Tag: organic farming

Gurpreet Singh

Read full story

Gurpreet Singh: Spearheading a Revolution in Sustainable Agriculture 

Within the sprawling district of Bathinda, Punjab, lies the largest village in the region – Mehraj. Here, in this tranquil setting, Gurpreet Singh embarked on a remarkable journey into the world of agriculture. Born into a family with a deep-rooted connection to the land, Gurpreet’s journey into farming was a natural progression. However, what sets him apart is his dedication to organic farming and sustainable agriculture practices. 

Gurpreet’s foray into farming commenced in 2009, when he decided to take up the mantle of his family’s agricultural legacy. His father had already been tilling the fertile Punjab soil for years, and it was under his guidance that Gurpreet nurtured his passion for farming. He cultivates a variety of crops on their 35-acre expanse, including Paddy, potatoes, mung beans, and mustard. 

The Organic Farming Challenge: Patience and Promise 

The turning point in Gurpreet’s agricultural journey came in 2017 when he made the pivotal decision to transition to organic farming. This marked the beginning of his quest to cultivate crops in harmony with nature, without the use of synthetic chemicals or pesticides. While he admits that the transition was not without challenges, he firmly believes that organic farming is the way forward. Currently he does organic farming on 3 acres of his land. 

When discussing his shift to organic farming, Gurpreet emphasizes that while the initial years may not be as financially rewarding as conventional farming, the long-term benefits are immense. According to him, organic farming begins to yield significant profits by the fourth year. Despite the initial hardships, Gurpreet remains resolute in his commitment to take organic farming to a commercial level. 

One of the driving forces behind Gurpreet’s dedication to organic farming is the increasing awareness among consumers about the importance of healthy, pesticide-free produce. People are willing to pay a premium for organically grown crops, and this growing demand provides a promising market for farmers like Gurpreet. 

Gurpreet’s Ventures into Dairy 

His journey isn’t limited to just farming; he also delved into the dairy business, with a herd of 25 to 30 animals at one point. However, realizing that the profit margins in this sector were limited, he shifted his focus back to organic farming and other agricultural endeavors. Currently, he maintains 15 animals, including cows and buffaloes, to meet his household requirements. 

Championing Sustainability: Stopping Crop Residue Burning and Saving Water 

One of the most remarkable aspects of Gurpreet Singh’s farming practices is his commitment to environmental sustainability. He actively refrains from the burning of crop residue, a practice that has been a major contributor to air pollution and environmental degradation in Punjab. Additionally, he has been a pioneer in implementing the direct-seeded rice (DSR) method, which significantly reduces water consumption compared to traditional methods. 

Direct-Seeded Rice (DSR): A Water-Saving Innovation 

The conventional practice of flooding rice fields consumes vast amounts of water, contributing to the alarming drop in water levels in Punjab. Gurpreet’s adoption of the DSR method, where rice seeds are directly sown into the soil, has achieved an impressive 80% success rate. His dedication to water conservation has earned him recognition from both agricultural institutions and fellow farmers. 

Empowering Fellow Farmers: The Customer Affairs Center 

Gurpreet Singh’s commitment to sustainable agriculture extends beyond his own farm. He operates a customer affairs center where he offers advanced farming techniques and services to fellow farmers. Services like the lucky seeder, silage plant, and vacuum planter have not only proven profitable for him but have also empowered other farmers to adopt more sustainable practices. He also provides knowledge on sustainable yet profitable practices within 25 to 30 Km of his village free of cost to the fellow farmers.   

Guided by Agricultural Institutions and Community Support 

His journey has been supported and guided by institutions like Punjab Agricultural University and Krishi Vigyan Kendra Bathinda. Gurpreet is also an active participant in various farmer groups that promote knowledge sharing and mutual support. He is a member of a group spanning across Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan, where farmers assist one another in overcoming challenges. 

Recognitions and Accolades: Celebrating Excellence 

Gurpreet’s innovative approaches in agriculture have garnered widespread recognition. He stands adorned with numerous accolades, including prestigious awards from esteemed institutions such as Punjab Agricultural University, Krishi Vigyan Kendra Bathinda, and the Khetibadi Vibhag. Notably, his exceptional contributions were celebrated on both the national and international stages, as he received honors from ICAR in Hyderabad in December 2022 and April 2021. His accomplishments extend beyond awards; he was notably conferred with the ‘Best Farmer’ Award during the International Conference ICSCI 2022, a testament to his exceptional dedication. 

Furthermore, Gurpreet Singh’s pioneering efforts in crop residue management, including his steadfast commitment to eschew burning practices, have earned him widespread acclaim. His sustainable practices have attracted the attention of numerous news outlets, further highlighting the remarkable impact he has made in the realm of agriculture. 

