Tag: Horticulturist

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.
”

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.

 

”

Raja Ram Jakhar

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The Futuristic Farmer of Rajasthan Bringing Changing Tides in Conventional Farming Trend with Aloe Vera Farming

Even today also Rajasthan is known for its conventional farming methods, and the main crops that are grown there are Bajara, Guar, and Sorghum. Many farmers are progressing but still, many farmers are there who just don’t want to come out of their stereotypical conventional farming trend. One such a person who is trying to do something out of the box and bring a changing tide in agriculture field is Raja Ram Jakhar.

Born and brought up on the land of Rajasthan, Raja Ram Jakhar is a B.Sc. Agriculture Graduate who left his government job just to pursue his passion towards farming. He learned to take advantage of the opportunity and gain profit from it. And today he is a successful aloe-vera farmer in Rajasthan, who is not dependent on anyone for marketing because his produce is sold to the consumers from his farm only.

Rajaram Jakhar’s family was associated with agriculture from the beginning. And all his childhood, he had seen all his family members doing farming only. But after completing his B.Sc. Agriculture degree from the DAV College of Sangaria, Rajasthan in 1980, he got a chance to pursue a different profession (Supervisor at Central State Farm, Suratgarh). However, he wasn’t able to work there more than 3-4 months, because it doesn’t interest him and he chose to come back and continue his ancestral occupation, farming.

He started farming in the same way his ancestors were doing and there was no major profit that he achieved. Slowly it was getting difficult for him to manage his family livelihood, they were just living from hand to mouth. But then he heard about Patanjali brand and its aloe vera products, and to manufacture those products Patanjali needs aloe-vera produce in bulk. So he took advantage of this opportunity and started aloe-vera farming by making minimum Rs. 15000 of investment in 1 bigha of variety “Babie Densis”.

During all this, once his family also went against his decision of aloe-vera farming, because they were unsure of what he was doing, and at that time he was the first one to start aloe-vera farming in his area (Ganganagar District). But he never changed his mind, because he was confident of himself. After one year, when finally aloe-vera plants were ready, few buyers contacted him for buying his produce, and since then he is selling his produce without making any extra effort from his farm only and is earning 1 Lakh from 1 Bigha in 1 Year.

As there are many factories in Rajasthan for Aloe-Vera processing, so every after 50 days two trucks are sent to his farm by the buyers to purchase his produce and he just has to load the produce in the truck with the help of the workers. Now he has started inter-cropping and has planted moringa tree in the aloe-vera field to take advantage in a better way.

Currently, he is living happily with his family (wife, three daughters and one son) and is managing the whole farm on his own. He has one tube well and tractor for framing. He strictly follows organic farming in his farm for aloe-vera, moringa, and cotton. Along with aloe-vera, moringa and cotton he has also planted vegetables like okra, ridge gourd, cucumber, bottle gourd, guar beans and other seasonal vegetables for home use.

Rajaram Jakhar chose Moringa for inter-cropping because of its medicinal properties and it is easy to grow with little care. Now he has also started selling plants and giving free training to farmers who want to start aloe-vera farming. Rajaram Jakhar with his futuristic views is trying to bring a new revolution in the agriculture field. Till now he has taken no help from government or any other source, he has done everything on his own. His upcoming plans are to expand his work and make more farmers aware to start aloe-vera farming.

MESSAGE TO FARMERS
“Before starting any new thing, a farmer should search the market first and then start farming. There are many opportunities from which farmers can take advantage and they should never miss that.”

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. “

Hind Pal Singh

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Meet Rajasthan’s Jojoba Farmer Who Hold Hotel Management Degree from IHM Pusa Delhi, But He Chose to Follow His Father’s Footsteps

Farming has never been and never will be an easy life, but for many people who don’t have any option for them farming is the only choice. That’s why today most of the farmers send their kids to school and college so that they can choose whatever they want and become whatever they want. But one such person who even had a good job opportunity, but then also he chose to farm is Hind Pal Singh Aulakh.

Hind Pal Singh was born in a typical farming family of Rajasthan (Ganganagar District), but was grown up in a very different modern environment; with the motive of pursuing different profession than his father, he pursued Bachelors in Hotel Management from IHM PUSA, Delhi.

“But maybe Hind Pal Singh wasn’t destined to continue his career in the same field. His father was a farmer and was very much interested in farming. His father inspired and motivated him to start farming.”

