those vegetables in pizza, burger, and salad.”

When the idea came into existence-

When he was farming English vegetables, during that time he realized that farming is the best investment and he should start it on a large scale. As he already had an ancestral property (12 bighas land) in his native place, so he decided to start Kinnow Farming on it. He came to his village with the idea of starting kinnow farming, but after discussing with many farmers he realized that everyone is doing the same and he should do something different.

And this was the time when his research on different fruit started and he visited many different farms in different cities. From his research, he made out a conclusion of growing an elite fruit and a common fruit. He consulted CISH (Central Institute of Subtropical Horticulture, Lucknow) and decided to start pomegranate and guava farming in 2015. He grew pomegranate (sindoori variety) on 6 Bigha and Guava on the other 6 Bigha. Made mobile and the internet his book and teacher for research and help.

“In the beginning, I also consulted Rajasthan Agriculture University but they said that pomegranate farming is not possible in Rajasthan and they made fun of me.”

Farming Methods & Technology-
He followed high-density farming technology for pomegranate to generate high quality and good quantity produce. In this farming technology, he followed canopy management and planted 7 pomegranate plants in 20 m x 20 m area. By doing this, 1 plant is gives 20 kg fruit in a season and 7 plants gives 140 kg. In this way, he has planted more trees in less area and will generate good profit from it in the future. Moreover, due to high-density farming, trees height and width are less, due to which fewer labours are needed to maintain the whole farm.

Captain Lalit is much mechanized with his farming methods. For better yield and effective results, he has customized a tank-cum-machine with an attached mud pump, inside which he has installed a shaft to rotate and spread the slurry and jivamrit in the farm easily. To move the tank around the farm he uses a small tractor. When it comes to being economical then he prepares all the manure, fish amino acid fertilizer, bacteria and fungus for his whole farm himself, by buying just a bottle of NPK Bio-fertilizer from the market. He multiplies the bio-cultures by preparing the spray.

He has also adopted two cows of Rathi breed, which were roaming free on the road and now he is utilizing those cows for making jivamrit and manure. One of the important thing that he uses in the manure is “Agnihotr bhabhooti”- ashes obtained by offering prayers to God in front of the fire.

“The reason I am using Agnihotr Bhabhooti is that it helps in purifying the environment and it is a way of Adhyatmik Kheti. Adhyatmik means spiritual, a way of farming which is related to God.”

He has also built up a water reservoir in 50 m x 50 m area to save rain water and irrigate his farm with it. Earlier his farm was totally Eco-friendly because he was using solar electricity to manage everything. But now he is getting electricity from the government.

Role of Government-

His whole project of Pomegranate and Guava farming has been approved by the National Horticulture Board, and he gets the subsidy from them.

Achievements-
His farming effort is appreciated by many people. The university which made fun of him now invite him as the guest in their events and also consults him for high-density farming and pruning techniques.

Current Scenario-

Today he has 5000 plants in 12 Bigha of area and the age of the plants is 2 year and 4 months. By following high-density farming, pomegranate trees has already started bearing the fruit, but he is expecting the real commercial yield next year.

“During my research, I also visited some south Indian States and High Density Farming is already being done there. Farmers in North India should also follow this technique because it is very beneficial, in all the aspects.”

Before starting all this, he had the theoretical knowledge about high-density farming but he lacked the practical experience, but slowly with the time, he is gaining that too. He has 2 workers and with the help of them, he manages his farm.

His Views-

When a farmer starts farming he should start investing like an industry, then only he can gain profit. Moreover, today every farmer needs to be mechanized if they want to be efficient in farming.

Message to farmers-
“
Until farmers don’t stop practicing conventional farming they cannot become empowered and independent. Especially those farmers who have less land, have to take initiative themselves and they should invest in horticulture. They should just follow the right direction.
”

Ravinder Singh, Shahtaj Sandhu

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How Sandhu Brothers Continues the Family Saga & Hatches Poultry Business to New Heights

This is not just a story related to chickens and eggs. This is a story of brothers’ strong determination which turned their small family venture into a multimillionaire project, even after facing many hurdles.

Well, who knew that poultry farming started as a side business two decades ago by a small ordinary farmer – Mukhtiar Singh Sandhu, will turn up into a great success by their coming generation.

So, how the foundation of poultry business was laid…

This is a matter of 1984 when Mukhtiar Singh Sandhu decided of investing in poultry business along with farming. Mr. Sandhu recognized poultry business as a good source of alternative income, and for the growing needs of the family, he felt it was a best option to pursue along with agriculture. He started with 5000 broiler chicks and slowly with the time and money flow he expanded it.

When his nephew joined the business…

As the time passed by, Mukhtiar Singh did his best and gave the best education to his children. And in 1993, his nephew Ravinder Singh Sandhu (Laddi) decided to enter his uncle’s business and decided to expand broiler business to new heights.

When bird flu hit hard the market and affected many poultry businesses…

In the year of 2003 – 2004, bird flu outbreak caused a major loss to the poultry industry. Poultry farmers threw their chickens in the river and they were left with nothing. No one dared to start with the poultry venture again. Sandhu Poultry also faced major hit back. But Ravinder Singh Sandhu was very resolute and he wanted to make his business stand again at any cost. He was a little scared also that this industry may get shut down, but nothing stood in between his determination and goal. He took a loan from the bank and started his poultry farm again.

“The reason behind starting the poultry business again was that my uncle (Mukhtiar Singh Sandhu) was much attached to this business, as he was the first person who laid the first brick of this business.Moreover, in our family, every education expense (primary to higher education) and family expense of every single member is taken care through this business only. Today, one of my sisters is working as a government officer in California; another sister is a government lecturer in a government high school in Karnal; a few years back Shahtaj Singh (cousin brother of Ravinder Singh) completed his Masters in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Florida; Marriage expense of both daughter and son… everything was done from the income of this poultry farm.”

Very few people started their poultry business again and Ravinder Singh Sandhu was one of them. After the revival period, Sandhu Poultry Farms came back with a great holler and made a good profit in the poultry business.

Expansion of the business….
Till 2010, Ravinder along with his uncle expanded the farm productivity to 2.5 lakh chickens. In the same year, they also established a hatchery with the capacity of 40,000 birds, from which they started getting 15000 birds on an average daily.
When the Shahtaj joined the business…
In 2012, after completing his studies, Shahtaj Singh Sandhu joined his cousin brother (Ravinder aka Laadi) and father (Mukhtiar Singh) in poultry business. Earlier they used to buy the feed from other companies but after some time, both the brothers took Sandhu Poultry Farm to new heights and established Sandhu Feeds. Both – Sandhu Poultry Farm and Sandhu Feed are registered under the authorized organization.

Currently, they have 7-8 units of poultry farms spread in 22 acres, hatchery in 4 acres, feed plant in 4 acres and crop farm in 30 acres, situated at Jind Road, Assandh (Haryana). To give their farm surrounding a green landscape and fresh environment, they have planted more than 5000 trees. 2 people are assigned to properly manage the feed plant and other than that there are 100 workers employed for the functioning of the poultry farm, out of which 40 are official workers.

When it comes to the hygiene and farm conditions, then it is always maintained under the strict supervision of Sandhu Brothers. After the clearance of every batch of birds, the whole poultry farm is washed and cleaned properly and then a thick layer (3 – 3.5 inch) of rice husk is spread over the ground to provide a fresh and dry atmosphere to the chicks. Temperature maintenance is another factor which plays important role in running the poultry farm, so they have installed coolers for proper air ventilation in summer season and furnace for maintaining warmness inside the poultry during winter seasons.

“A little negligence can lead to huge loss, so we always prefer to maintain the hygiene and healthy condition of the chicks. We refer government veterinary hospital and sometimes special poultry hospitals. Charges are very nominal.”


Marketing
Ravinder Sandhu with 24 years of experience and Shahtaj Sandhu with 5 years of experience in poultry industry have fabricated a strong marketing network in their own state as well as in the neighbouring states like Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. They sell birds and chicks feed in Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan through different dealers and sometimes directly to farmers.

“If anyone is interested in starting a poultry farm then the ideal way to do it, is with minimum 10,000 birds. Initially, it costs Rs. 200 per bird and Rs. 130 to raise a bird. Approximately you can say that expenses will be in between 30 – 35 Lakh and if the farm is rented then it is 13 -1400000 for a batch of 10000 birds.” – Says the ambitious Sandhu Brothers.”

Future Plan

“Expanding farm and raising more birds was already on the checklist but the new thing which we are planning to do in the future is – investment in the business of retailing poultry products.”

Both the brothers with their unmatchable strong bond of brotherhood have taken their family business to new heights and they will continue it in the future also.

Message
“
Poultry business is a good alternate source of income in which farmers must invest if they want to earn good profit along with farming. There are few things that every poultry farmer must take care if they want to continue successful poultry business, like hygiene condition, temperature maintenance, and good quality chicks and feed.
”

Bhupinder Singh Bargari

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How This Son Stepped Into His Father’s Shoes So Perfectly by Reinventing His Father Jaggery Processing Business at a Greater Level

This story is all about, how a son (Bhupinder Singh Bargari) prosperously carried out his father’s (Sukhdev Singh Bargari) occupational work and came up with the famous Jaggery Brand- BARGARI in Punjab.

There was a time when the ox was used to extract the sugarcane juice to make Jaggery out of it. But as the time evolved machines came into function for the sugarcane juice extraction. Moreover, due to indiscriminate use of chemical and color in making gudd, this coarse sweetener lost all its charm and slowly people got attracted towards the crystal of white sugar.

Still, many families prefer jaggery over sugar and they use the traditional method to make Jaggery from sugarcane juice. This is the story of Sukhdev Singh Bargari and his son- Bhupinder Singh Bargari. In 1972, Sukhdev Singh used to sharpen the tools and equipment of the farmers and in return he uses to take grains, vegetables or whatever the farmers offer, as his daily wage. After some time, he purchased an engine and started making jaggery from it. His pure traditional method of Jaggery extraction and no use of chemicals made his Gudd famous and many villagers started giving him sugarcane crop to make Gudd for it. Sukhdev used to do this work mainly from mid of November to March.