Agricultural Entrepreneurship: Selling Quality Products 

Gurpreet sells his farm products to Punjab Agro, and his high-quality wheat commands double rates from local customers who appreciate the superior quality. Moreover, he supplies aromatic Basmati rice to neighboring Haryana, reflecting his commitment to quality and sustainability. 

Words of Wisdom: Starting Small and Scaling Up 

Gurpreet Singh has a valuable piece of advice for aspiring farmers. He suggests starting small when adopting new farming techniques. Experiment on a smaller portion of your land first, and if it proves successful, expand it to the entire farm. This approach not only saves time but also minimizes risk and costs. 

 Gurpreet’s Vision: Taking Organic Farming to New Heights 

As he looks to the future, Gurpreet Singh envisions taking natural organic farming to new heights. He is passionate about educating fellow farmers about the importance of abandoning crop burning practices and implementing innovative methods to combat the depletion of water resources in Punjab. 

Conclusion

In the heart of Punjab, Gurpreet Singh’s journey from conventional farming to a champion of organic, eco-friendly methods serve as an inspiration for farmers across the region and beyond. With his dedication and vision, Gurpreet Singh is not only securing a prosperous future for his farm but also contributing to the preservation of Punjab’s precious natural resources. 

Padam Singh

Read full story

Padam Singh: Cultivating a Rooftop Oasis of Organic Abundance

In the bustling urban landscape of Basai Darapur, New Delhi, where concrete dominates and green spaces are scarce, Padam Singh’s story emerges as a testament to the extraordinary transformation that passion and dedication can bring about. Born into a family of farmers, Padam always harbored dreams of creating something exceptional for his environment his relentless pursuit of knowledge and unwavering commitment eventually led him to create “The Terrace Garden,” an awe-inspiring organic haven in the heart of the city.

Padam Singh’s journey towards becoming an urban farming pioneer began long before he retired as the Additional Commissioner of Income Tax, Delhi, in 2021. During his tenure, he would often frequent PUSA, Delhi, India’s National Institute for Agricultural Research, where he immersed himself in the world of home-based farming and agriculture. His maternal grandfather’s orchard provided valuable insights into fruit farming, and he supplemented his learning with extensive online research and videos.

In 2013, Padam Singh took a significant leap by establishing his Organic Farming Kitchen Garden on the rooftop of his home. Spanning 2500 square feet, this rooftop oasis comprises 400 plants and vegetables, showcasing the fruits of 35 different fruit species. Among these species, he mainly nurtures:

∙         Mango
∙         Oranges
∙         Lemon
∙         Sapodilla (Chickoo)
∙         Mulberry (Shahtoot)
∙         Peach (Aadu)

Padam’s childhood inclination toward fruit farming found a perfect outlet in this endeavor. He personally tends to each plant, nurturing them with care and dedication. His passion has sparked the interest of many, with people frequently visiting his home on Saturdays and Sundays to witness his thriving rooftop garden. Inspired by his example, several individuals have embarked on their own home-based farming journeys. Padam Singh extends his influence by visiting other households, sharing his knowledge, and even gifting plants to encourage others to embrace the joys of organic gardening.

One remarkable aspect of Padam Singh’s approach to farming is his commitment to organic practices. He refrains from using chemical fertilizers available in the market and instead creates his own organic manure at home. He learned this skill through extensive online research and by attending relevant classes, emphasizing the importance of sustainability and environmental consciousness in his gardening endeavors.

Padam Singh’s journey is a shining example of self-driven success. Despite lacking formal agricultural training, he relied on keen observations at PUSA and discussions with scientists to chart his path to success. His remarkable achievements include three awards from the Head of the All India Kitchen Garden Association, with two first prizes and one-second prize in recognition of his exceptional plants. Furthermore, his journey has been showcased on television, with appearances on DOORDARSHAN in 2018 and 2021.

Beyond his role as an urban farmer, Padam Singh wears many hats. He is a licensed advocate, a distinction granted by the BAR Council of India, an international table tennis umpire, and a sought-after guest lecturer at various universities and colleges. In his community, Padam takes pride in teaching young children about farming, imparting valuable knowledge to the next generation.

Padam Singh is a devoted father, with two sons who share his curiosity about his unique approach to farming. One of his sons is an IT Engineer, while the other holds a degree in B.Com Honors. They are deeply interested in their father’s agricultural pursuits, potentially ensuring the continuity of his legacy.

Looking to the future, Padam Singh has no intentions of commercializing his agricultural passion. He remains committed to sharing the abundance of his terrace garden with the elderly, children, family, and relatives. His dream is to acquire a substantial piece of land where he can expand his gardening endeavors further, cultivating an even greater variety of fruits and vegetables to share with his community.

