Tag: Natural

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.”

Amarjit Bhattal

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Know about an Ex-Army Officer Who Turned into an Agripreneur & Is Bringing Revolution in the Field Of Agribusiness

Nowadays, very few people see a future for themselves in the field of agriculture. And the era in which we are living, most of the people are attracted towards the bright lights of the big cities. And when it comes to life after retirement, then people generally prefer to live an easy and comfortable lifestyle in which they have to do nothing, just sit at home, read the newspaper, spend time with grandchildren, do little exercising and that’s it. There are very few people who are concerned about nature and fulfil their responsibility and try to give back to the soil, that the soil has provided them all their life.

Well, one such person who is fulfilling his responsibility towards the Mother Nature and has made that responsibility as his hobby of farming and a way of relaxation is, Ex-army Officer- Mr. Amarjit Singh Bhattal. Leaving all his luxuries he is living with his father and wife in a small village of Ludhiana- Banohar (Banohad) and running a small shop with the name “JATT SAUDA”.

Well, many people have shops and retail stores along with the road, so what is that special in JATT SAUDA? The thing that makes “JATT SAUDA” unique and different from others is the organically produced vegetable, lentils, fruits and spices from his own farm which is just behind the shop. So basically, he has an “ON-ROAD FARM MARKET” where you can buy everything fresh and organic. Moreover, he also has a small poultry farm where he has around 100 chickens (desi murgiyan). The number of chickens keeps on going up and down, but the demand for the desi eggs never goes down and are sold as soon as they reach his store’s rack.

He started organic farming in December of 2012, after taking training from Kheti Virasat Mission. And from that day till now, he is so actively involved in farming that, from morning till evening, he spends all his time in the farm store and his father is always there to accompany him. It’s like the father-son duo is nurturing the small piece of land like their own child.

He has given a very rustic touch to his small shop, where you can see all the fresh seasonal veggies displayed on a side and garlic hanging from the roof. In his shop, there is a way towards the backyard which leads to his small farm where you can find small plantings of okra, ridge gourd, tomatoes, bitter melon, pigeon pea, different types of lettuce and many more vegetables. According to him, you can see the best view of his farm in the early morning or evening because at that time you can see the best natural colors of nature emerged with the farm beauty. Poultry farm is at one corner of his farm where you can see a dog tied with the hook. All in all, his whole farm will give you an ideal view of a perfect farm. He has 2 to 3 helper, which help him in farm work.

Amarjit Singh completed his M.Sc. degree from Punjab University, Chandigarh, and serving the country was one of the career choices of his life. Before farming, Mr. Amarjit Singh had one more profession and that was a consultant in an immigration firm, at that time he used to counsel children, talk to them and discuss them about their thinking and perspective for their life aims and goals. Moreover, he was also a popular advisor of Punjab’s Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. Even after achieving all these prominent titles in his previous life, today, he is not proud of anything. He believes in simple living and respecting the Mother Nature, and by doing organic farming he is trying to do his side of effort in conserving the nature and providing healthy food to the community.

Amarjit Singh has also an unseen talent. From his college days, he was leaned towards literature and was very fond of Leo Tolstoy’s work. He is also a very keen writer and now also whenever he gets time from the farming, he writes about his thoughts and thinking.

After having the conversation with him, he discussed his views on the poor consumer’s demands and according to him – “Nowadays consumer demand is very unhealthy. With the advanced technologies and modern ways of preserving the food, today you can shop and eat peas and carrot in summers and bottle gourd in winters. As we know that vegetables are an important part of human’s diet and each season offers an array of beautiful fresh produce, so if you include more organic seasonal fruits and veggies in your palate, then it will be more beneficial. Because by adding seasonal fruits in the diet you can enjoy the better taste of the veggies with higher nutritional values, without any chemicals, and it will also support the body’s need according to the season. He also said that the day consumer will be aware of the benefits of organic food, from that day the demand of organic veggies and fruits will increase. And to increase the awareness, farmers and consumers interaction is very much necessary.”