There came a time when Sukhdev’s hard work came with the real zest and the demand of jaggery made by him increased to multiple times. This is a matter of 2011 when his daughter was getting married. At that time he distributed a sweet made up of jaggery, desi ghee (clarified butter) and dry fruits with the wedding invitation cards to all his relatives and friends. Everyone relished that sweet very much and demanded him to make more for them, and at that stage, his son- Bhupinder Singh Bargari decided to take hold of his father’s work and expand it to a grander level. After this instance, the father-son duo started making two types of jaggery- one with dry fruits and another without.

Bargari family’s traditional method of cleaning the sugarcane juice with the slimy substance of okra made their product superior than the artificial jaggery made by using chemical and color. Their pure and clean method of making jaggery made Sukhdev Singh and Bhupinder Singh popular and people start recognizing them for their work.

Just following father’s footstep is not what Bhupinder Singh Bargari is up to. Mr. Bhupinder holds the degree of B.Ed. and MA and after that, he has also cleared ETT Teacher Exam and he is working as a school teacher. After getting free from his teaching profession he daily makes out time for the jaggery business.

In order to make this traditional sweetener more popular, Bhupinder started farming sugarcane of C085 variety in 2 acres area and also formed a Self-Help-Group through which he motivated farmer-members of the group to grow sugarcane. This step of Bhupinder resulted in farming sugarcane as much as needed, which reaped great profit to farmers as well as to Bargari family.

From last 5 years, Jaggery produced by Bargari family has won 4 times first prize and one-time second prize in the competition organized by PAU. In 2014, they also won Udami Kisan State Award for good quality jaggery. Bhupinder Singh also went to Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research, Lucknow and discussed his marketing techniques with them in National Jaggery Sammelan. This is not the only approach that he took to spread the awareness for Jaggery marketing. He also participated in PAU event held in March, to enlighten the farmers with the marketing knowledge for their betterment.

Establishment of his own processing plant…
Jaggery Processing Plant

Currently, he has his own Jaggery Processing Plant at Kot Kapura-Bathinda road, where he processes pure Gudd (Jaggery) by following their own traditional method. The demand of Gudd and Shakkar (Jaggery Powder) increases in winter because the tea made up of pure jaggery (made from traditional method) don’t have any harmful effect on human body. Even, the specialist of Gastroenterologist (Stomach Doctors) of that particular area also started recommending their patients to eat gudd (Jaggery) made by the Bargari Family.

Cereal Crops Processing Plant

Other than this Bhupinder also have his own cereal processing plant at the same place, where he processes wheat, maize, barley, sorghum, and mustard grown by the members of his SHG. Along with the processing plant, he has also opened a store, through which he sells his processed products.

How the brand was named:

After knowing about the recommendations of the doctors about his Jaggery, he was very influenced by it and he decided “Bargari Jaggery” as his brand name.

Bhupinder also has an FB Page by the name “Bargari Jaggery” through which he communicates with the ideal customers. He has also discussed the whole procedure of Jaggery making through his FB Page.

He always maintains a continuous contact with the food technology and food processing and engineering departments of Agricultural University to bring positive changes in his business.

Today, Bhupinder Singh gives all the credit to his father- Mr. Sukhdev Singh Bargari for whatever he has achieved in his life. Apart from running a successful business, Bhupinder Singh Bargari is also a good teacher and is helping the people and kids of the village Kothe Kehar Singh village of Faridkot district. Many articles have been published in the local newspaper about his good deeds. He not only wants to help the farmers but also to inspire the youngsters and help them with his work and knowledge.

Well, this father-and-son duo worked successfully and has reached up to this level in their lives, just because of the understanding they had in between them. In future also Bhupinder Singh Bargari will continue his good work and will keep inspiring the young generation farmers with his knowledge.


Message:
“
I want farmers to get involved in food processing business along with farming. In this way, they can make a good profit out of their occupation. Today, farmers need to be updated with the modern agricultural practices only then they can move ahead and do well in their fields.
”

Avtar Singh

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AFTER SWITCHING MULTIPLE PROFESSIONS, THIS FARMER FOUND PIG FARMING THE RIGHT OCCUPATION FOR HIMSELF!

Changing occupation is never easy, as it can negatively impact the lives of people who are dependent on it, especially the family members, and when this matter is concerned with a farmer’s life then the insecurity factor is just double. A new opportunity comes with both risks and benefits, the person just has to understand that what satisfies him and his needs better, because finding a meaningful work is very important. One such a farmer from Barnala District of Punjab, Mr. Avtar Singh Randhawa also changed multiple occupations and found pig farming as the right profession for himself.

Like other farmers, Avtar Singh also started wheat and paddy farming, just after completing his studies (10th) along with his father Basant Singh Randhawa. But soon he realized that his life is not meant to follow this tradition of conventional farming. So, he thought of investing in the grocery store business. He opened a shop in his village- Channa Gulab Singh, but after some time, he found out that he is not even satisfied with this profession. Someone suggested him about mushroom farming and he started that too, but he understood that it needs much investment and this venture also ended empty handed. At last, he heard from a person that pig farming is a profitable occupation and he thought that why not give it a try.

After discussing with the concerned person, Avtar joined the training conducted by PAU (Punjab Agriculture University) for Pig Farming and Pig Products Processing. In the beginning, he started with 3 pigs, and after three years of hard work, today, the count of pigs has increased to 50. When he started pig farming 3 years back, many villagers use to talk about him and his occupation. As Avtar Singh was the first one who started pig farming in his villages, so many villagers were confused and many were just analyzing that what will be the outcome of this. But after seeing the happy face and increasing profit of the Randhawa family, many villagers came up with their interest in pig farming.

“When I told my wife about the pig farming business, she was against me and she doesn’t want me to invest in it. Even my relatives also used to scold me about my work, because in their perception I was doing a low-grade work. But I was determined and this time I didn’t want to turn back and leave something in the middle.”

Today, Avtar is very happy and satisfied with his work and he also encourages other farmers of his village towards this profession. He manages the breeding work himself in his farm. Within 7-8 months he sells 80 pigs on an average and is earning good profit from it.

Currently, he is living with his son and wife, and even with this small family and little needs he used to grow paddy and wheat on his own, for home purpose. Now his wife also supports him in pig farming.

Like Avtar, there are many other farmers in Punjab who are into pig farming business and are making it a big project in the coming time. With the growing demand of pork and pig products, pig farming is going to be a booming venture in the future. Some futuristic farmers have already understood it and Avtar Singh Randhawa is one of them.

Future Plan:

Avtar is planning to make use of his training and start processing pig products. He wants to expand the Randhawa Piggery Farm to a larger extent in the future.

Message:
“With modernization, many new farming techniques and trends are coming and the farmers should be aware of it. The farmers should follow a path in which they believe, not the path that others are following.”

Davinder Singh

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How a farmer made diversified farming his path of success and is inspiring others through it.

One of the successful diversified farmer Davinder Singh from Nakodar (District Jalandhar) discussed with Apni Kheti Team that how he was motivated towards diversified farming and what other inventions he did in the field of farming to reap good profit from it.

Davinder Singh is a firm believer of the thought that – “The work done by self is important only” and today whatever he has achieved is by his hard work and hunger to do more in the field of farming. As coming from a farming background he started farming after completing his 10th and didn’t go for higher studies. He started farming with vegetables like an ordinary farmer. He already had 1.8 hectares land of his own but he also took 1 hectare on rent. The income he was generating from farming was enough to satisfy the present family needs but not that enough to think about the better future for his family.

In 1990-91 he came in contact with Punjab Agriculture University and learned about some new farming techniques which could help in generating good profit from farming without expanding the farming area. And the reason which motivated him to implement those new techniques on his farm was that it doesn’t include any hi-tech machinery or chemicals.

To expand his area of expertise he also took beekeeping training from KVK- Noor Mahal, Jalandhar and started beekeeping. This venture made him good profit and he continued it. By implementing new farming techniques like bed farming and tunnel farming, he started diversified farming.

Well, many people are doing diversified farming in Punjab, but they are limited to few crops only. Davinder Singh let his thought of wild horses run and he experimented by intercropping cabbage and onion together. This initiative of diversified farming gave him a very good yield and he harvested 375 quintals of cabbage and 125 quintals of onion in that season. Many agriculture experts got help from his farming ways in their research. He was also the first one who inter-cropped “onion, tomato, coriander” together and after that, he also inter-cropped “onion, cucumber, capsicum” and “cabbage, marigold” together.

All the crops pairing done by him for diversified farming was a great success and he made a great profit from all these inter-cropping patterns. He also received Jain Adviser State Award for his “Papaya-Eggplant & Cabbage-Onion” inter-cropping patterns.

Education never became a barrier between him and trending new farming techniques. His inquisitive mind always wanted to learn, and to satisfy the needs of his mind, he also fed his mind with appropriate knowledge. He always visited many progressive farmers of Maler Kotla to learn basics of vegetable farming and he also attended every type of meetings and camp organized by Punjab Agriculture University or Horticulture Department.

Davinder Singh’s farming ways were so better and productive that he was also awarded Surjit Singh Dhillon Award by PAU in 2010 for Tunnel Farming. He also became the member of PAU Kisan Club and Agriculture Technology Prabandh Agency- ATMA Governing Body (Jalandhar).

Well, the key to scale success in the field of farming while moving from a beginning stage is to keep your creative/innovative edge alive and Davinder Singh also did the same. He implemented drip irrigation and shower irrigation in his farm better water management. He also started using Tensiometer for paddy farming and Jantar to increase the yield of the soil.

Recently, he has started diversified farming of cucumber and water melon and is expecting great profit returns from it also. Many farmers visit his farm to see and learn from him and he also open-heartedly shares his learning with them. He wants to experiment more with diversified farming and spread his learning with other farmers so that they can also take benefit of it.