Padam Singh’s journey as an urban farming pioneer exemplifies the power of unwavering passion, relentless dedication, and the pursuit of knowledge. In a concrete jungle, he has created a green oasis that not only sustains him but also inspires countless others to embrace the beauty and potential of organic gardening. In his humble rooftop garden, Padam Singh sows the seeds of change, one plant at a time.

Gangaram

Read full story

Gangaram: A Journey from Education to Sustainable Farming

In the serene village Kalakh of Jaipur, Rajasthan, nestled amidst the landscapes of India, Mr. Gangaram embarked on a remarkable journey of transformation, transitioning from a career in education to becoming a staunch advocate for sustainable farming practices. His story is a testament to his unwavering commitment to promoting organic farming and fostering a culture of agricultural research and innovation in his community.

Before dedicating himself entirely to farming, Mr. Gangaram owned a school in his village from 2000 until 2016. In 2018, he handed over the reins to his brother to pursue his lifelong passion for agriculture. Recognizing the importance of knowledge sharing, Gangaram actively encourages trainees from various universities to visit his farm, providing them with valuable insights into sustainable farming practices.

Gangaram’s journey into sustainable farming began with formal training at HITC Horticulture in Durgapur and attending Organic Kheti training programs. Inspired by his agricultural background, he established the Seport Organic Farm and Agro Research Centre in November 2017.
Today, Gangaram’s farm is a thriving testament to his dedication. He cultivates a diverse range of crops, including cucumber, melons, strawberries, broccoli, figs, and various types of lettuce. In addition to these crops, he also grows seven different types of green fodder.

Gangaram’s journey into organic farming was fueled by a pivotal moment in 2012 when he read an article about the hazardous chemicals sprayed on crops in Punjab, leading to health issues. This revelation ignited his determination to pursue organic farming and promote chemical-free agriculture. In 2016, a visit to Mini Israel in Jaipur further solidified his commitment to farming by witnessing the success of over 500 polyhouses.

On August 28, 2017, Gangaram commenced his journey into polyhouse farming, having received training and guidance from experts in the field. He conducted extensive research, consulting with his family, who shared his agricultural background, before venturing into farming. Continuously seeking to enhance his knowledge and expertise, Gangaram emphasizes, “I took various pieces of training and to date don’t miss a chance of learning about farming.”

Gangaram’s dedication to sustainable farming extends beyond the boundaries of his polyhouse. He also breeds fish, raises Avishan sheep (10 for meat), and maintains a dairy farm with three Gir cows and five Murrah buffaloes. Currently, his polyhouse spans three acres, with a fourth acre under development. Overall, he supervises 15 bighas of land shared with his two brothers. While all of his farming practices are organic, the polyhouse requires the occasional use of WSf and Biohouse chemicals.

One of Gangaram’s unique features is his direct interaction with consumers. He sells strawberries directly to visitors and offers a wide variety of vegetables at local markets. Additionally, he supplies his produce to Kissan Mela, ensuring that his fresh and organic products reach a broader audience.

Gangaram’s commitment to education is evident as he welcomes two batches of students from SKN Unit City who are pursuing B.Sc as part of the RAWE program. His farm serves as an experiential learning platform, offering hands-on exposure to sustainable farming practices.

Gangaram’s remarkable journey has not gone unnoticed, earning him a series of prestigious awards and recognitions. In 2019, he was honored with the JB Kheti Award at the state level. In 2021, he was recognized as an innovative farmer by IARI, Delhi. He continued to receive accolades, including the Pandit Din Dayal Upodaya Karsi Award in 2021 and the IARI Fellow Award on February 9, 2022.

Looking to the future, Mr. Gangaram envisions expanding his sheep production by exploring more breeds and implementing sustainable practices. His relentless pursuit of knowledge, coupled with his dedication to sustainable farming, makes him a true trailblazer in the field of agriculture. Gangaram’s story serves as an inspiring example for individuals seeking to make a meaningful impact in their communities through sustainable and organic farming practices.

In a world where sustainable agriculture is becoming increasingly important, Gangaram stands as a beacon of hope and a source of inspiration for those who wish to make a positive change. His dedication to organic farming and his commitment to sharing knowledge not only enrich his community but also contribute to a healthier and more sustainable future for all.

Gur Rajneesh

Read Full Story

A journey from Corporate to being a Composter- Gur Rajneesh

About the farmer: Gur Rajneesh holds a distinguished management degree from School of Business Studies, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. He holds a significant corporate career of 16 years in Banking & Finance and has worked for Citi Group, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank. 2019 was the year when he started conceptualizing and later after a lot of research he built up his own venture named Nature’s Aashirvaad a commercial vermicomposting unit for production of vermicompost and vermiculture.

Let’s Understand Vermicomposting: This basically means “worm-farming” where earthworms feed on the organic waste materials and give out excreta in the form of “vermicasts” that are rich in nitrates and minerals such as phosphorus, magnesium, calcium and potassium. These are used as fertilizers and enhance soil quality.

