Tag: Beekeeping

Priyanka Gupta

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A talented daughter … who is working hard to fulfill her father’s dream

In today’s world, where most of the children consider their parents as burden, there is a girl , Priyanka Gupta, who is working hard day and night to fulfil her father’s dream.

Priyanka, who has done MBA (Finance), spent her childhood in a small town of Punjab , Nangal. Her father, Mr. Badridass Bansal, was an employee in Bhakra Dam’s Electricity department and he loved farming in his agriculture fields. He had a small patch of land in his backyard where he usually practiced vegetables farming. After staying in Nangal for long 12 years, he got transferred to Patiala and started living there with his family. They had some spare land in Patiala and so started farming there. Also, they purchased a plot in Sangroor to build their house.

Mr. Bansal retired from the electricity department as Chief Engineer. Due to this period, they got to know that Priyanka’s mother , Veena Bansal, was suffering from cancer . She bravely fought the disease for a long time and later bid the world goodbye.

After Veena Bansal’s death, Badridas devoted all his leisure time to farming. As there was no construction near the plot that he purchased in Sangroor, he cleared all the land and started to do farming there. In the next 10 years, he gained great experience and knowledge in farming. Looking at his farming methods and the end products he started gaining popularity among his relatives as well, who became his regular customers. Realizing his capabilities Mr. Bansal took up farming as his occupation.

Unfortunately, later he started facing some health issues. To help her father Priyanka enrolled herself in farming. Gradually, her interest in farming also increased.

Initially, they started working with Punjab Agro, where they were really doing well and their sales were at its peak. Eventually, they opened a shop in Sangroor with 4-5 farmers, but due to some problems they had to shut down their shop.

At present, they have a 4 acre farm in Sangroor but it is not registered because the farm land is taken on lease and the owners are not ready to get it registered.

Priyanka faced various problems in her farming journey but always overcame them with the help of her education. This father and daughter duo spent most of their time on farm and practice pure organic farming.

They faced various problems during the marketing but due to her studies, she managed do it . They spent their most of the time on farm and they did purely organic farming.

Training:

Priyanka is professionally not only trained in biscuit and squash manufacturing (Punjab Agricultural University) but also in bee-keeping.

Priyanka got a training of biscuit and squash manufacturing from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. She also got training of bee-keeping from which she learned a lot.

Priyanka’s husband Mr. Kuldeep Gupta who is an architect, all of his friends and relatives buys products prepared by Priyanka.

“People’s perception is that organic products are costly but it doesn’t make much difference. Crops grown using insecticides and other chemicals are very dangerous for human health. So instead of eating such products all should prefer organic products because nothing is more valuable than our health.” – Priyanka Gupta
Product profile:
  • Biscuit (without ammonia)
  • Pickle
  • Vaddiyan
  • Black chickpeas
  • White chickpeas
  • Red lentil (Saabut masar)
  • Turmeric
  • Besil
  • Flax seeds (Alsi)
  • Nigella
  • Fennel
  • Mustard
  • Garlic
  • Onion
  • Potato
  • green gram
  • Jowar
  • Bajra
  • sesame
  • Desi Maize
  • All vegetables
Trees
  • Brahmin
  • Stevia
  • Harar
  • Moringa
  • Mango
  • Guava
  • Cranberry
  • Mint
  • Tulsi
  • Lemon
  • Bael
  • Neem
  • Khas
  • Shehtoot
  • Amla
  • Ashoka

Except making these products, Priyanka also manages to do bee-keeping and poultry. Her husband also helps her in this work.

She said, “ We do not practice monocroping (cultivating paddy and wheat) but also grow Jowar, Bajra and Maize. We grow number of different crops in a year.”
Future Plans:

She is planning to sell all the products to a single person who can further market her products because she wants to devote all the time in improving quality of the products and fulfilling her father’s dream.

Message To Farmers:
“We need to work hard in every field. But you will get real satisfaction when after this hard work, you will see your crop standing tall in the field and when your customers will praise you for your work.”