Future Plans:
For the future, he has great ideas aligned in his mind and very soon he will be implementing those also. 

Message to Farmers:
“Our land is gold and to cultivate gold out of it we have to do hard work and smart work both. We just need good farming techniques to harvest gold on our own. If we have skills then we should share it with others.”

Khushdeep Singh Bains

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HOW A 26-YEAR-OLD BOY DISCOVERED THE REAL JOY OF HIS LIFE IN VEGETABLE FARMING

India holds the second largest agricultural land in the world and its impact on Indian economy is huge. But still, today, if we ask the youngsters about their future plan, then very few, will be there who will say farming or agribusiness.

A 26-year-old boy from Harnampura, Ludhiana- Khushdeep Singh Bains, who after working for 2 years in two different companies decided to switch to farming, and today he is growing only vegetables in 28 acres of land.

Well, what made Khushdeep leave his good-earning comfortable job and start farming? It was Khushdeep’s interest towards agriculture.

Khushdeep Singh Bains comes from a family background where his father- Mr. Sukhwinder Singh, mainly used to do real estate work, and for home purpose wheat and paddy farming on a small scale. Khushdeep’s father always wanted his son to do a comfortable job where he will be given a chair and desk to work, he never thought of making his son work in the sun and soil. But when Khushdeep quit his job and started farming at that time his father was completely against his decision, because in his perception, farming is an occupation which needs huge labour and it is not a work that qualified and literate people should do.

But to change any negative opinion you just need a powerful positive result, and this is what Khushdeep came up with.

How it started…

When Khushdeep was working in Eastman at that time he used to prepare seedlings and this is when he was more attracted towards farming. After working for 1 year and 8 months he switched his job and started working with UPL Pesticides, but there also he only survived for 2-3 months. He was not satisfied with his work and he wanted to do something more. So, after working for 2 years in Eastman and UPL- Pesticide Company, Khushdeep decided of starting vegetable farming.

He started with pumpkin, ridge gourd and okra by planting it in half acre each, he used pesticides and the harvest was more than his imagination. Slowly he started expanding the farming area and vegetable types. He started growing every type of vegetable, whether it is in-season or out-of-season. He also signed the contract with Pagro Foods Ltd. for pea and sweetcorn farming and gained huge profit from them. Later on, in 2016, he planted paddy, beans, potato, onion, garlic, peas, capsicum, cauliflower, mung beans, and basmati turn wise on the same land.

Along with farming, Khushdeep also started preparing seeds and seedlings of garlic and many other crops and this side work benefited him a lot. From last three years, he is displaying his seed preparation work in PAU Ludhiana Kisan Mela and is getting an overwhelming response every time.

Today Khushdeep’s father and mother, both are proud of their son’s achievements. Khushdeep himself is very happy with his work and is also encouraging other farmers toward it. Currently, he is making a good profit from vegetable farming and his future plan is to start his own nursery and food processing business.

Message to farmers:
“Farmers shouldn’t be dependent on the third person for their marketing, they should do their work on their own. There is one more thing that farmers should keep in mind and that is they should never follow anything by seeing anyone, they should do what they feel from inside.
The farmer should also think about doing diversified farming and they should grow more than one crop because in case one crop gets damage then at least there is the second crop to support you. Consult one to two experts every time and after that start your new venture.”

Amrik Singh Dhillon

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Know how the tricks of this smart farmer are proved beneficial in farming

It is said that often needs and compulsions take people towards new inventions and likewise new discoveries are possible.

Today we are going to talk about one such person, who understood the basic necessity and needs and invented useful things by applying his new-new hacks and tricks- Amrik Singh Dhillon.

Amrik Singh Dhillon is a residence of village Giyana, Tehsil Talwandi (Bathinda). His father (Sardar Molan Singh) inherited the occupation of farming from his ancestors and after seeing him, Amrik Singh also started showing interest in farming. They have a total of 14 acres of land on which they do conventional farming.

As he was interested in farming from his childhood, so in 2000 he quit his studies after completing his 10th and decided to help his father in farming. Along with that he also started working on his friend’s mobile repair shop in his free time. But after some time he realized that education till 12th is necessary because it’s a primary education that everyone should must attend and it also helps the person to gain confidence. So, he completed the education till 12th from private school.

From childhood, he used to find a different, easy and efficient way to do all the work, because of this reason the villagers use to call him “JUGADU”. He used this same skill again after growing up as an adult with his friends and made a lot of beneficial tools for the farmers. (Jugadu- a person who finds low-cost solution to any problem in an intelligent way).

The process of making the tool started at that time when one day he was sitting in a mobile repair shop with his friend and suddenly an idea pop up in his mind of making a tool to protect motorcycle from being stolen. In a few days, he created a device by applying his gimmick that does not allow a motorcycle to move even after breaking the lock or using a fake key, and along with that it also gives a ring on the phone of the bikes owner. The success of this device inspired him more.

He continued his work even further. When he heard the news about theft of transformer, then an idea suddenly came into his mind and he thought that like motorcycle he can also make a device which will protect transformer from being stolen. And at last he succeeded in this initiative also, which gave a great relief to the farmers.

In his area, there are frequent power cuts and many times people are not even aware when power is back. After understanding this problem, he again used his smart brain and prepared a device, which calls on the phone when power is back.

Farmers are appreciating and liking the equipment very much and because of their affordable cost many farmers are also purchasing it for their own use.

According to him, he don’t make any plans before making any equipment, but equipment are needed according to the requirement, and he is working on it and in future also he will continue to make such tools to meet the need of the common people.

Harjinder Kaur Randhawa

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How this 60-Year-Old Woman Established the Foundation of a Mushroom Farming Business in Amritsar and Her Sons made it Successful

Where people in Punjab are still stuck in the cycle of conventional farming, there are some farmers who are breaking this cycle and are bringing innovative farming trends which are helping in saving the nature’s essential resource like water.

This is a story of a family’s effort! Randhawa Family is from the holy city of Punjab- Amritsar, which is known for its amazing cuisine, culture and serene Golden Temple surrounded by Amrit Sarovar (holy water pond). This family is not only bringing revolution in mushroom farming but also encouraging other farmers toward modern and profitable farming trends.

Harjinder Kaur Randhawa is the famous mushroom lady of Amritsar. She started mushroom cultivation just as a side work or we can say it was her hobby, but who knew that Mrs. Harjinder’s hobby will be transformed into a successful business by her sons in the coming future.

So how it get started…
As being the wife of Rajinder Singh Randhawa who was serving in Punjab Police in eighties-nineties, there was no shortage in the house that would have made Mrs. Harjinder Kaur insecure to look for an alternate money earning source.

How a housewife’s interest laid the foundation for the family’s future…
But in 1989, Harjinder Kaur thought of doing something different and utilize her free time in an efficient manner, so she started mushroom cultivation in the veranda of her house. She had no training before starting mushroom cultivation, but her dedication brings the true colors to her work. Slowly she expanded her mushroom cultivation work and started making processed food items of mushroom.

When the sons became the mother’s support….
When her sons grew up and were done with their studies, then three (Manjeet, Mandeep and Harpreet) out of four sons decided of helping their mother and become helping hand in the mushroom farming business. All the three sons especially went to Directorate of Mushroom Research, Solan for training. From there they learn about growing different varieties of mushroom like button, milky, and oyster. They also attended other vocational training given by Punjab Agriculture University on Mushroom Farming. While the third son (Jagdeep Singh) was more interested towards farming other crops and later on he went to Australia and started sugarcane and banana farming.

As time passed, Harjinder Kaur’s sons keep on expanding the mushroom farming work and they also started preparing processed mushroom products like Pickles, Papad, Powder, Vadiyaan, Namkeen and Biscuit for commercial purpose. On the other hand, Mr. Rajinder Singh Randhawa also joined the mushroom farming business along with other family members after retirement.

Today Randhawa family is a successful mushroom producer and mushroom products, manufacturers. From seed preparation to marketing, the family members do everything themselves. After Harjinder Kaur, the other member who took the business more seriously and worked towards expanding is Mandeep Singh (2nd son) he especially manages all the manufacturing and marketing part. Mainly he functions through their shop (Randhawa Mushroom Farm) which is situated at Batala-Jalandhar Road.

The other two son (Manjeet Singh & Harpreet Singh) also plays a very important role in running the Randhawa Mushroom Farm, they manage the mushroom farming, harvesting and other work related to the business.

Although the sons of the family are now managing all the work, still Harjinder Kaur participates very actively and personally visit the farming and manufacturing location and guide the other people working on it. She is the main person who takes cares of the hygiene and quality of the product manufactured by them.

How Harjinder Kaur wants to see her third generation in the coming future…

“I want my third generation (grandchildren) should also be the part of our business. Some of them who are  big enough to understand what is going on, has already started showing interest in the mushroom cultivation business. We are also planning to send our grandson (SO- Manjeet Singh, currently studying in 10th) to go for higher studies in mushroom research and do Ph.D. in it.”

Setting mark in the market…
Randhawa Mushroom Farm has already marked their presence on a large scale in the market with their quality produce. Currently, 70% of the produce (fresh mushrooms and processed mushroom food items) are sold through their shop and the rest of the 30% are sent to vegetable markets of nearby big cities like Jalandhar, Amritsar, Batala, and Gurdaspur.

As they are growing three varieties of mushroom Milky, Button and oyster so the revenue is pretty good. On all the three variety the investment is less and income is between Rs 70 to 80 per kg (raw mushrooms). Button mushroom crops take 20 to 50 days to get ready for harvesting, whereas Oyster (Nov-April) and Milky (May-Oct) takes 6 months to get ready for harvesting. Due to their crops readying and harvesting time their business is never out of season.