After seeing so much passion of his father towards farming, he decided to help him. He also started reading agriculture related magazines like Changi Kehti etc. In one of the magazines, he read about Jojoba Farming and thought of giving it a try. He visited Jaipur and took training from there in Jojoba Farming. Mr. Saini was a faculty member of the training staff who helped and guided him in jojoba farming and especially visited his farm in his hometown also.

In the beginning, Hind Pal Singh was a little scared before starting Jojoba Farming, but now it’s been 12 years since he is doing jojoba farming and he is very happy with the yield and returns. He bought the Jojoba seedlings from Rajasthan Agriculture University because jojoba plants need to be planted in 10:1 ratio, where 10 is for female jojoba plants and 1 is for male jojoba plant. And only a proper agriculture university or expert can help in providing the right jojoba plants because common people cannot identify the male and female plants in seedling until they start flowering (can take up to three years).

“The female plants produce seed from flowers pollinated by the male plants, female plant is dependent on male plants for seed production.”

Planting and farming jojoba was not that easy for Hind Pal Singh. He faced many problems like termite and fungus, but he dealt with it very smartly. He always consulted an expert and used micro food and basic fertilizers for farming. From the year of the plantation, it starts bearing fruits in 6th and 7th year.

“One Time Investment: Jojoba farming is the best thing to do in an area like Rajasthan where there is water scarcity because it needs very less water for irrigation (can survive without water for two years), moreover the plant age is up to 100 years.”

In the beginning inter-cropping can also be done when the jojoba plants are small because they don’t start bearing seeds properly up to 6th to 7th years. He faced few difficulties in marketing the produce, but he took no help from the government. As Cosmetics Company need jojoba seeds in for making face cream, oil, face wash and many more beauty products, so soon he found his consumer and started earning good profit.

“Jojoba Oil also has an alternate use as a fuel oil because of its viscosity index. It can be used as transformer oil or as a lubricant for high-speed machinery or machines operating at high temperature.”

Other than jojoba farming which he is doing in approx. 5 acres, he is also growing cotton, wheat, seasonal veggies, mustard, kinnow and other crops in the rest 65 acres of land. He implements all the modern farming machinery like tractor, trolley, cultivator, leveller, disc harrow and drip irrigation system for better farming. His future plan is to expand what he is doing right now and attract more loyal and profitable consumers of jojoba seeds. With a minor 45 thousand of investment today he is earning in lakhs. Moreover, jojoba is a disease free and fire resistant plant which needs very less care once the plant is fully grown.

Message to Farmers
“Farmers have to become independent and start thinking differently if they want to earn profit from farming. One more thing that farmers have to do is to keep track of their accounts and give their hundred percent if they have started something.”

Rajnish Lambha

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Man Achieving Success through Organic Farming by Following His Grandfather’s Footsteps

There are very few children who take their ancestor’s occupation ahead in their life with the motive of making their father and grandfather proud of it. One such a person who after getting inspired from his grandfather, started organic farming is Rajnish Lambha.

Rajnish Lambha is a successful horticulturist based in Village Chelasi of JhunJhunu District of Rajasthan. He has a 4 acres orchard farm named after his grandfather as – Hardev Bagh and Udhyan Nursery and it has more than 3000 fruit trees of lemon, pomegranate, Bel Patra, Kinnow, Mousami etc. in it.

Choosing farming as his profession was Rajnish Lambha’s own interest. Rajnish Lambha’s father- Mr. Hari Singh Lambha was a Patwari and he had a full opportunity of choosing a different profession. And the education (double MA) that he received, from it he could have found any good job in his field, but he chose farming. Before organic farming he was into conventional farming and was growing crops like Bajra, wheat, Sorghum, Chickpea, mustard, fenugreek, onion, and garlic. But when he came to know about his grandfather’s organic farming experience he thought of taking his ancestral occupation ahead and make that work more profitable.

It all started in 1996, by planting 25 trees of Bel Patra in 1 Bigha area and implemented organic farming and no chemicals. Along with that he also started preparing nursery himself. After 8 years of hard work and efforts, in 2004-2005 finally the Bel Patra trees started bearing fruits and he earned huge profit of 50,000 from it.