Mukesh Devi

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Abuzz of sweet success: Meet leading lady in beekeeping world with an annual income of 70 lakhs from honey business

“It is believed that future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

Milakpur is a small village in the interior of Jhajjar district of Haryana, which is not even properly linked to the main road and has no direct bus service. It almost seems impossible for a person to think of starting any allied farming activity or business while living in such a place. But the successful endeavour of Mukesh Devi in beekeeping field has proved that anything is possible if you have the passion to do it. Even after suffering from painful toxic stings of bees, Mukesh Devi and her husband had never thought of stopping and they continued their passion of producing the best honey in Northern India.

In the year of 1999, Mukesh Devi’s husband – Jagpal Phogat started beekeeping after getting inspired by one of her relatives who was also doing beekeeping. With the help of training provided by Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Mukesh Devi also joined his husband’s venture in 2001. The work which they began so early with few beehives, started growing gradually with the time and now it has been expanded in other areas of states as well- Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, and Delhi.

Seeing the health benefits and rising market demand for honey, now Mukesh Devi has started selling the honey under her own brand – Nature Fresh. Currently, she has 2000 honey bee boxes for honey collection.

Mukesh Devi has not only made her family status financially stable but she has also provided employment to more than 30 people. By sending honey bee boxes to 5 different states with the help of their employed workforce, Mukesh Devi and her husband collects around 600 to 700 quintals of honey annually, and by honey, it doesn’t just means the ordinary honey with same flavour and taste, they have honey in more than 7 different flavours which are collected from the plants of Tulsi, Ajwain, Coriander, Shisham, Eucalyptus, Lychee, Neem, Mustard, and Pigeon Pea. Tulsi honey is one of the best honey they have with great market value.

When it comes to honey collection then the couple pay special attention to the time and weather of different states and according to that they set up their beehives at different locations. For organic honey, boxes are sent to the jungles in different states, below are given some time spans of honey collection from different places:

• For Tulsi Honey – Boxes are sent to the jungles of Madhya Pradesh (October to November)
• For Ajwain Honey – Boxes are sent to the jungles of Rajasthan (December to January)
• For Ajwain – Boxes are sent to Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab (May to July in Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab)
• And from Feb to April, boxes are set up at different locations in Haryana
Moreover, the income of this couple is not only limited to honey production and its selling, they also sell Comb Honey, Honey Amla Murraba, Honey Carrot Murraba, Bee Pollen, Bee Wax, Propolis, and Bee Venom, which have a good market price. Presently, Mukesh Devi and her husband are earning around 70 lakhs annually just from beekeeping.

Mukesh Devi and Jagpal Phogat efforts have been appreciated by many organizations and officials, some of them are given below:
• Received National Award from IARI, New Delhi, in Rashtriya Krishi Unnati Mela for beekeeping and producing different varieties of honey in 2016.
• Mukesh Devi & Jagpa Phogat honoured by Agri Leadership Award at Surajkund, Faridabad
• Awarded by Union Minister of Steel – Birender Singh for good honey production
• Awarded by Parshottam Khodabhai Rupala, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
• Their achievements have been published in IARI progressive farmer magazine namely Adhyeta and Innovative Farmer Magazine with other 39 progressive farmers.
Mukesh Devi is a progressive beekeeper and her initiative has set an example for other women entrepreneurs that if the efforts are in the right direction than even beekeeping business can make you a millionaire.

Future Plan:
Mukesh Devi and her husband have bought a piece of land in their village where they are planning to set up the processing unit of their products according to the market demand.

Message
“Looking at the present status, farmers must pursue allied farming activities with conventional farming for better financial stability.”

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.

Ravi Sharma

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Tailor Turned Beekeeper Creating a Medicinal Powerhouse by Expanding Apiculture

Apiculture is rising industry which is not only attracting the people of agrarian society but also people from other different communities because of the future gain. One such a person who is creating a medicinal powerhouse in his village by expanding apiculture is Ravi Sharma.