Randhawa Family…
The whole family including daughter-in-laws are very much involved in the business and they prepare all the products themselves at home. The second son – Mandeep Singh is serving one more profession other than handling the marketing department of their family business, he is working as a reporter in Jagbani Newspaper since 2007 and covers the Amritsar district. Sometimes in his absence, Mr Rajinder Singh Randhawa takes care of the shop.

Nowadays, the government and agriculture department is encouraging farmers towards farming crop that requires less water, and mushroom is one of those crops which doesn’t need water is the huge quantity for irrigation. So by seeing their effort in the mushroom cultivation, Randhawa family has been awarded district level award two times and tehsil level awards many times in events and fairs. Recently (10th September 2017) Randhawa family efforts have also been appreciated nationwide by Directorate of Mushroom Research, Solan, where they were awarded National Award.


MESSAGE FOR FARMERS

Randhawa family believes in being together and their message is the most unique and inspirational message for farmers.

 “The family which stays together achieves success very easily. Nowadays farmer should understand the power of unity and instead of dividing their land and property among the family members they should live and work in unity. One more thing that farmer should start is self-marketing because it is the easiest way to earn confidence and earn the right price of your harvest.

 

”

Gurraj Singh Virk

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A Farmer Who Made His Skills His Strength in His Difficult Times and Emerged as a Futuristic Agriculturalist

It is generally seen in India that most of the farmers gave up very easily, instead of facing their home, financial, and other types of difficulties with confidence. Even some farmers also choose the path of committing suicide. But today we are going to discuss one such a farmer, who not even faced his personal and financial problem with boldness, but he also worked harder and achieved many high level of awards in the field of horticulture and that man is, Gurraj Singh Virk who is farming Kinnow from the last 30 years.

Gurraj Singh was born on 1st October 1954, in a normal farmer’s family and he is a residence of Surgapuri village (District Faridkot). Even though he has just passed 12th standard, but he never gave up on his courage, and not only with his self-confidence had he accomplished a great position in the field of horticulture, but he also invented the machine to make his work easier and efficient. But the position he has achieved today for that he had worked very hard.

Beginning Struggle in his life
In the beginning, he was farming cotton, but his crops faced many diseases due to which he had to stop the farming of cotton in 1990 because money debt on him was increasing day by day that he took from other local merchants and banks. Then he started sugarcane farming, but after some time, he had to stop that as well because of low profit as Faridkot Sugarcane Mill was on a stage of getting shut down. After that, he decided to start paddy farming, but in this venture also he didn’t gain much of a profit because the land was not capable enough for irrigation.

Turning Point in Life
At last, with the support of Horticulture Department, Faridkot and Punjab Agriculture University he got trained in 1983 and planted Kinnow Orchard. It was not even 2 years since he planted the kinnow trees in the orchards, his father (Sardar Swarn Singh) expired, and because of this, the whole family’s strength was shattered. Although it took a lot of time to recover from it, but from patience, hard-work, and faith he managed to direct their life on the right path. The family was not even recovered properly from their great loss, and his mother also got expired in 1999, the whole family was again in a great shock. But even facing all this he never gave up his confidence and he continued his hard-work and effort.

Fruit of Hard Work
It is said that fruit of patience is sweet, in the same way, his kinnow orchards started giving fruits and good days were returned. He never misused the profit he earned from kinnows, on the other hand, he used it well with his wise senses to expand his orchard area and got installed a deep tube well. Now he has enough water to irrigate his paddy field which resulted in increased revenue. He also planted grapes on 2.5 acres of land, which made him earn a profit of almost one lakh per acre.

But the path of success was not that easy, almost after 15-year termite attacked his grape vine fields due to which he had to uproot the whole grape orchard. Then also he never loses his hope and he expanded and continued his kinnow, paddy and wheat farming.

Modernized ways of farming
Sardar Virk always keeps himself updated with the latest technology and also implemented the necessary technology in his farm. Today he has total 41 acres of land, from which 21 acres is for kinnow farming and 20 acres is for wheat and paddy farming. Other than kinnow he also has trees of Lemon, Grape Fruit, Mousambi, Malta Red, Malta Jaffa, Nagpuri Orange, Orange, Plum, Pomegranate, Grapes, Guava, Amla, Jamun, Falsa and Chiku on his farm. For better water management he uses drip irrigation system and in summers to maintain the moisture level in the soil he implies mulching technique. He is well-skilled in taking care of natural resources. Most of the times to increase the fertility of the soil in which Kinnow plants are planted he always supports and recommend the use of green manure. Along with traditional ways, he also follows high-density farming technology for kinnow farming.

Inventions and Creations
To make his work easier he has invented many things. He has designed many types of machines, which are not of high level and costly, instead they are very normal and designed in a simple way. Machines designed by him save time and money both. He has also designed a spray pump and machine to cut and give proper shape to the trees in a very simple layman’s way. Other than this he has also created a machine for cleaning and grading the kinnows, which cleans 2 ton of kinnows in one hour. And the total expenditure in cleaning two tons of kinnow it only costs him Rs. 125, whereas if that work is done by hand then the expenditure is Rs. 1000. And there is more money is cleansing the kinnows by the mechanical way.

Other than above-mentioned inventions, Gurraj Singh Virk has also contributed to literature. He has written 7 famous articles for kinnow farming and a book also.

Achievements
The success and hard work of Gurraj Singh Virk have made him many achieve many awards in different events. Some of them are as follow:

• He has received many awards district and state level for kinnow farming. He was awarded Best Kinnow Farmer in 2010-11 and 2011-12 by National Horticulture Board.

• He was also honoured by the Advisor of Monthly Agriculture Magazines for organizing fair in March 2012.

• Gurraj Singh Virk was also an advisor to the high-level committees of PAU (Punjab Agriculture University) of fruits and vegetables, and he also made a special position for himself in Malwa Vegetable and Fruit Growing Committee.

• He is also known for helping many farmers on the behalf of many departments and organizations.

• Gurraj Singh Virk has helped farmers in around 150 acres for Kinnow farming.

He is very thankful to KVK Faridkot State Horticulture Department for the training of Kinnow Production.

Family Life
Even though Sardar Gurraj Singh Virk was not that educated enough and he also faced many great problems in his life, but then also he has great achievements. Today his kids are also reflecting the same and are well settled at higher job positions. His wife (Jagmeet Kaur) is more of a home lady. Of their 5 children, one son is a doctor in America, one son is an engineer in Canada, one daughter is doctor in Canada and other is in Punjab and one is nurse in Canada. All his children are happily living with their family. Gurraj Singh Virk often visits his children in Canada and America.

MESSAGE FOR FARMERS
“Farmers should never lose their hope and self-confidence because of small losses and other difficulties and they should never give up. Farmers should also think other than conventional framing ways. There are still many fields in farming in which farmer can reap higher profit. Horticulture is the same field like this in which farmer can make profits in lakhs very easily. But in the beginning, they should keep patience. I’m making a huge profit from horticulture and for the future also I want that farmers should adopt horticulture along with other traditional farming methods. “

Prabhjot, Shaminder and Sourav

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Story of Three Microbiologists Who Are Emerging as a Group of Entrepreneurs to Deliver the Best Food Experience to the Society

We all know that every successful business starts with a struggle to reach the pinnacle and nothing can be achieved easily. Behind every start-up business, there are sparkling ideas, late night discussions, arguments with close ones, thought processing, and much more. If we say that he is intelligent or he is financially sound, that’s why he is able to start a good business, then it is not true. We all have the same opportunities and we all are surrounded by great business ideas, we just have to open ourselves and let the possibilities come near us. Today, we are going to talk about three young men who discovered opportunities from their surrounding and are coming as a group of emerging entrepreneurs.

Three young students of PAU who came up with a belief of delivering the best food experience not as businessmen but as microbiologists are – Prabhjot Singh Khanna, Shaminderjeet Singh Brar, and Sourav Singla. And to give their idea a face and direction, they founded their company by the name MICRO FOODS in 2015 in Ludhiana, Punjab.

Well, yes it was a group effort by three of them, but the main inspiration behind their start-up were their professors – Dr. Sanjeev Kapoor and Dr. Ramandeep Singh. After completing their studies and research work in the field of fermented vinegar, all the three founders (Prabhjot, Shaminderjeet and Sourav) finally begin with their venture. They all three decided the company name and designed the logo.

While doing their research work, they already had a lot of work experience and knowledge of many leading fermentation and vinegar industries. So they started with the process of making organic vinegar by using natural fermentation techniques from natural fruits; that too without using synthetic acid or artificial ingredients. They set up their business manufacturing unit in 500 yards of area in Prabhjot’s home premises. And one thing that they are especially taking care of is the hygiene level of their manufacturing unit and aseptic conditions.

They started producing 4 types of vinegar made up of Apple, Java Plum (Jamun), Sugarcane, and White Grapes, under the brand name FRUIGAR. The idea behind choosing FRUIGAR as their vinegar name is that FRUI comes from Fruit and GAR come from Vinegar. They ordered raw material (fruits) from South India. The reason behind choosing these fruits for making vinegar is that all these have major health benefits and have very high demand in the market. Moreover, they are organic, so they are not going to hurt human body internally.

After making their product, they came up with the marketing plan. They started marketing their product on the basis of data that they used in their research. They also tried to cover all the doctors and introduce them with their organic fruit vinegar health benefits. Their main motive behind making fruit vinegar was to provide healthy produce to the community without any artificial ingredients.

These young entrepreneurs didn’t stop there, they also came up with two new products, known as Gluten Free Flour and Flour for the Diabetic Patient, which is very in demand nowadays. Coming from a farming background, Shaminderjeet Singh (one of the founders) cultivates wheat and paddy and also provides the raw material for their new product.

They are doing this work from past two years and slowly they are trying to establish their product in the market. Currently, they are making no profit, nor are they having loss, but in this short span of time, they have made a good number of loyal customers, which are aware of their product’s health benefits and want to invest in their product.