Taking the journey ahead: Gur Rajnish’s journey started when he was at the phase of building and ideating, a lot of research and analysis was ongoing from his end to build the right product and process to benefit his end user. This duration was witnessed by Covid 19 which did delay certain aspects with him but a lot of quality work was done like, website, logo designing, trademark registration, packing designs, searching the vendors for packing materials and other equipment’s. Later, during June 2020, some land was taken on lease by him and this established a vermicomposting unit with just 15 beds and from there it was no looking back. Finally in October he laid his resignation and by this time his production, packing material website was ready and the Online Digital marketing campaigns were running.

As production was very less in the first few lots, it was not advisable to target the farming sector first. The feasible option was to target the Urban gardening space, he launched a campaign to get the “Free Sample” of my vermicompost. People gave him their addresses to supply free samples and he himself went home to home to provide free samples for gardening which was loved by the people of TriCity. Eventually he started getting good orders and references for business. Post this familiarity he went ahead to launch his product on various marketplaces like (Amazon/ Flipkart/Meesho /Jiomart etc). He equally got an amazing response because his Branding and Packing was very attractive and with true genuineness.

Beyond Farming: With the focus to help soil stay in good health. We all need to know and understand that nature is the best teacher for farming, so we need to think broader and it’s high time to think about enriching our soil with pure organic feed and what better than using vermicompost. This is a mechanism to maintain a pollution-free environment and in an ecological manner. Gur Rajneesh built products which are an ideal option to achieve the goal of sustainable organic farming/gardening.” With this motive, he started having farmers to visit his plant and as more and more farmers started visiting the farm, new initiative started to be and later he termed it as “Punjab Vermicomposting Training center”.

The aim of his organization is to popularize organic farming in Punjab, generate awareness amongst city folks and farmers and help develop a market for organic foods within the country.

Punjab Vermicomposting Training center provides proper training to start a unit at farmers’s own place. He helped them to provide good quality earthworms and also helped to set up infrastructure With providing a proper training to set up vermibeds, pits from initial stage to till production.

He have regular training programs scheduled at his Mohali Farm every Saturday from 11 a.m.  In addition, this is a free service for farmers and people who want to learn vermicomposting. Apart from this he provides consultancies to various Vermicomposting Units and Organic Growers.

It takes immense pleasure to share that he has trained 500+ farmers and young agripreneurs on pro-bono basis.

Currently, he has a supply to households, resorts, residential projects, residential societies, framers, nurseries and hotels.

Vision

To be a trustworthy and innovative global leader in providing genuine organic input products and solutions for organic farming in India and to become the household name in urban gardening space.

Mission

To shape the future of Indian Farmers with our comprehensive organic inputs that helps in maintaining ecological balance.

Values

  • Total integrity
  • Absolute commitment to quality
  • Respect and devotion to Mother Nature
  • No compromise on being who we are

Commitment

  • To deliver genuine organic input products to our consumers.
  • To introduce a unique and successful business model that is committed to service and integrity, and benefits all.
  • To support natural, sustainable, organic, agriculture practices that serve and protect Mother Nature.
  • To support the livelihood and well-being of farmers across rural India.
  • To encourage entrepreneurship among youth.

Neeraj Prajapati

Read Full Story

A Lifelong Cycle Journey To Awaken The Light Of Organic Farming – Neeraj Prajapati 

