Barley Archives - Progressive Farmers

This Is What Happens When the Nursery Preparation Venture Turns Out Well In the Field Of Agriculture

When it comes to agriculture, then farmer should stop following the sheep herd and do what truly motivates them to wake up daily from their bed and stand up in the fields, whether its vegetable farming, poultry, piggery, floriculture, food processing, or door to door delivery of the produce. Because this is how a farmer can make out the best from agriculture.

One such a progressive farmer from the land of Jaats- Haryana – Shamsher Singh Sandhu, has excelled his way up in the field of agriculture by following his ideas and dreams. Unlike other farmers, Mr. Sandhu is mainly into seeds preparation which is giving him good returns as compared to conventional farming practices.

Inspired by his father’s achievements in the field of agriculture, Shamsher Singh also decided to adopt farming after completing his studies (Bachelor of Arts) in 1979 and in the next year he got married too. But following the same footsteps as his father of cultivating wheat, paddy, and other conventional crops was not that fortunate, and he was still confused about his profession.

However, the agriculture sector is such a wide sector with so many fields and opportunities, so, in 1985 he came to know about Young Farmer Training Programme of Punjab Agriculture University, it was a 3 months training programme under which there were 12 subjects like dairy, horticulture, poultry and many other subjects. He got himself enrolled in it. After finishing the training he started preparing seeds and without visiting the vegetable market or having any shop, he earned well from the seed preparation business just by sitting at home.

Apart from agricultural activities, Shamsher Singh Sandhu is also involved in a social initiative through which he helps the needy by donating clothes to them. He has made a group of farmers specially, to collect unwanted clothes and use it for a better purpose.

For seed preparation, first Shamsher Singh Sandhu himself buys seed from the university (PAU or HAU), cultivate them, harvest it when it has reached its full maturity stage and after that treat it with semi-organic methods before selling it the other farmers. In this way, he is making a good profit out of nursery preparation business. His venture is so successful, that he has been awarded two times for his outstanding efforts from IARI with Innovative Farmer Award and Fellow Farmer Award in 2015 and 2018.

Presently Shamsher Singh Sandhu is farming Guar, Wheat, Barley, Cotton and seasonal vegetables along with seeds preparation and is reaping good profit out of it. In future, he is planning to expand his Sandhu Seed Farm work, so that he can supply the seeds not only in Punjab but in other neighbouring states as well.

Message
Farmers should try seeds of other seed suppliers as well because in this way they can know the difference between the good supplier and the bad one and take the better yield of the crops by choosing the best.

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:

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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.
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