For them, this is just the beginning. They want to come up with more healthy and organic products for the community. Their future plan is to cover market and factories to a larger extent. Till now they are partially dependent on others for their packaging, processing, and marketing, but after 2017 they are planning to process, pack and market their product themselves. And they are also looking forward to tying up with MARKFED to sell their products.

Message by Prabhjot, Shaminderjeet, & Sourav
“Today youngsters who are in the field of Microbiology should think towards making their education a boon for the society. There are many different fields in Microbiology, in which student can do wonders. And before starting, they should discuss with the people, learned men, professionals, and their professors, as much as they can.”

Rajinder Pal Singh

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Story of a Man Who Learned From His Mistakes and Turned Towards the Wisest Pursuit: Organic Farming

Mother Nature is one of our greatest teachers and she never stopped from the earliest times in teaching us what we need to know. Today we are living on Earth in a way as if we had another one to go to. We are not aware that how we are disturbing the nature’s balance and how it can affect us in reverse. Nowadays, we are seeing many cases of diseases, abnormalities, and deficiencies, in humans and animals, but still, most of the people are not able to identify the slips, they are just sitting with the blindfolds as if nothing is going on. But there are still few people, who have learned from their mistakes and are trying to bring a change in the society.

It is said that mistakes have the power to turn you into something better than you were before. And one such person who turned his path towards something better is Rajinder Pal Singh and today he is a successful personality in the field of organic farming. His products are not only praised and have high demand in Punjab, but also in America, Canada and even the royal family of London is also aware of it.

Well, there is always a story behind a successful journey. Rajinder Pal Singh a resident of Kalalwala Village of District- Bathinda, was once a farmer who used to do conventional farming, but after facing the adverse effects of chemicals and pesticides himself, he realized that, with which intensity he is affecting his environment and his health by using the chemicals. He used to spray pesticides on his crops, but one day, that spray affected his nervous system and same was the case with one of his relatives. From that day he decided to quit the use of chemicals and adopt natural ways for farming.

In the beginning, he and his uncle started organic farming on 4 acres of land and slowly expanded the area. In 2001, he bought rose saplings from Uttar Pradesh and since then he is doing rose farming also along with cultivating other crops. He has taken no training for organic farming. His uncle helped him in organic farming by gathering all information from the books. Currently, he is living in a joint family, with his wife, children, uncles, aunts, and cousins, and he gives all the credit of his success to his family for their endless support.

He was the first farmer in Malwa region of Bathinda who chose organic farming over conventional farming. When he started organic farming, at that time, he faced many difficulties and many people discouraged him also by saying that he is just wasting money, but today his products are sold in advance booking. And he is also the first farmer of Punjab who gifted Rose Oil made by him on his farm to Prince Charles and his wife in 2010 in an event in Fatehgarh Sahib.

The title of “King of Flowers” is also given to him for the work he is doing. He has the best variety of rose called Damascus and you can smell the fragrance of roses by standing at a far distance from his rose fields which is spread over 6 acres of land. He has also set up an oil extraction project on his own farm where he makes rose oil by using his farm roses. Other than rose farming he is also growing Green Grams, Lentil, Maize, Soy Bean, Peanut, Bengal Gram, Wheat, Basmati, Chick Pea, Guar and other seasonal vegetables. In 12 acres he grows basmati and in the rest of the land, he grows other above-mentioned crops.

The roses which Rajinder Pal Singh is farming blooms once in a year in December and its harvesting is completed till the month of March and April. From one acre of land he is growing 12 to 18 quintals of roses and today his annual profit from one acre of rose farming land is 1.25 Lakhs. His products demand come from America, Canada, and other countries. Even the rose oil made by him is purchased at a good price in advance by the exporters, just because he makes it from pure organic roses. In the off-season, he grows other varieties of roses and make Gulkand from it and sell it in the nearby grocery stores. Other than rose oil, rose water, and gulkand, he also sells organic lentils, wheat, maize, rice and other crops that he grows. All the products made by him are sold under his brand name Bhakar Organic Farm.

Today, Rajinder Pal Singh is very much satisfied with organic farming. Yes, he is getting low yield but the price of his products is just two times than the price of other crops grown using conventional farming. He only uses cow dung manure and river water in his fields and does not buy any type of manure or compost from the market. By doing organic farming he is also able to maintain the nutrient and fertility level of the soil. In the beginning, he faced a little problem in marketing his products but as soon the people recognized the quality level of his products, he started gaining momentum in his work. And he is also facing very fewer diseases in his crops by doing organic farming.

Now coming to his awards and achievements- He is appreciated by the Central Government under the ATMA SCHEME and is presented as a role model to inspire other farmers in the country. He is also a member of Bhumi Vardaan Foundation which is led by the Royal Prince of Wales, Britain, and all his products are organically certified by this foundation. He has also received Appreciation letter from Punjab Agriculture Department, Patiala and even Ex-Agriculture Minister of Punjab – Mr. Tota Singh also awarded him as a Progressive Farmer.

Future Plans:

His future plan is to continue his work in the field of organic farming and make aware more and more farmers about organic farming and inspire them to do it.

Message Given by Rajinder Pal Singh
“Today our earth need us and we as a farmer are the most responsible person in saving the earth from pollution. Yes, by doing organic farming there is less yield, but in the coming times, there will be high demand for organic products, not just because it is healthy, but also because it will become the need of the hour. Moreover, organic farming is sustainable and requires less finance, it only requires labour, and if a farmer is interested in switching to organic farming then he can do it very easily.”

 

 

“

Harbant Singh

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Father-Son Duo Moving Towards Organic Farming By Making Internet their Research Weapon

Farming is one of the most important ingredients of human civilization and with the advancement in technology and living, farming has also been transformed over the years. But still, many farmers in India are stuck to the conventional farming method. But one such farmer or we can say a pair of a father-son duo who made the internet as their research weapon to progress in the field of farming are Harbant Singh (father) and Satnam Singh (son).

Like other farmers, Harbant Singh was also into conventional farming until his son came up with the idea of orchard farming organically. Yes, it was Satnam Singh who after his 1 year of research, approached his father to start dragon fruit farming.

It all started just one year ago when Satnam Singh came in contact with a person (Vishal Doda) in Gujarat through one of his friends. Vishal Doda is doing dragon fruit farming in 15 acres of area. Satnam Singh researched everything about dragon fruit plant and discussed it with his father. And when Harbant Singh came to know about dragon fruit farming and its benefits, he very happily encouraged his son to start it, no matter how much investment they have to do. Soon they visited Gujarat, bought dragon fruit plants and took some guidance from Vishal Doda about its farming.

Today, this father-son duo is the first one who started dragon fruit farming in Punjab and now the plant has started bearing fruits also. They have planted 500 seedlings of dragon fruits in one and a half bigha of land. One plant gives 4-20 kg of fruit in 4 years. They especially cast and prepared a cement structure with a wheel mounted on the pillar to support this plant. Whenever they need help related to dragon fruit farming either they search the internet or they consult Vishal Doda.

Well, dragon fruit farming is not the only thing that they are doing, they have also planted Sandalwood seedling on their farm. The idea of planting sandalwood came when Satnam was watching a news channel where he came to know that a minister gifted a sandalwood tree trunk in a temple that was worth in lakhs. At that time, the thing that struck his mind was to make the future secure and more profitable in both the terms- environmentally and financially. So he invested in sandalwood farming in July 2016 and planted 200 seedlings in 6 canal area.

Both father and son are very actively involved in the farming and are well aware of the plant characteristics. They know that sandalwood is a hemiparasite plant, so they have planted split red gram seedlings, lemon plants and cauliflower along with sandalwood. They are doing diversified farming so that they can generate profit both in present and future also.

According to Harbant Singh, the farming pattern that they are following is preparing them for the future. Because both dragon fruit and sandalwood need less water (can also be irrigated through rain water only) and don’t need any special type of manure or fertilizer. Moreover, they are well aware of the fact that in the coming time paddy and wheat farming will get disappear from Punjab because of the depleting level of ground water. And orchard farming will become the need of the coming time.

Harbant Singh is strictly following organic methods for dragon farming and sandalwood farming and slowly with the time, he will reduce the chemical use in his other crops also. The thing that encouraged Harbant Singh and his son towards organic farming is the increasing diseases and ailments in the society. They want to make the environment healthy and liveable for the future generations, as their ancestors left the atmosphere for them. There is one more reason that Satnam Singh chose organic farming after completing his engineering and that is his interest in farming from the beginning.

Today Satnam Singh is making full effort in helping his father in farming with mechanized ways. They prepare jivamrit and manure at home by using cow dung and Gau Mutr (cow urine). They avoid using pesticides and fertilizers. Harbant Singh is also working on water management in his village and is teaching other villagers about it, so that, they use less tube well water. He himself has only one tube well for 12 acres of land. Other than usual crops he also has guava, banana, mango and peach tree at his farm.

Satnam especially did one year of research before starting sandalwood and dragon fruit farming because he wanted to invest in a crop that needs less irrigation and has a plethora of health and environmental benefits. He wants other farmers to do the same and adopt a farming crop that is eco-friendly and has various benefits also.

Future Plans
His future plan is to grow garlic and mahogany tree. He wants other farmers to recognize the potential and start investing in it for their better future.

Message to farmers
“Harbant Singh and his son both want other farmers to start organic farming and save the environment for the future generation, only then they can survive and make earth a better living place.”

Gobinder Singh Randhawa (Jonty)

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Story of an Emerging Beekeeper Who Carved His Way to Successful Beekeeping Business

It is said that, if you have the opportunity to get better then don’t waste it, because things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out. One such a person who didn’t miss the opportunity and carved his own path to success in the field of beekeeping is Gobinder Singh Randhawa aka Jonty Randhawa.

Gobinder Singh Randhawa is a resident of Village Landa, District- Ludhiana. He chose apiculture at a young age while pursuing his college studies. The main inspiration which acts as a driving force behind his profession was Sardar Baldev Singh- the head of his village. Baldev Singh himself was a progressive farmer and had a great name in the field of beekeeping.