On his own behalf, he tries to make the people aware about the organic farming and he has also given presentations to school children on the importance of organic farming and foods. Currently, he is just planning to continue organic farming and make more people aware about benefits of organic farming.

In future, he is planning to:

• Upgrade the infrastructure of his on-road farm market

• Build up a net house in 2000 yards

• Give a protective environment to the crops in his farm

• Install hybrid system of irrigation

• Increase water storage


Message by Amarjit Singh Bhattal
“He has given a very wise message to today’s farmers- “You can’t control the product price and can be dependent on the government, you should do what is in your hands. The farmer should try to control the input cost and start doing organic farming as it requires less monetary input. A time will come when people will realize that conventional farming is not going to fulfil their demands. So, it’s better to understand the rising need of the hour and start acting according to it.”

Kanta Desta

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THIS WOMAN FARMER REALIZED HOW SHE IS SPREADING DISEASES TO THE PEOPLE, BY DOING CHEMICAL FARMING AND MADE WISE DECISION BY SWITCHING TO ORGANIC

It is said that we should always be thankful to farmers because if you ate today something, it just because of a farmer’s hard work and the sweat that he sheds in the fields. But what if the farmer himself becomes the diseases distributor instead of food!

Today, chemical farming has become a trend to boost the agricultural yield. Agriculture has more become a business rather than fulfilling the basic food necessity. Producers and consumers of food, both have forgotten the basic purpose of farming.

In this situation, a well-said line by a famous agriculturalist- Masanobu Fukuoka explains the true purpose of farming-

“The ultimate goal of farming is not growing crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.”

By going through the same situation, a woman- Kanta Desta, realized that how she has become a disease distributor and then she made the wisest decision of her life by switching to organic farming.

Kanta Desta from Samala Village was a common farmer who use to grow vegetable and fruit and many time she used to distribute it among her relatives, neighbours and friends. But one day, she came to know about the harmful effects of crops grown by using chemical fertilizers and pesticides and then she felt very bad. From that day, she decided that she will stop using chemicals and will adopt organic farming.

To make her step towards organic farming more effective she joined a program which was being run by Morarka Foundation and the Agriculture Department in 2004. She started growing many types of fruits, vegetables, grains and spices like apples, pears, Plum, peach, Japanese Apricot, kiwi fruit, nuts, peas, beans, eggplant, cabbage, radish, coriander, red pepper, onion, wheat, maize, urad, barley, beans and Baladi crops are also grown.

Her switch to organic farming positively affected her income and it was increased to 4 to 5 lakhs annually. Not only this, but with the help of Morarka Foundation, Kanta Desta created a group of women in her village and provided them with knowledge about Organic Farming, and also got them registered under the same foundation.

“I believe that providing knowledge to people in a group is better because it costs less and we can impart knowledge to more people at a time.”

Today her name come across the list of successful organic farmers. She has 31 bighas irrigated land through which she is being productive and is earning the profit in lakhs. Later she also visited NONI University, Delhi, Jaipur and Banglore to get more information about Organic Farming. And for her fervent effort, she has been honoured twice with state honours by the Himachal Pradesh Government. Other than this she has been awarded as the Best Farmer Award in Shimla on 15 August 2008 and she also got appreciated and awarded for her contribution in the field of organic farming on 13th June 2013.

Despite getting so much appreciation on a huge level, this woman never takes the whole credit to herself and she believes that all the credit for her success goes to Morarka Foundation and the Department of Agriculture who guided her on the right path.

Other than farming, Kanta also rears 2 cows and 3 buffaloes and use their dung and farm residue in small vermicomposting plant established in the area of 30x8x10 at her farm. She also use herbal spray aperture wash, jivamrit and NSDL in the place of pesticides, to improve the land conditions and reduce the expenses.

Now, Kanta feels happy and privileged while distributing vegetables and fruits among her relatives and friends, because she knows that what she is growing and giving to her closed ones is free of harmful chemicals and they will stay healthy by eating this.

Message
“Organic Farming is very important to if we want to keep our environment clean.”