There are some such turns in the journey of life that change the person. A similar incident happened with Neeraj Kumar Prajapati, a resident of Ahulana village in Gohana, Haryana. Which has not only changed his mind but has also sent his life on a new path.
Seeing the train carrying cancer victims, Neeraj dropped out of the fifth semester of BTech. and left worrying about his career to set out on a bicycle to awaken the light of poison-free farming, i.e., organic farming. In view of this step taken by Neeraj’s selfless spirit, he has been named The Bicycle Man of India.
Prajapati, Neeraj Kumar stated “My mind got upset when I saw patients going for cancer treatment on a train going from Bathinda to Bikaner in Punjab. Most of the cancer patients on the train were travelling for treatment. Among them, people from Haryana and Punjab were more.
He believed indiscriminate use of pesticides in agriculture was also one of the major causes of cancer. In view of this, he decided that he would try to motivate the farmers to adopt organic farming.
Neeraj not only taught them organic farming techniques, but he also devised marketing channels. As well as selling points for their produce today, all of these farmers are not only earning more money, but also producing more with minimal resources.
Neeraj has now trained nearly 70,000 farmers and is assisting them in producing 1,000 kgs of food per month. He successfully partnered with international agriculture institutes and housing societies to sell the harvest in 2018. His efforts did not come to an end there. Through his approach and communicative skills, he enabled farmers to travel across the country on their bicycles and set up markets for vegetables and grains.
Following his bicycle touring adventures with farming, he decided to write about his experiences in a book titled “Farmer’s Life.” Learning about organic farming and implementing its methods, he has now done everything from convincing farmers to training and assisting them in selling their produce.
Neeraj Prajapati ensures that during a trip to a specific region, he meets researchers, scientists, and experts on organic farming and then brings these new techniques to farmers in various villages.
He works as a helping hand to farmers. He listens to farmers’ concerns and then consults with experts to find a solution.
Due to the COVID restrictions and lockdown, Neeraj’s mission was on a halt
“It’s about time for us to focus on young and promising farmers, particularly those who have only recently begun working in the fields.” “Young farmers should be made aware of the
proper techniques so that they feel motivated to continue working in agriculture,” says 25-year-old Neeraj
Prajapati, who is on a mission to ride a bicycle across the country for 111,111 kilometres to raise awareness about organic farming and the problems associated with pesticide application to crops. States It was one of the most ecstatic feelings I’d ever experienced. “It had been three years since I had dropped out of B-tech, but I felt the transition was paying off,” Neeraj Prajapati observes.
Back to the beginning: How a B-tech dropout named Neeraj Prajapat became a farmer and helped the farming community in India embrace organic farming and GAP through cycle tours across the country.
He used his savings to buy a bicycle a few years later. After conducting extensive research, he began exploring various research institutes, colleges, and villages.
After three years of organic farming and he felt confident enough to train other farmers in nearby Haryana and Punjab districts.
This engineering dropout pedalled more than 44,817 kilometres across many northern states to educate farmers about the benefits of organic farming.
He has cycled through Rajasthan, Punjab, and Haryana to educate farmers about the dangers of pesticide application to their crops. He has been raising awareness about how these chemicals are produced. As a result, the country’s lung disease and cancer cases are on the rise.
So far, Neeraj has made people aware by travelling 44817 km in Haryana, Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Neeraj has set a target of 1 lakh 11 thousand 111 km cycle journey for organic awareness.
“I’m about to cross the 45,000 km mark,” Neeraj said. He plans to recruit more farmers in the coming years through his upcoming bicycling programmes in various horizons, and he wants to raise awareness about the benefits of consuming organic produce and GAP.
They planned to make farmers aware of poison-free farming by travelling from Kashmir to Kanyakumari without worrying about their careers and started the journey. Wherever they go, they go to the fields and tell the people about the harm caused by excessive use of pesticides.

A message to farmers

Neeraj expresses his opinion on minimizing the use of agrochemicals. How it is important to shift towards organic farming and safeguard the soil health and increase the microbe quantity in the soil for a valuable harvest.

Shyam Rod

READ FULL STORY

An Artist By Profession, A Farmer By Choice – Shyam Rod 

This is a story about a person who learnt the value of hard work and determination. A former art teacher turned farmer, Shayam Rod grows a picturesque food forest with over 50 different kinds of fruits and vegetables. Also, the founder of Bhoomi Natural Farms, as he’s always had a passion for gardening. You’ll be surprised to know he has planted 1,500 plants on a 1-acre property without any use of chemicals or pesticides. He took proper training on an organic plantation in Lucknow in the year of 2017 before he decided to cultivate a food forest.

Bhoomi Natural Farms is a small, family-owned farm in the heart of India. The farm grows a variety of crops, including rice, wheat, and vegetables. Shyam explains his passion for gardening and farming and the joy he gets from growing his food. The food forest comprises closely planted trees of various fruits and vegetables, where each type of tree helps in the sustenance of the other type.

Shyam Rod was an artist who founded this food forest; he has a son, Abhay Rod, who graduated from Delhi University and is currently studying for an LLB degree while simultaneously managing the food forest. The reason he decided to join and start this was due to pollution in Delhi, and he desired to live in clean air. Shyam Rod is supported by his wife, son, and extended family. He has an ever-supportive family who supports and assists him in introducing new farming practices. Abhay Rod is a Taekwondo black belt who has won numerous medals for his national representation of his skills and talents. His current focus is on organic farming and cultivating numerous food forests across India.

On his Facebook page, viewers can learn more about how Shyam Singh relies on nature to help him grow his crops. He talks about how he uses natural predators to keep pests under control and how he incorporates cover crops into his fields to improve soil quality. He also feels that chemical fertilizers should be banned since they are damaging to our bodies and cause a variety of disorders.