Gobinder Singh with his two friends attended beekeeping training for 8 days at PAU and just after that, he started with beekeeping. Today he is a successful beekeeper and has established a good business. He started beekeeping in 2003 with 114 honey bee boxes by taking a loan of Rs. 280000 and today he has around 1000 honey bee boxes. He never prefers using chemicals or supplements for beekeeping, he always gives natural feed to the bees like sugar or grinded jaggery and for pest attack, he uses the natural method to prevent it. Mainly he makes honey from marigold and mustard flowers and currently his yearly revenue is around 3 crores.

With the cooperation of his two friends, he has also made a group by the name “BIG B” in the year 2004 to help the people who are associated with beekeeping work. Gobinder Singh himself is the president of this group and till now, 310 members have joined this group. Whether it’s a lady who makes face net masks, body covers for beekeepers, or a man who make wooden bee hives boxes at a small level, Gobinder Singh had tried to gather everyone under his association to help him in their work.

While setting up his business, he made some goals and targets, and by completing them step-by-step he has made a good space for his products in the market. From the beginning, he was interested in exporting his products to foreign and currently he is exporting bee wax made by him to the US. In India, he sells his honey produce in bulk at Doraha, Ludhiana, GT Road Shop and is earning good money out of it. He is also a registered supplier of National Horticulture Department and sell his product through them.

One of the great personality, who helped him in marketing the products is Dr. Ramandeep Singh Agri Business Expert, Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana by sending necessary information through Whats App group about the events and fairs. Gobinder Singh also shared his views about the marketing problem that beekeepers and farmers are facing nowadays, according to him- today everything is available online, even the consumer also shop the basic things online. So the producers also need to move one step ahead and make their business online.

Currently, Gobinder Singh is living with his full-fledged happy family (mother, father, wife and two sons) in his village and is also supporting his BIG B Association. He is also a very supportive person and helps other emerging beekeepers by providing them the beehives boxes, and other necessary guidelines. He also helps the farmers in making them aware of the loan procedure to start up their business. His future plans are to make and introduce more honey products like bee venom, royal jelly, and honey bee pollen grains and export it in the international market, because of its high demand.

MESSAGE TO FARMERS
“Those youngsters who commit suicide after facing failure, shouldn’t do that and start recognizing their potential. Because if a person has the willpower to do anything then they can achieve it and can reach any stage in their life very easily. Committing suicide is not a solution.”

Narpinder Singh Dhaliwal

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Story of a Man Achieving Sweet Taste of Success with Beekeeping

Beekeeping is a long-standing practice in India and after the independence, it is being promoted through various rural development programs. But when it comes to taking the beekeeping to the next level through commercializing the bee products, then even today also most of the people are lacking these types of skills. But there are many people who have achieved great revenue and success from it. One such person who is practicing beekeeping from last 20 years and is generating good profit from it is Narpinder Singh Dhaliwal.

It is said that we don’t grow when things are easy, we grow when we face challenges, and Narpinder Singh Dhaliwal is one of those people who has achieved this success in his life by doing great hard work and facing many failures. Today Mr. Dhaliwal is the owner of Dhaliwal Honey Bee Farm having around 1000 bee boxes, which is situated in his own native place- Chuharchak Village of district Moga (Punjab).

Before starting beekeeping, Narpinder Singh Dhaliwal was almost unemployed and was working at a measly salary of 1500 and it was very difficult for him to meet his needs. His low qualification was also a downside for him. So he decided to take over his father’s work and help him in beekeeping. His father was an ex-army man and he started beekeeping with 5 boxes in 1997. He was the first one who started beekeeping on a commercial level.

Mr. Narpinder did everything himself from the beginning to setup his business and also faced many difficulties in it. Due to fewer resources and less money, he also faced many failures, but he never gave up. He took 5 days training from Horticulture Department of PAU to give beekeeping business a perfect direction. He took help from friends, money from the bank, and from the joint effort of his family and some helpers he finally setup his bee farm in his village.

He started with 5 boxes and today he has around 1000 boxes, he keeps on migrating those boxes from places to places to get the good yield of honey. He has mainly western bees on his farm and that is European and Italian. He does not give any artificial or supplemental feed to bee colonies, he prefers only natural feed. Moreover, he doesn’t use any type of pesticide or chemical spray for pest control, he prefers natural method for controlling or preventing the pests. Because he believes in doing everything in a natural way.

The problems that he generally faces are Varroa Mites and Hornets attack during the rainy season and to cope up it, he uses natural preventive methods. And even after following the natural method he gets good ROI (return on investment) over his investment in one year. Well, many people practice beekeeping, the thing that makes him a smart beekeeper is that he directly make contact with his customers and market his product himself. From honey processing to packaging to branding, he does everything himself with the help of 6 helpers, he is not dependent on anyone for anything. Currently, he is also getting the subsidy for his beekeeping business from the government.

In the beginning, many people were there who criticized his work and honey quality also, but then also he never got demotivated and continued with beekeeping. Other than beekeeping he also does organic farming, dairy farming, fruit farming, poultry farming and conventional farming but the produce generated from all these farming is mainly to fulfil his own family needs.

Narpinder Singh also discussed his views on how to confirm about the honey pureness and the different colour of honey samples. According to him –
“The good quality of honey is not checked with its colour or liquidity. Because honey obtained from different flowers of different plants have different properties. And the best type of honey is obtained from mustard flowers and it is very thick in consistency. Thick honey is also known as frozen honey which is mainly obtained from mustard flowers; it is a very high in demand bee product in the international market because of its health benefits. Good identity and pureness of honey can only be known by the experts present in labs or agriculture universities. So if a person is in doubt about the honey quality then they should get it confirmed from the experts or buy it from a certified person, rather than believing on someone’s sayings.

Mr. Narpinder Singh himself is doing apiculture and is producing honey of multi-flower, litchi, and mustard, and is also exporting most of the mustard honey to Europe. He is also a Member of Progressive Beekeeper Association in PAU. Other than producing honey, he is also planning to launch some other bee and turmeric products like “Bee Pollen, Bee Pollen Capsule, Turmeric Capsule and Royal Jelly” in the market. And he has also taken advanced training to make Bee Pollen Capsule from PAU especially.

Bee Pollen has the important nutrients required by humans and Royal jelly has multiple health benefits- both are the most in demand product in the international market and very soon its demand will also increase in India. Currently, his main focus is on marketing Bee Pollen Capsule and Turmeric Capsule and making aware the people of its health benefits and uses.

His work has made him achieved many awards and prizes in different Kisan Melas. He also won Jatt Expo Award in Paragpur. He was also honoured by Agricultural Department of Moga in 2014 and in 2016, he was also honoured on World Honey Day.

Message by Narpinder Singh Dhaliwal
“Today farming has a lot of potentials and if a farmer is ready to diversify the field of agriculture. I diversified my farm and today I’m reaping benefits from it. I want to give this message to my farmer friends that in order to be successful, you have to diversify. Beekeeping is one practice which has been ignored by farmers for too long. One can achieve a lot of success in this field as it is very profitable. And nowadays government is also giving subsidy on 5-10 boxes to the person who want to start beekeeping. ”

Amarjit Singh

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Kisan Junction- Story of A Man Who Quit His Job and Turned Into Emerging Khetipreneur through Diversified Farming

These days everyone dreams of a good profession followed by a nice decent job, and why not? We were always told that happiness and satisfaction in life are always achieved by doing a good professional job in the service sector. There are very few people who want to put their hands in the soil and make a livelihood out of it. However, there is a man who chose the soil over his job and is successfully practicing natural farming.

Mr. Amarjit Singh is a khetipreneur, who is actively involved in organic farming, dairy farming and is also running a restaurant business with the name Kisan Junction in Gharuan. He started farming in 2007, at that time he didn’t have any concrete plan in the mind, he just had the confidence of making difference in his own life.

Before starting farming, Amarjit Singh went to PAU for training and also visited different states, where he observed different agriculture practices being followed by farmers in producing the natural food without any chemicals. He also went to Calicut, Kerala for turmeric cultivation and processing training.

From his state visits and training, he came to know that there is a lot of adulteration in the food products that we consume daily. And after getting the insight, he decided of farming by using the natural method only, so that he can produce food without any contamination. From the last two years, he is only using organic manure in his farm and no fertilizers and pesticides. He is so much passionate about farming that he has taken 30 acres of land on lease for farming purpose and himself he has 1.5 acres of land only. He grows sugarcane, wheat, paddy, turmeric, mango, watermelon, spices, herbal plants and other seasonal vegetables in his farm.

Dr. Ramandeep Singh was one of the main personalities in PAU, from which Amarjit Singh got inspired and decided of giving his life a new turn. And it was Dr. Ramandeep Singh only who gave the concept of On-Farm-Market to him on which Kisan Junction is based. Today, Amarjit Singh is running Kisan Junction which is located just along with his farms on the Chandigarh-Ludhiana state highway. The main motive of Kisan Junction was to help farmers get their processed products reach the market through his shop. He initiated in 2007 and it took him 9 years to establish his own on-farm-market. From the last year, he has also opened a restaurant on the same land with the same name Kisan Junction- from Farm to Fork.

Amarjit Singh is just 10th passed by qualification, and today at the age of 45 he has finally recognized that what he is meant for and what he should do. So, to guide the rest of the farmers like him, he has formed a group called Shri Dhanna bhagat Farmers Club in Gharuan. He is the president of this group and apart from farming; he also takes out time for the group meetings. They have total 18 members in their group, and the main function of their group is to discuss that which type seeds they should use or buy, modern ways to implement farming and etc. They have also bought wheat sowing, harvesting and other types of machines for agriculture practices in the name of the group, and all the members of the group can use it and can also lend it to other farmers of their village on lower/reasonable rates.