Starting from 1978, till 1992, Ravi Sharma used to tailor the clothes and also guide 10 other men under him, in the same profession in his small village Gudana of district Mohali. His tailoring business was going well in a small village shop until he visited Rajpura, Patiala and met Dr. Walia (Agri Inspector).

For Ravi Sharma, Dr. Walia acted as a pathfinder towards beekeeping; he was the one who inspired Ravi Sharma towards beekeeping and helped him in adopting it smoothly.

In the beginning, Mr. Sharma got 50% subsidy and himself he invested Rs. 5700 on 5 honeybee boxes, from which he obtained 1 ½ quintal honey and earned good profit. First earning encouraged Ravi Sharma to expand his work to 100 honeybee boxes and this is how he switched to beekeeping and dropped the profession of tailoring completely in 1994.

Visit to Rewari, Haryana in 1997 in an agricultural event, boosted up Mr. Sharma’s fascination towards beekeeping and then he decided to increase the number of honeybee boxes. Now, the bee boxes number varies from 350-400 in his farm.

In 2000, Mr. Ravi also gave a try to dairy farming with 15 cows, but it was not as successful as beekeeping. Due to labour problem, he has to end it. Now he has only 4 HF breed cows and one Murrah buffalo for home purpose and sometimes he also sells their milk in the market. In the meanwhile, beekeeping work was going smooth.

But the journey towards successful beekeeping was not that velvety. In 2007-08, a mite attacked was encountered in his beehives colonies due to which only 35 honeybee boxes were left unaffected and the rest were destroyed. This incident completely shattered the beekeeping business of Ravi Sharma.

But this fall made Mr. Ravi stronger and he rose more powerfully and established his honeybee farm successfully within a short span of time. After seeing his success many other people consulted him to start their own beekeeping business. He started distributing 20-30 honeybee boxes to his relatives and friends also and in this way he created a medicinal powerhouse.

“Once there also came a time when honeybee boxes count reached up-to 4000, and all those people who owned it, started beekeeping after seeing my success in beekeeping venture.”

Today, Ravi Madhu Makhi Farm has two workers for managing the bee farm work. Marketing is also smooth, as Ravi Sharma has a tie-up with a person who buys all the honey from him, and sometimes Ravi Sharma also sells 4-5 quintal of honey on the roadside shop near Anandpur Sahib from where he earns well.

Beekeeping is the only source of income for Ravi Sharma through which he is supporting his family of 6 members, which includes wife, mother, two daughters, and a son.

“My wife- Mrs. Gyan Devi, was the main supporting pillar in my beginning beekeeping years. Without her, I would not have reached this level in my life.”

Currently, honey and bee wax are the two main product of Ravi Madhumakhi Farm.

Future Plan:
Till now I have expanded the beekeeping work in my village and few relatives only, but in future, I want to expand beekeeping to a much larger area.

Message:
“A person should do his work with complete dedication and include these three words in his efforts “Imaandaari (Honesty), Gyan (Knowledge), Dhyan (Care)” then only he can achieve what he wants.”

Because of Mr. Ravi’s effort today Gudana village has become a powerhouse for honey production and he will keep his work in progress to make beekeeping more impactful business in the future also.

Harbir Singh Pandher

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HOW FATHER’S INVESTMENT IN APICULTURE, HELPED SON REAP RICH DIVIDENDS FROM IT IN THE FUTURE

The young scion of Pandher family – Harbir Singh Pandher not only took his father’s beekeeping business ahead but he also turns it into a profitable venture with his ideas and efforts.

Harbir Singh, a residence of Kuhli Khurd, Ludhiana is a young lad who even after holding an engineering degree in Civil, decided to continue his father’s occupation and give it a boost with his innovative ideas.

When Beekeeping Business was basically introduced to Pandher Family….
Gurmail Singh Pandher – Father of Harbir Singh, started beekeeping business almost 35 years ago without any training. In 80’s, when nobody ever thought that apiculture can also be a profitable source of income at that time the futuristic mind of Gurmail Singh ran in a different direction. At that time, he started his apiculture business with mere two honey-bee boxes, and today his son has turned his work into a flourishing endeavour of 700 honey-bee boxes.