The use of cow dung and cow urine on the farm is essential to make the soil rich in nutrients and bacteria. This process is called “mulching.” This practice has been followed by farmers for centuries, and it is still being followed by many farmers today. The main reasons for using these two products on the farm are to keep the soil healthy and to promote plant growth. He follows a process in which a substance (such as straw or bark) is put over the ground to shield plant roots from heat or cold, keeps the soil wet, and prevent weeds

The food forest at Shyam’s farm is a beautiful and bountiful place. The trees are planted close together and provide an abundance of fruits and vegetables. The variety of fruits and The variety of vegetables available is incredible, and the quality is exceptional. Visitors to the farm are always impressed by the size and health of the trees, as well as the quantity and variety of produce. The food forest is a great example of how permaculture can be used to create a productive and sustainable agricultural system. By mimicking the structure of a natural forest, the food forest provides a habitat for many different species of animals and plants. This creates a diverse and resilient ecosystem that can withstand pest outbreaks and other challenges.
He likens his “Bhoomi” (land) to a canvas that he likes to colour with different fruits and vegetables. The land has been transformed into a tightly packed food forest with wide biodiversity. Lemon, jackfruit, pear, plum, banana, papaya, peach, litchi, turmeric, ginger, seasonal vegetables, wheat, and a few kinds of basmati rice are all grown in the food forest. He is eager to grow a variety of plants. He is a dedicated individual who does not shy away from employing natural agricultural practices.

His motivation stemmed from organic farming. He believes that farming should be done organically, as it was in the past. without the use of additional assistance or hazardous substances. Fertilisers have several negative effects on the human body. During the epidemic, people realised how important their health was and was motivated to switch to organic food.

“My family has always supported me and motivated me to keep going in the right direction,” he says. The consumer who buys once always enjoys the goods and becomes a regular shopper. When he first switched to organic farming, he saw a minor decrease in Farm production, but as time passed, he began to make a profit by selling the products at a higher price than the market.

Not only is his organisation conserving the soil by not using toxic chemical fertilisers, but it is also catching rainwater by building tanks on one acre of property. Aside from that, he pioneered the use of solar panels in their fields to drill water through tube wells and create power. He has been using eco-friendly approaches because he believes that “what you take from the world, you must give it back.” He introduced the idea of sustainable farming to his town. Other farmers in his village are inspired by his organic farming efforts and come to learn new ways.

Challenges

He addresses the importance of working together with others to make sure that everyone has enough to eat. He talks about the traditions and customs surrounding food in India and how they vary from region to region.

Message to the farmers

He believes that chemical fertilizers should be banned since they are damaging to our bodies and cause a variety of disorders. Organic products are becoming more popular, and farmers may benefit from them. Shyam Singh Rod is another nature and environmental enthusiast, who works to follow all natural processes to carry on and expand the agricultural area, as well as to educate others about the value of organic farming.

Rajveer Singh

Read Full Story

How working in Europe made a Rajasthan man, a Progressive Farmer

Rajveer, a resident of Ramnathpura, Rajasthan was always inclined towards agriculture from an early age and had this unending desire to know about the new technologies in this field. You will be surprised to know that he used drip irrigation in the year 2000. In 2003 he started organic farming of jojoba plant but then he went to explore Europe in 2006 and worked there in construction line but his heart always belonged to agriculture. He told us about his weekends when he used to drive past beautiful fields of crops in France and he used to miss his homeland. The inspiration behind organic farming came from Europe, he saw that the temperature was cold there but still all the vegetables were available irrespective of the weather conditions with the help of poly-houses. When in 2011 he came back from Europe he religiously started practising organic farming of fruits and vegetables. He then constructed a polyhouse on his farm in 2014 for which he also got a subsidy from the Rajasthan government.
The harmful effects of fertilisers on the human body are countless. People realised the value of health during the Corona Virus pandemic and switched to organic food. – Rajveer Singh
He established Prerna Organic Farmhouse in his village which is located in Jhunjhunu district and got his farm registered by Rajasthan State Organic Certification Agency (RSOCA). The total land under cultivation is 3 hectares out of which jojoba is cultivated for oil production in about 1 hectare, cucumber is cultivated inside the poly-house which is constructed in 4000 m2 and the rest of the area there are 152 plants of dates, 100 plants of red apple and 200 plants of guava.  In the summer season, watermelon is cultivated and in the rainy season, sweet corn is sown. Dates are sold in the raw stage as well as after drying as pind khajur.
My father, an ex-army man has always supported me in living my passions and always guided me in the right direction – Rajveer Singh.
He also sells organic honey at a lower price of ₹300/Kg to attract customers and organic Desi ghee of Sahiwal and Rathi breed at ₹1800/Kg. He takes orders from customers through a Facebook page named Prerna Organic Farmhouse and through WhatsApp groups. Only cucumber gets sold in mandi whereas all the other products like watermelon, Dates, ber, and guava are sold directly to customers. He also grows organic black wheat which has numerous health benefits and this too gets sold through direct orders by the customers. The customer who once buys always praises the product and becomes a permanent buyer, the reason behind this is the art of Rajveer’s seed selection and quality organic products. In the initial days when he switched to organic farming, he saw a little decline in land productivity but then as time passed by he started making profits by selling the produce at a more rate in comparison to the mandi.
Although he has 5-6 cows and makes organic manure on his own but the quantity is not enough and so he has to buy manure of ₹50,000 from nearby farmers. He has two labourers to help him on his farm. Rajveer’s father Devkaran Singh, wife Suman Singh and children Prerna and Pratik also help him in his daily chores.
Rajveer is the director of Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO) named Chidawa Farmer Producer Company Ltd. which was registered in the year 2016. Lately, they have sold mustard after collecting it from the farmers.
He is not only saving the soil by not using harmful chemical fertilisers but also practices rainwater harvesting by constructing a tank in a hectare of land. Other than this he also uses solar panels for boring water through tubewell on his farm and uses the same electricity for his home. He has been implementing eco-friendly techniques in his since 2001in his village and has set an example for others by saving the environment. Other farmers in his village also get encouraged by seeing such practices and visit his organic farm to learn new techniques.

