Garlic Pickle Archives - Progressive Farmers

Malwa Region Based Duo of Young Farmers Are Churning Profit by Pairing Agriculture with Food Processing

Food is the basic necessity of life, but what if your food is adulterated or contaminated at the very basic level during production!

Today, food adulteration is a major issue in India, producers/manufacturers have gone blind when it comes to quality and they only focus on quantity, which not only affects the flavour and nutrition of the food but also affects the consumer’s health. But one such a duo of young farmers from the Malwa region of Punjab has aimed to provide only pure food to the community.

This is the story of Navdeep Balli and Gursharan Singh who entered the market with their unique product – raw turmeric pickle and became popular within a short span of time.

Coming from a well-educated background, these two young men decided to provide what is good for the society. All this started when they discovered multiple benefits and home remedies of raw turmeric that helps in controlling bad cholesterol, curing skin diseases, allergies, and wounds, also helps in preventing cancer like deathly disease and many other disease preventing properties.

From the beginning both the friends had decided to do something different, so they started turmeric cultivation and reaped good yield of 80-90 quintal per acre. After that, they decided to process their harvest themselves and sell it in the market in the form of raw turmeric pickle. The place from where their product get noted among the people was Bathinda’s Sunday Market and now they have started selling it in many places in the town.

Before entering the food processing business, Navdeep and Gursharan consulted the district senior agricultural expert – Dr. Parmeshwar Singh and took his advice over farming. Today, even the doctor himself feels very much proud that by following his advice both these young fellas are doing good in the food processing market and are coming up with more basic pure processed food products to be used in the kitchen directly or indirectly.

After the raw turmeric pickle success, Navdeep and Gursharan got their processing plant established in Rampura and currently their product list has more than 10 items, which includes Raw Turmeric, Raw Turmeric Pickle, Turmeric Powder, Chilli Powder, Sabzi Masala, Coriander Powder, Butter Milk (lassi), Curd, Chat Masala, Garlic Pickle, Cumin Seeds, Gram Flour (besan), Tea Masala etc.

This duo is not only making food processing a profitable venture but are also encouraging other farmers to adopt food processing with farming to gain better revenue.

Future Plans: Planning to adopt crop diversification in the future to make their harvest nutrient rich and farming more economical. Also planning to sell their processed products to farther areas, and make people aware of food adulteration and importance of health.

Message
Farmer should start food processing with farming if they are seeking better returns from agriculture.

Story of a Young Girl with Budding Skills Trying to Stand on Her Own Feet & Make Her Identity in the Society with Her Culinary Skills

It is said that those who want to achieve something in their life, for them only a small motivation or inspiration is enough. God has sent everyone with a gift box, only a few of them open their package and identify their hidden talent, and most of the people never dare to do that due to lack of confidence. But a girl from Moga dared to recognized her talent and stand on her own feet to become independent.

Amandeep Kaur a 25 year old girl from Lande ke Moga is a budding entrepreneur, who is trying to make her own identity in the society. As we know that behind every leader, there is a struggling experience which provokes them to reach that spot, same is with Amandeep. She is a young and enthusiastic soul similar to other girls, but her determination is what makes her stand out from others. Currently, she lives with her brother and mother, her father passed away quite a long time ago. And due to the financial crisis, she stopped studying after 10th. But as we all might have heard, those who are meant to do something great and stand out from all the crowd, they cannot be stopped by any kind of difficulties.

Today, Amandeep is leading a group of 7 girls known as Swati Women Cooperative Society, and under this brand name she is taking little steps towards success. Behind the formation of this group, there is hand of female philanthropist Mrs. Sundara, she only gave a small inspiration and that was enough for Amandeep to gather the rest of the girls and start up with their own business of homemade pickles and chutneys.

Amandeep Kaur explained that how Mrs. Sundara herself visited their village (village name) in 2003, gathered them (group members) and make them aware that what capabilities they have and how they can make their skills useful to themselves, instead of sitting idle. She also help Amandeep and other girls by enrolling them in the training of making homemade products like pickles, chutney and many other food products and also motivated them to study further.

Amandeep is not only working to earn and support her family but also to make her own identity in the society. She is very passionate about the work she is doing and she has also planned to pursue her education in the field of home culinary so that she can come up with different food products to sell it in the market. Name of the other girls’ are- Parminder, Baljeet, Ranjit, Gurpreet, Channi, Manjit, Pawandeep; these girls are very young, in their early twenties or below, but due to some circumstantial situation, they all have dropped out of their education in the middle. But they still have the zeal and enthusiasm to continue their study, explore new things, earn their own livelihood and be independent. All the girls are very fervent about their work and are interested in continuing their study along with SWCS business.

Amandeep and all her group members are very hard working and know how to manage their work efficiently. They buy all their raw material from the market (sabzi mandi) themselves for making pickles, chutney and fragrant waters. They make more than 10 variety of pickles, 2 types of chutney, 3 types of fragrant water and candies also.

Everything is handmade by them and is purely natural without any preservative. Pickles, chutneys, and candies made by them are very delicious and original in flavor and will remind you the taste of your grandmother’s hand.

Some of the most selling products are Mango Chutney, Lachha Nimbu Pickle, Ginger Pickle and Garlic Pickle. They visit as many exhibitions and events as they can to sell their handmade natural products; and other than that they personally visit different societies and committees of different districts to sell their product. Till now they have covered Fategarh, Firozpur, Ludhiana, and Moga, and in the coming time, there will be more cities. Usually, they use to make nearly 100 boxes of each pickle containing 1 kg each per day.

Currently, the group total income in only 20000 per month and it is very difficult for them to manage in such a tight cash flow. The reason behind this problem is they don’t have any proper platform to sell their product and also very few people know about Swati Women Cooperative Society. Well, according to them this is just the beginning and these types of hardships are never going to demotivate them or stop them from what they are doing.

Message by Amandeep Kaur (PRESIDENT OF SWATI WOMEN COOPERATIVE SOCIETY)
“Every girl should recognize their skill and use them wisely to be independent on their own. Today, women should not be dependent on others, they should be self-determining and self-regulating. Because it feels good when you have power in your hand to fulfil your own wishes. And education is very much necessary in enlightening and guiding the correct path. Working and being independent makes you feel special and confident of what you are. So, every girl should complete their education and choose the path which interests them and can help them to earn a good living.”