Even though Harbir’s father beekeeping work was making a good profit but it was still lacking the marketing perspective, due to which they were not able to cover the ideal market. So, Harbir thought of giving his father local business a boost with his planning and thinking. Harbir just after completing his studies overtook his father’s business. Choosing father’s business was not a compulsion for Harbir, it was his passion to continue the work which he has seen his father doing all his childhood.

The first thing that Harbir did after he started managing his father’s work was to give a brand name to the business- “ROYAL HONEY”. Harbir was well aware that to promote a business on larger scale branding is very much important, so he got his business registered under this brand name. To give his work a more professional touch, Harbir especially visited PAU in 2011 for beekeeping training.

In the year 2013 he also gets his product registered under AGMARK and today from packaging to marketing, he does everything himself. He is mainly focusing on two products and that is honey and bee wax.

Harbir has mainly Italian Bees at his farm, and to maintain the higher quality of the honey yield they do season to season migration of honey-bee boxes from one place to another in nearby states of Punjab. He has employed 7 workers for this work. Mainly he leaves his boxes in Chittorgarh (Carrom Seeds fields), Quota (Mustard fields), Himachal Pradesh (Multi-flower), Malout (Sunflower fields) and another place in Rajasthan (Bajra & Tuar fields) by taking area on rent. By the method of manual processing, he extracts honey and then does the packaging and marketing of his products.

Other than beekeeping, Harbir and his family are also doing farming and dairy farming. They have 7 acres of land on which they grow rice and wheat for home purpose, and have 15 buffaloes, whose milk they sell in the village and also keep some of it for personal use.

Currently, Harbir is making a good profit from his family business and in the free time, he also helps other people by guiding them towards the beekeeping business. Harbir’s future plan is to expand his business to a larger extent and also become fully independent in terms of marketing.

Message for Farmers:
“
Nowadays farmers shouldn’t be dependent on farming only, they should adopt other agribusinesses also along with farming, so that if one option fails then they at least have other option to survive. Beekeeping is a very profitable business and farmers must give it a try to know about its benefits.
”

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.”

Gurdev Kaur Deol

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Story of a Woman Who Is Leading a Change in the Women Society through Entrepreneurship

Over the years, women in India, have made a substantial impact and achieved success in most of the sectors, but still, there are many women who are way behind and are just confined to the household work. Today, we need to promote women to be a great part of the workforce and develop their skills. Because women have the power to accelerate the growth of country’s economy. And the best way to empower the women is by entrepreneurship not by charity. There are many people working voluntarily to promote women empowerment, but the best person who can empower a woman is a woman herself. One such woman who is working in the interest of womankind and encouraging them to be independent is Mrs. Gurdev Kaur Deol.

Gurdev Kaur Deol is a progressive farmer and president of Global Self-Help Group. Born and brought up on the land of Punjab, she was a strong-willed girl from the beginning. She was very active and enthusiastic, and always wanted to take initiative in helping her female counterpart and make them feel empowered.

Like other women, she was also married after completing her studies (MA- B.Ed. from G.H.G. Khalsa Colleges, Gurusar Sadhar, Ludhiana). But after her marriage, she realized that this is not all, for what she is meant for. In 1995 she started beekeeping with 5 boxes and 1999 she also started marketing self-made products like pickles, chutneys, etc.,

In 2004 she came in connection with PAU, and then she comprehended that, so far she had only theoretical knowledge, so she gained practical knowledge from PAU. She also became a member of Beekeeper Association of PAU. After doing this much on her own, she realized that she has to make other women of her society aware of their capabilities. So, in 2008, she formed a cooperative society by gathering 15 women of her village and named it Global Self-Help Group. She helped all the women of her group get enrolled in the PAU training program so that they can learn proper skills.

In the beginning her group started making pickle, chutney, jams, honey, sauces, squash juices and murraba. Soon her group started earning a good profit and after 6 months, the bank offered them the loan for their work. They expanded their work bit by bit and also started organic farming and added more products to their collection.