Amarjit Singh’s second most important profession is dairy farming, he has total 8 buffaloes and from the milk given by them, he makes Milk, Cottage Cheese, Khoya, Clarified Butter and Buttermilk. He sells the entire dairy products in his on-farm-market – Kisan Junction. One of the famous processed selling food items of his restaurant is Khoya Barfi which is made by using Khoya (dried whole milk or milk thickened by heating in an open iron) and Jaggery.

Things that are attracting more customers to his restaurants are deliciously fresh and nutritious food, open ventilation, proper cooling system and on road farm market. He has made the wall of the restaurants by using green net and bricks which ensure proper ventilation of air inside the restaurant.

After discussing the current trend and agriculture practices with him, he told us about his views-

“People have a very wrong mentality, they think that there is no profit in farming and they shouldn’t opt to farm as their livelihood. But this is not true. Wrong thoughts and views are induced in the mind of children like- only uneducated and illiterate people do farming and because of this, young generation look upon farming as a shabby or discreditable profession.
Nowadays, children are running behind Rs. 10,000 job and this thing have made them despondent from their life. Instead of brainwashing the kids against farming, it’s better to teach them the benefits and profits generated from farming. Agriculture is a diversified field and if a child is interested in choosing agriculture as his career then he can do wonders.”

Amarjit Singh took risk of quitting his job and starting farming, and because of his hard work and passion towards farming, today that risk has paid off well. The main motives of Amarjit Singh behind starting Kisan Junction Market Hub are:

• Helping farmers in selling their product through their shop

• Growing fresh and chemical free vegetables and fruits

• Providing fresh, original and natural food products to the customers

• Use fresh produce in the restaurant and offer healthy and fresh meal to the customers

• Guide farmers to process, do branding and market their produce themselves

Well, this is not the end, he also provides Institutional training for IAS probationers and the director also visited his farm. His future plan is to expand his on-road-farm market business and make other farmers aware that what benefits and profits they can earn from doing farming and how. He always welcomes every farmer that comes to him to get help in the field of agriculture.

Message by Amarjit Singh
“Farming sector is going through major difficulties and farmers always talk about his rights, not his responsibilities. The government is not going to come forward and help farmer every time. Farmer has to take the initiative and help himself. PAU have 6 months training program, in which a farmer is trained from the beginning of land preparation to sowing to marketing the product. So, from now on, the farmer has to take responsibility on their own shoulders if they want to earn a good livelihood from agriculture.”

Altaf

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Story of A Man Whose Love for Goat Rearing Turned Him into A Successful Farmer of Goatery

Most of the people think that the college education is crucial for success in today’s working world. Yes, it is true that college education is necessary because education helps in keeping the person updated. But there is one more driving force behind the success and that is the passion; passion leads to financial freedom. And passion only comes with the interest of the person in a particular thing.

One such man, who despite not pursuing his education is still running a successful commercial goat farming business is Altaf. It was his childhood interest which led Altaf to follow and pursue goat farming as his profession, and it was his passion which made him successful in his work.

Altaf was born in Fatehpur Sikri city of Rajasthan in a very humble family. Altaf’s father, Mr. Ayyub Khokar was a labour, and he also used to do little farming to run his house. They also had four goats for milk and meat purpose. As a kid, Altaf was very fond of goats and he always used to care for them too. But as the Altaf’s father had no insured job, so there was no regular income, the financial condition of the family was not that good, due to which Altaf had to quit his studies after 7th class. But his love towards goat rearing never reduced and in 2013 he turned his goat rearing into goat farming.

In the beginning, Altaf started his goat farming commercial business from just 20 goats and gradually with the time, he expanded his business to 300 goats. He never took any type of training for goat farming, he just learned by watching his father all his childhood. Over the years, he has understood how to take care of them. His collection has different variety and breeds of goat in his farm mainly beetal and mix breed. Today, the meat produced in his farm is known for its best quality.

He never gives any medicine or any type of artificial feed to his goats. He always prefers to provide natural fodder to the goats and also take care that all his goats are disease free. Till now he has covered a huge market, he sells his farm meat in UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, and Mumbai. The quality of the meat produced in his farm is so good that special demand comes from Mumbai. Moreover, he manages all the farm work himself, and whenever he needs the extra hands, he hires workers on the spot.

Today, at a very young age of 24, Altaf has established his own commercial goat farming business and is managing it very smoothly. And as we know that, goats are among the main meat producing animals in India, so economic prospects of goat rearing is pretty good. But reaching this stage in the life was not so easy for Altaf. After great hardship and efforts, he has maintained the collection of 300 goats and in future, he is planning to expand his business more. He is also developing and strengthening the linkages with customers present in different cities and is also trying to include different breeds of goat in his collection.

Message by Altaf
“According to Altaf, a farmer should never give up. Because God always gives opportunity to everyone, you just have to grab it. Use your passion as driving force and startup on your own. Your skill can help you in deciding what you want to do in the future.”

Dr.Ramandeep Singh

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THE MAN BEHIND THE SUCCESS OF MANY AGRIPRENEURS ACROSS INDIA

In the absence of right information, sound agri-marketing facilities and proper counselings, the farmer of today has to depend upon local traders and middlemen for the disposal of his farm produce, which is sold at throw-away price. To put an end to this overbearing agony of the Indian farmer, Dr. Ramandeep, Professor of Business Management at Punjab Agricultural University along with his team decided to help the farmers in developing new agri-based products and concepts that have greater acceptability amongst the consumers, and in the process helped them to supplement their incomes and also enter into the global markets. Dr. Ramandeep Singh firmly believes that the farmer of today should pursue the path of ‘product development and marketing’ in order to seek an assured market, higher returns, low risk factors and a continuous parallel source of income.

Realizing the power of Social Media, Dr. Ramandeep has been successful in connecting farmers in more than 12000 agri-households to come on a common platform and share information with one another, regarding innovative farming techniques, pricing of products, branding and packaging, studying consumer needs and tastes, and direct marketing of products through the online and offline modes so as to make the concept of farm to table a vibrant reality. Dr. Ramandeep Singh has pioneered the use of WhatsApp, Facebook and YouTube as the media for extension education by encouraging more and more farmers across the globe to join these groups.

His social media groups play a very crucial role in the dissemination of latest and useful agricultural information. They are reaching a wide range of audience at a very fast rate; they serve as a veritable instrument not only for information dissemination but also for stimulating farmers’ interest in new ideas and practices in agriculture.

As a result of these record-breaking initiatives by Dr. Ramandeep and his team, a large number of farmers have learnt about the concept of ‘product development’ and started implementing the same. This has not just made them realise the importance and potential of their own produce, but has also helped them become self-sufficient. From encouraging farmers that own a dairy farm to create end-products like cheese, ice cream and so on from the milk to helping beekeepers to sell honey under their own brand name, Dr. Ramandeep’s success stories are endless. Believing in the fact that the youth of today can contribute a lot in the agricultural sector if guided properly, Dr. Ramandeep makes himself available for interaction with the students and youth at the formal platforms during Guest Lectures, Seminars and Conferences and also for guidance and consulting on an informal basis.

You too can be a part of Dr. Ramandeep Singh’s enthusiasm for ushering change by joining his WhatsApp Groups, by the name of Punjab Agri Brand, Punjab Honey, Punjab Poly House, Punjab Innovative, Punjab Horticulture, Punjab Young Farmers, Young Innovative Farmers, Punjab Global, Punjab Farm Tourism, Punjab Tomato, Punjab on Farm markets, Punjab Mushrooms, Punjab YFC Sathiala, Progressive Farmers Punjab, Young Innovative Farmers, NFA Sri Mukatsar Sahib, PB, Horticulture Farmers NFA, Potato Growers, Punjab PHC PAU. Dr. Singh is also administering the following Facebook groups: Foundation for Agri Businesss Awareness and Education, Punjabi Young Innovative farmers and Agri preneurs, Progressive Bee Keepers Association.

A lot of Indian television and radio channels have invited Dr. Ramandeep Singh on their shows to gain insight on his deep knowledge of agriculture research, marketing and management practices, networking for social change and transformation in the agrarian society. Today, almost every household in Punjab is thankful to Dr. Ramandeep for his remarkable contribution towards the concept of agri preneurship in the state.

Hariman Sharma

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Story of a Farmer Who Did His Karma and Achieved Sweet Taste of Success through His Hard Work

It is said that nothing can withstand the power of human will. With the same will and consistency there came a man who with his continuous effort developed a new variety of apple on a land where it was almost impossible.

Mr. Hariman Sharma is a successful farmer having orchards of Apple, Mangoes, Peach, Coffee, Litchi, and Pomegranate. Coming from a subtropical place (Village Paniyala Kothi, district Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh) where temperature goes up to 45 degrees and land consist of 80% rock and 20% soil, growing apple there was almost impossible, but the consistent effort of Hariman Sharma’s made it happen.

Earlier Hariman Sharma was not a farmer and the success that he has achieved today, for that he has faced many challenges and difficulties in his life. From 1971 to 1982 he was a labourer; from 1983 to 1990, he did rock breaking and vegetable cultivation; from 1991 to 1998, he also started nurturing mango orchard along with vegetable cultivation.

In 1999 came a turning point when he observed an apple seedling sprouted in his courtyard. He preserved that seedling and started nurturing it with the knowledge that he gained during his farming experience. To improve the quality he grafted the branch of the apple tree on the stem of the plum tree and the results were exceptionally good. After two years the apple tree started giving fruits. Ultimately, he developed a different variety of apple which can be grown commercially at very low hills with a warm climate.

Slowly with the time words got spread about the discovery of a new variety of apple by Hariman Sharma. Most people rubbished these reports and some were surprised. But on 7 July 2007, he went to Shimla and offered a basket of apples grown by him to the Himachal CM. The CM immediately gathered his cabinet colleagues and all of them tasted those apples. And soon the CM named this apple as “Hariman”. Many experts from Horticulture University and department especially visited his orchards and were truly amazed and convinced by his work.