Achievements

•    He was awarded at the district level by KVK Abusar, under ATMA Scheme in the year 2016-17

Future plans

He will now move to kinnow farming, grading followed by processing of this fruit which is in great demand. He is also planning for agro-tourism where he plans to construct small cottages for the tourist who want to enjoy mother nature.

Message to farmers

There is a need to stop using chemical fertilizers as it has only negative effects on our body and leads to so many illnesses. Now there is a boom in organic products and farmers can also earn good profit from such products.

Mukesh Manjoo

Read Fully Story

A progressive farmer who changed other farmers’ mindset

Our Country beholds that farming is a career option which cannot generate a decent income. When we talk about farmers the only picture that comes to our mind is of an old man sitting near his barren land, a farmer is always portrayed as a helpless being. In today’s story, you will come to know about a progressive farmer Mukesh Manjoo who wanted to change this mindset of society.
Mukesh Manjoo from Pilani, Rajasthan used to work as a National Security head at Delhi Airport but in 2018 his father was diagnosed with cancer and he had to take VRS (Voluntary Retirement Scheme). He used to see his grandfather and father practice agriculture for living in his childhood and became fond of this.
He has 20 acres of land under cultivation and started farming in 2014 when he planted kinnow and mausami over 4 hectares of land on his farm and named his organic farm ‘The Manjoo Farms’. Then in 2016, he cultivated olives on 4 acres of land, followed by Dates in 2016, Thai Apple Ber in 2019 and planted Sangri in 2020. In 2022 after watching Pushpa movie he planted Chandan on his land.
He also practices intercropping and cultivates ayurvedic medicinal plant – Ashwagandha and cash crops like watermelon. The main highlight of his farming is the authentic traditional farming he practices, he applies organic manure on his land made of cow dung and cow urine, buttermilk etc. he doesn’t use heavy agriculture machinery on his farm due to two main reasons- he wants to employ the workers and generate employment for the needy and secondly, he believes that the machinery compresses the soil’s internal layer, deteriorates soil health by decreasing water holding capacity of the soil.

The environment and natural resources should be utilised without creating an imbalance in the nature   – Mukesh Manjoo

He follows the Integrated Farming System, along with crop production he practices fish farming, poultry farming (Kadaknath variety), beekeeping (50 boxes), and owns several domestic animals like Sahiwal breed cows for milk and related products; camel for agriculture purposes instead of machinery and two horses for his children to learn horse riding.
Most of the regions in Rajasthan are under a dry zone and there is always a shortage of water. Mukesh believes in water conservation and has made space for rainwater harvesting in his field. He also uses different irrigation practices to minimise the wastage at his end, for example, Usage of Drip irrigation, sprinkler irrigation and Rain pipe which irrigates the field in just 15 minutes and through these techniques he is successful in saving water.
His brother Pramod Manjoo who worked as a vigilance offer in Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) until 2018, helps him on his farm and has always shown full support. In the start he faced a few problems in getting the right customers as a person who values health and is aware of the benefits of organic food. However, because of his vast friend list and his hard work, he survived and today enjoys a great profit in organic farming. His main focus was to go for different crops which could generate regular income for him. So along with seasonal crops, he also grew crops which stay in high demand throughout the year.