In 2012 she partnered with NABARD and got her group registered with them and turned it into an NGO, and after that, her group members started processing their work. After registering up with NABARD she was assigned a target to form 100 self-help groups more, to promote and encourage women to develop their skills and be independent. Till now she has made 25 groups and PAU is also helping her in making more groups. In 2015 she registered Global Self Help Group with Farmer Producer Organization. Till now she has connected more than 400 women and men and formed separate groups of them.

Today NABARD is also supporting her group by providing funds, so that she can provide practical training free of cost to unprivileged and needy women and make their groups. She always approaches a woman by telling her to start making recipes for her own family, children, and relatives. Because she thinks, if a housewife cannot meet the needs of her home, then how will she do the same thing outside.

Currently, Mrs. Gurdev Kaur Deol is living in Village Dasmesh Nagar, Ludhiana with her husband Mr. Gurdev Singh Deol, and is successfully running her group and guiding other women and farmers to do better.  Till now she has total 32 products including organic pulses, lentils, squashes, and spices. Beekeeping is one her favourite hobby and now her group has 450 boxes of honey bee boxes. She also does dairy farming and makes milk products for selling purpose. They also purchase organic pulses from the farmers, pack them and sell them. She sells all the products made by her group under the name of Global Agro-Food Products. She is earning good profits by Global Self Help Group.

In future, she is planning to open a shop in the name of her group, so that she can establish a proper platform to sell her products, and she also wants to connect the farmers from Himachal Pradesh for the trade of organic pulses, vegetables, and maize etc.,

Till now she has achieved many awards and achievements for her work. Some of them are listed below-

• Sardarni Jagbir Kaur Award in 2009
• State Award from Agriculture Department under ATMA Scheme in 2010
• National Award for Dairy Farming in 2011
• State Award To Global Self Help Group from NABARD in 2012


Message by Gurdev Kaur Deol
“Gurdev Kaur has a special message for the farmers who have less land. If a farmer has 3-4 acres of land, then they should start growing vegetables and pulses on it by following natural farming method, instead of wheat and paddy. Because organic farming can help them earn more profit in a safe way. And every woman should start using her skill and be productive.”

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.”

Sardar Gurmail Singh

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How Gurmail Singh Made Modern Techniques His Tool to Earn Profit Out Of Vegetable Farming

Gurmail Singh is another progressive farmer from Uchagaon village of Patiala, Punjab. Despite having less land, he is reaping great profit out of it from the last 23 years by doing vegetable cultivation. He has around 17.5 acres of land out of which 11 acres he owns and has taken 6.5 acres on the contract basis.

Modern farming techniques like drip irrigation, spray irrigation, and laser leveller are some of his power tools which help him to do efficient farming and water conservation. And when it comes to pesticides usage, then he is very smart. He uses pesticides only on the recommendation of Punjab Agriculture University. Mostly he tries to use green natural manure in his fields for better yield.

The other modern technique which he is using adeptly is the light tunnel in 6 acres to grow vegetables. And some of the crops that he especially grows every season are rice, wheat, clover, cabbage, melon, tomato, eggplant, cucumber, peas and bitter gourd. To give a powerful boost to his farming venture he also took training for the preparation of hybrid seeds soy operations and other allied activities like beekeeping and dairy farming etc., from Agriculture Science Centre, Patiala.

Marketing
His vast year of experience not only includes growing different crops advantageously but he also enhanced his marketing skills, and today he has his own sales outlet at “Atma Kisan Hut (Patiala)”. Quality of his processed produce has increased his sales day by day. He has also established a soy plant under the brand name “Smart” in 2012 and under this plant, he processes and sells products such as soy milk, cheese, flour, and nuts.

Achievements
He is an inspiration for the other farmers and soon he will be honoured with the CRI Pumps Award.

Message
“Farmers should use less pesticides and chemicals in their field if they want to live a healthy life and reap good yield out of their land in the present as well as in the future.”