He has grown 8 apple trees of the same variety and they are growing alongside the mango trees in his orchard and are also giving good yield till date. The apple variety that Hariman Sharma has invented is named after him – HRMN-99. So far, he has distributed more than 3 lakh of saplings to farmers, gardeners, entrepreneurs and government organization across the country and 55 apple saplings of HRMN-99 is also planted in Rashtrapati Bhavan.  He also has fruit orchards of Mango, Litchi, Pomegranate, Coffee and Peach trees.

The apple variety that Hariman Sharma has created, requires low chilling and produces flowers and fruits under subtropical plains experiencing high temperatures. His achievement is a huge thing in the field of horticulture. Today, Hariman Sharma’s contribution towards the society is simply great and he is like an inspiration for others farmers.

Today Hariman apple are being grown and nurtured in almost every state of India. His hard work has proved that apple can be grown commercially at very low hills with a warm climate. Mr. Sharma has been sharing and spreading improved technologies and his innovation among the fellow farmers of his area.

Hariman Sharma’s work dedication in the field of agriculture has made him achieve many awards and accolades, some of them are listed below-

• Awarded as progressive farmer at Indian Agricultural Research institute (IARI), Delhi.

• Received an award for his innovation from the President of India by National Innovation Foundation for the ‘In-Residence’ programme at Rashtrapathi Bhavan.

• Best Himachali Kisan Title 2010

• Prerna Srot Samman Puruskar, August 15, 2009

• State Level Best Farmers Award, August 15, 2008

• Successful Apple Production Award in Una (2011)

• Board Level and District Level Award 2007 & 2008

• Krishi Pandit Award on 19th January 2017

• Best Farmer Award 29.4.2017 on the auspicious occasion of IFFCO’s Golden Jubilee.

• IARI Fellow Farmer Award by Union Agriculture Minister of State – Pusa Bhawan – 17.3.2010

• National Innovative Farmer Award by Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ministery, Government of India – Given by Radha Mohan Singh on 21 March, 2016

• Awarded for the apple production by Governor of Himachal Pradesh on 3 February, 2016

• National 2nd Award by President on 4 March, 2017, Sponsored by National Innovation Foundation, India.

• Received Farmer Scientist Award by Rajasthan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Bikaner on 9 March, 2017

MESSAGE TO FARMERS
“Karma is the right of human beings. Karma is not done for achieving the fruits. In a field, farmer’s work is to sow the seeds, but growing grains is not in the hands of the farmer. The farmer should never leave his work incomplete and should try everything to make his best effort. I tried to nurture that apple seedling and do something innovative with it, that’s why I’m here and that’s why an apple variety is named after me. Every farmer should try his best and do his karma.”

Gurcharan Singh Mann

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How Gurcharan Singh Mann Getting the Most Out Of His Land through Diversification of Crops and Other Allied Activities

The trend of diversified farming is not so common in India. Wheat, rice and other traditional crops like barley are the major crops that farmers prefer to grow, unaware of the fact that conventional farming not only affects the soil fertility but also affects the farmer and sometimes also makes them vulnerable. On the other hand, diversified farming gives a boost in the farmer’s income if done properly. One such a farmer who recognized benefits of crop diversification and earned profit from it by implementing it when he was totally down and out, is Gurcharan Singh Sandhu.

Gurcharan Singh Sandhu was an ordinary farmer from Tungwali village of Bathinda district. The place from where he belongs is an arid and underdeveloped area, but these hindrances were nothing in front of his strong willpower.

In a young age, he left his studies and started farming, it’s a matter of 1992. He already had 42 acres of land, but he was never satisfied. Growing wheat and paddy was not a successful venture for him, due to the aridness of that area. After many attempts, when Gurcharan was not successful from traditional or conventional farming trend, then he decided of bringing a change in his farming methods. He adopted diversified farming trend and because of this initiative he has been chosen as the best farmer of the year by Punjab Agriculture University and has been honoured with “Parwasi Bharti Puraskar” instituted by Maninderjit Singh Sandhu, a former PAU teacher, for adopting diversification.

Today, out of 42 acres, he has orchards in 10 acres, vegetable farming in 2.5 acres, fish farm in 10 acres and banyan trees in half an acre. However, the real game changer other than diversified farming for him was beekeeping. He started with just 7 bee boxes, and today he has more than 1800 bee boxes from which the total produce is one thousand quintal of honey every year.

Mr. Gurcharan is so perfect in his work that the honey produced by him is excellent in quality and is recognized in many countries. His success in beekeeping led district administration to establish a honey processing plant in his village, and this plant is giving employment to 15 people who come under below poverty line. His beekeeping business is not only profiting him but also many other people by providing them employment.

Mr. Gurcharan has truly understood the meaning of diversification and he has implemented it not only in vegetable farming but also in his occupation. He has orchards, fish farm, dairy farm, and he is also actively involved in organic farming. From beekeeping business, he has started other allied activities such as Bee Box making and Wax Candle making.

“One thing that every farmer should get it done is soil and water check. And the second thing that farmer should understand is that if one farmer is growing potatoes than other should grow garlic, they should never chase other’s actions.”

Since beekeeping has now become his primary occupation, so he has named his farm “Mann Makhi Farm” and apart from honey he also makes jam, pickles, spices like turmeric powder and red chili powder. He markets all these products under the name of “Maan”.

Currently, his farm comes under Punjab Tourism because of its surrounding and landscape; his farm is encircled by more than 5000 species of trees and visiting there gives the real sense of being close to nature.

According to him, whatever he has achieved today is just because of PAU (Punjab Agriculture University); from the beginning, he always practiced that was recommended by the PAU Experts. To bring more professionalism in his work he also pursued the higher education and graduated in technical and scientific inventions later.

His main key to success is reducing the production cost, taking the products in the market himself and being less dependent on the government. By following these main things he is making a good profit.

He also discussed his views related to government initiative towards farming: –

“Government should pay more attention towards encouraging the modern farming techniques, availing more funds for research work, deciding the right collaboration cost for the cash crops, then only farmers can easily adopt the modern farming trends.”

Message:
“Farmers shouldn’t follow the trend that other farmers are doing, they should do from which they can be benefited. And if they need help than they can take it from agriculture experts, whether they are from PAU or any other university, because they always suggest the best.”

Gurpreet Shergill

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Man Bringing Flower-Farming Renaissance in Punjab

In the recent years, floriculture has emerged as a rising agri-business in India and 20% annual growth in exports has been observed in the floriculture industry. This is a good insignia representing the development of agri-sector in India which is only possible due to the contribution of some hardworking revolutionary countrymen.

1996 was the year when the man behind the Punjab Flower Farming Renaissance- Gurpreet Singh Shergill, took his first step towards floriculture, and today he is well-recognized floriculturist associated with many prestigious government bodies.

Gurpreet Singh Shergill – “After completing my degree in 1993 in Mechanical Engineering, I was confused about my career choice. I always wanted to do a work which makes me happy and gives me recognition, not that work which gives my worldly pleasures.”

Gurpreet Singh Shergill chose the farming field and along with that he also started dairy farming as his full-time profession. He never felt satisfied with his work, which made him work harder and think deeper. That was when he realized that he is not here to fall into the trap of wheat-paddy cycle and it took 3 years to understand this. Flowers always fascinated him, so with the expert advice of his father – Baldev Singh Shergill and support of his brother – Karanjit Singh Shergill, he decided to give floriculture a try. Marigold was the first successful yield that he got in that season.

After that nothing stopped him from achieving what he wanted…One main person to whom Gurpreet Singh Shergill gives the major credit, apart from father and brother is his wife, she is the main supporting pillar throughout his farming venture.

Marigold harvest was followed by Gladiolus, Gulzafri, Rose, Statice and Gypsophila harvests. This is how he turned into someone from a regular farmer.

Some stats about his foreign trips

In 2002, his quest for knowledge and know-how, took him Holland, where he attended Floriade (International Flower Exhibition organized after every 10 years).

He also visited world’s largest auction centre for fresh flowers in Aalsmeer, Holland.

In 2003, he also attended World Rose Convention in Glasgow, UK.

How he diversified his farming activities…

With his flourishing floriculture work, he established Vermicompost plant and added fishery in his farming practices.

Vermicompost plant is supporting him dually- he is using the compost in his field as well also selling it in the market.

He has also created his product line which includes Rose Water, Rose Sharbat, Aloe-Vera and Amla Juice. Compost and Rosewater are sold under the brand name “Balson”, and Rose Sharbat, Aloe Vera and Amla Juice under the brand name of “Shergill Farm Fresh”.

With his sheer hard work and dedication, he transformed his passion for agriculture into a successful business.

Many agriculture-related government bodies soon recognized his efforts and awarded him with multiple awards… some of the prominent awards are:

• Punjab Chief Minister Award, 2011 by PAU, Ludhiana

• Jagjivan Ram Innovative Farmer Award, 2012 by ICAR, New Delhi

• N.G. Ranga Farmer Award, 2014 by ICAR, New Delhi

• Innovative Farmer Award, 2015 by IARI, New Delhi

• Nominated for Member of National Advisory Panel (NAP) for Farmer’s FIRST Programme, 2016 by IARI, New Delhi

Even after, accomplishing so much, Gurpreet Singh Shergill never brags about his achievements. He is a very clear-head person who always seeks different information sources to grab knowledge and relate it to his farming practices. In the pastime, he likes to read agriculture magazines like Modern Kheti, Floriculture Today, Kheti Dunia etc. He is also an active participant in agriculture fairs and events. He believes in sharing the knowledge and he never let down any farmer who come for help. To help the farmer community, he is playing a major role as an Apni Kheti expert by contributing his knowledge.

Gurpreet Shergill has shown that if one is dedicated and hardworking, one can achieve success. And in today’s time when farmers are reeling with losses and debts and committing suicides, he stands as a torchbearer for the entire agricultural community by demonstrating that diversification is the need of the hour as well as the path to a better future for the agricultural community.

To know more about his diversified agriculture business visit his website.