This increase in profit made his belief stronger that orchard business has good yield and returns, so he decided of expanding the orchards in his whole area. In 2004, he planted 600 more trees of Bel Patra. And in 2005 along with the Bel Patra, he planted 150 trees of Kinnows and 150 trees of Mosambi in the orchards. As it is said that fruit of hard work is sweet, the results were the same; in 2013 he earned a good profit from Mosambi and Kinnows produce. And by getting inspired with that he planted 600 trees of pomegranate of sinduri variety and 250 trees of lemon. In 2012 he also planted 5 trees of mango (amrapali variety) and 5 trees of guava.

Currently he has total 3000 fruit trees in his orchard and he is gaining good profit from all the trees till date. Now even his younger brother (Vikrant Lambha) and his father (Hari Singh Lambha) are also helping in his orchard business. Other than orchard farming he also gave a try to dairy farming in 2006 with 25 cows, but he didn’t gain much profit from it and ended it in 2013. Now he has only 4 cows for domestic work.

To maintain the healthy yield and quality he prepares manure himself by using cow dung, Gau Mutr (Cow Urine), Neem water, Datura (Herb – Angel’s Trumpets), and vermicompost. And sometimes he also purchases cow dung from the market if they need it.

The main motive of Rajnish Lambha behind adopting horticulture as the main profession is that, it provides 10 times more profit as compared to conventional farming and can be easily done in an eco-friendly way. Moreover, there is very less need labour, he hires labours only when he needs to pick the fruits. Otherwise he has 2 permanent labours working for him every time. Now he also started preparing nursery for commercial purpose and is gaining good profit from it. And whenever he needs information regarding orchard farming then he consult agriculture related magazines, print media, internet etc.

To make his organic farming more updated and advanced he joined Morarka Foundation in 2009. Many farmers visit his farm regularly to learn something new from Rajnish Lambha, and he also provide them information and training without and cost. Sometimes, even agriculture officers also visit his orchard farm with group of farmers for events and training session.

From the beginning his dream was always to make his grandfather (Hardev Lambha) proud, although he is no more now, but he want to take his teachings ahead and inspire other farmers to start nursery preparation and orchard farming like him. For his great effort in the field of horticulture he is awarded by Agriculture Minister- Harji Ram Burdak in 2011 and also appreciated by Governor of Rajasthan – Kalyan Singh and many articles on him has also been published in the newspaper and magazines.

MESSAGE TO FARMERS
“He wants other farmers to adopt organic farming because organic farming has many health benefits as well as it is eco-friendly. Farmers should also reduce the use of chemicals. One thing they should remember that, regardless how much profit they are earning, profit can only be earned by doing something different like orchard farming.“

Kamla Devi Shokeen

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Rousing Story of a Woman Who Started Her Entrepreneurial Business after Her Retirement And is Successful Today

In India, when a person reaches the retirement age, then his age is almost around 60. And the most common mentality of Indian people after the retirement is, no work after retirement. Because everyone has their own dreams for their golden retirement age- some people want to go on vacations, some people just want to relax and live a normal peaceful life, and some people choose the spiritual path. But there are very few people who like to choose their hobbies and interests after their retirement and pursue it as their second career. One such woman who also didn’t give up after her retirement and started her own business is Kamla Shokeen.

Kamla Shokeen, a woman who is still young by her spirits, started her entrepreneurial career after her retirement. But before getting retired, she was a Physical Education teacher for 39 years in Government School. She had the hobby of pickling berries from the beginning, so after retirement, she thought of changing that hobby into a business, and today she is running her own successful pickle business by the brand name KAMAL AACHAR.

Kamla Shokeen began her pickle business 7 years back in 2010 after getting retired from her teaching profession. And to make her pickles business more professional, she took pickle making training from PUSA Branch- KVK Ujwa under Kamkaji Mahila Kutir Udyog. After getting certification from there, she gathered the deprived and poor women of her village Dichaon Kalan, which is in Najafgarh district, to start her own pickle making and selling business. Today her fruit farm is scattered in 2.75 acres of land, in which she has grown Jujube (Ber), Carissa carandas (Karonda), Indian gooseberry (Amla), Java Plum (Jamun), and Guava trees for pickle making. And she manages all the work with the help of few workers. To maintain the good yield of the trees she never uses chemical fertilizers. She only uses vermicompost (kenchue ki khaad).

By qualification, Kamla Shokeen is MA in Political Science, but when she started pickle business after retirement, at that time, then she never felt that the work she is going to do is low grade or not of her level. Even her husband- Mr. Mulchand Shokeen, who is a retired director from GDA; two sons, out of which, one is pilot and other is an engineer by profession; one daughter- who is a doctor by profession; and two daughter-in-laws- both are teachers by profession, supported her in her venture.

Today, she is 69 by age, but her gusto of pursuing her hobby never went down since day one after her retirement. Kamla Shokeen always tried to give her best efforts, during her teaching career and as well as for her pickle business. She even received “Best Teacher Award” for her teaching from the school. And after starting the pickle business she was also awarded by PUSA for Best Quality of Aachar.

Generally, she visits events, exhibitions, and fairs to sell her handmade pickles, but to make her products available to more people she has opened a small shop in her house. Most visited fairs, where she earns the most profit by selling her pickles are Pragati Maidan and PUSA Fair. In a year she earns more than 60-70,000 from her pickles business. And in the future, she is planning to include more varieties in her pickles collection- like mango and lemon. Whenever someone comes to her for guidance related to pickles making business, she never refuses them and always provides true advice and suggestions. Till now she has suggested many people to take training from PUSA so that, they can also start their own business.

Message By Kamla Shokeen
“Rather than sitting idly on a chair all day long and doing nothing, it’s better to make yourself useful. I started working after my retirement because, I had the interest in pickling and I didn’t want to be bored. From my pickle business, I’m also able to support the poor people of my village. According to me, every woman should use her skills and hobbies to make herself independent even after the marriage, but before that they should complete their education. ”

Harnam Singh

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Story of a Man Who Chose To Stay in His Own Country and Do Something for His Motherland Instead Of Going Abroad

In Punjab, youngsters are besotted by foreign shores and migrating to abroad have become a status symbol and trend in the society. Despite having enough resources in their own motherland, today youngsters have foreign attraction and they prefer to go abroad and get settled there. For most of the people in Punjab, relocation to foreign countries has become a question of identity, even if they do not know what their goals are after going there. Yes earning money is easy in abroad, but not that easy.

With the same dream, a young man of Ludhiana, Mr. Harnam Singh was also planning to go Canada like his other friends, but in the middle, he dropped his idea. After the conversation with his friends, Harnam came to know that, life in abroad is not that easy, you have to work day and night, if you want to make money, moreover you have to stay away from your family. So after knowing their friend’s experience, he thought that, even after going abroad, if he has to face hardships in managing a simple living, then it’s better to live here with family and start doing something in his homeland only. He decided to continue his studies and also help his father in farming.

After that decision, he never looked back or let any second thought enter his mind. Today, Harnam Singh owns Namdhari Strawberry Farm which is stretched in 3.5 acres of land in his native place and is earning profits in lakhs. It all started in 2011 when his father went to PAU for the training of mushroom farming and while coming back he brought 6 seedlings of strawberry for the kitchen garden. And it is when the idea of the strawberry farming came in the mind of Harnam Singh. Gradually with the time 6 seedling became 20, 20 became 50, 50 became 100, 100 became 1000 and 1000 became lakhs. Today, they have around 1 lakh of strawberry plants in their farm. Moreover, to maintain the number of strawberry plants, he has also started cultivating strawberry seedlings in Shimla, by taking an area on rent. Mostly he avoids using chemicals and fertilizers in his farm and prefers natural way of farming. And for packing the strawberries he has packing machines and rest of the work is done by the workers (20-30), which he hires mostly in the season of strawberries. Their yearly production of strawberries is very huge, due to which Harnam has to sell some of the produce himself and the rest he sells to the shops or vegetable market of big cities.

In the meanwhile, Harnam never stopped studying and today he has a good list of academic degrees. He did Graduation in Arts, Diploma in Software Engineering, Diploma in Networking Engineering, and presently, he is pursuing Diploma in B.Sc Agriculture. He also helps the farmers by teaching and guiding them about the strawberry farming without charging them.

Currently, Harnam Singh is living in Ludhiana with his happy and small family (Father, Wife, One Daughter and One Son). His future plan is to expand the strawberry farm to a greater extent and make other farmers aware about the strawberry farming.

Message By Harnam Singh
“Harnam wants to convey the same message that he himself experienced in his life that if you have enough resources with you, then start utilizing it efficiently rather than searching it elsewhere. The youngsters of Punjab should start contributing to their motherland instead of going abroad because they can also earn good profit even by staying here.”

 

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.”