Whenever guests come to my house I never offer them, Chai, coffee or even juice for that matter instead I offer fresh organic products from my farms such as watermelon, Kinnow and dates. – Mukesh Manjoo

Mukesh doesn’t sell any crop in mandi. According to him for becoming a large-scale farmer, the right market should be set and strategically hard work should be done in the right direction. All his products are cultivated based on customer needs only and his customers are scattered from Pilani, Rajasthan to metro cities like Delhi and Gurgaon. Likewise, he sells olives directly to hotels like Taj Delhi at ₹250/kg and olive oil at ₹1000/litre. The main marketing technique which proved to be a huge success for him is Word-of-mouth marketing. Once a customer has a taste of his delicious organically grown fruits he becomes a permanent consumer. The quality of the organic products and the confidence in his work has made him a progressive farmer.
Achievements
•    Awarded at State level by Chief minister of Rajasthan in 2021
•    Awarded by Rajasthan’s agriculture minister in 2020
•    Awarded at district level under ATMA scheme in 2019
•    Awarded for the promotion of indigeneous breeds of cows in 2018
Future Plans
He plans to start Agro-tourism by making cottages on his farm so that people can experience living in nature’s lap once again.

Message to farmers
He wants all other farmers to be as proud of their occupation as any other person working in offices would be. Agriculture in India has changed so much in the last few years and will achieve new heights in the near future.

Harbhajan Singh

READ FULL STORY

A farmer who succeeded in running 5 different professions on a single platform and therefore is recognized as Shaktiman of Farmers- Harbhajan Singh

Diversification is a vital process to achieve successful outcomes in this rapidly changing, fast-paced world. It is hard to adopt but very necessary these days. Everyone in the universe is born to do something unique and distinctive. However, many people are afraid of the change and hence, they hold back their thoughts on diversification. Only some people can realise their uniqueness and reach the stars to change the world. This story is about one such person.

Where most farmers go with the traditional way of cultivating Wheat and Rice, Harbhajan Singh, a farmer from Malakpur village, Mansa, contributes his efforts towards the multiformity in Agriculture. He is successfully running an integrated farm on 11 acres of his land in which he rears fish, pigs, hens, goats and quails. Moreover, he has also taken 55 acres of Panchayati land on rent in which he rears fish.

After completing his graduation in 1981, Harbhajan Singh started a mechanical workshop and along with that, he was helping his family with agricultural work. At that time, his friend suggested him to start rearing fishes. So then, he began researching the fish rearing process and soon took a village pond on rent to nurture fishes.

I made a significant profit by rearing fishes and hence, decided to work on my private land– Harbhajan Singh 

He was benefited from this work, therefore, in 1995 he decided to get training from Punjab State Fisheries Development Board, Mansa and started working more effectively on his own land. Harbhajan Singh prepared a pond on 2.5 acres on his own land and later bought additional 2.5 acres of land adjoining his pond. His fish production at that time was 6 tonnes per hectare. Later, he decided to get training from the Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Bhubaneswar, Odisha and bought 6 breeds of fish (Rohu, Katla, Murakh, Grass Carp, Common Carp and Civil Carp) and 3 aerators to increase the fish production. The government provided these aerators with a half subsidy. The productivity of the fish rose to 8 tonnes per hectare after the use of aerators.

I had to buy fish seeds from the government hatchery, which was a costly process; therefore, I prepared a hatchery of my own– Harbhajan Singh 

Along with fish rearing, he prepared a hatchery to produce Fish Seeds as it was costly to buy seeds from other hatcheries. Generally, the hatcheries are government-made, but Harbhajan Singh was so hardworking and dedicated that he prepared his own hatchery with a large initial investment. The hatchery provides artificial rain to the fishes to help them breed. He produced about 20 Lakh finger-sized fish seeds in the hatchery and sold them for 50 paise to 1 Rs per seed.

Over time, he initiated Pig farming in 2009 with 50 pigs of large white Yorkshire breed and decided to sell them as live weight. This type of marketing was not effective enough, so he decided to start processing pig meat. He gained training in Meat products from CIPHET, PAU, GADVASU and processed pig meat into pickle. Marketing the meat pickle was a great success; his income almost got doubled.

At present, Harbhajan has around 150 pigs and he uses pig waste to feed the fishes. This saved him 50-60% of the cost, and the fishes’ production rose about 20%. And, now he produces 10 tonnes of fish per hectare.

He started a Fish Pork Processing Self Help Group of 11 members. This gave employment to many people and added to their incomes.

Harbhajan Singh was also awarded by the Chief Minister of Punjab for his success in integrated farming.

Things did not stop here! He had a long way to go.

As there is an increase in water scarcity, Harbhajan found a way to save nature by recycling the water. He reuses water by first using it for bathing the pigs; then, the same water is released to flow into the fish pond and the wastewater from the fish pond is used to irrigate the crops in the field. This water is organic and provides fertilisers to the crops; hence the only half amount of fertilisers is required to be added artificially. The Punjab CM, Parkash Singh Badal was very impressed with Harbhajan Singh’s efforts and visited his farm.

I got training from KVK, Mansa, to initiate Goat Farming– Harbhajan Singh

Furthermore, he decided to include goats in his farming; hence, he got training from KVK, Mansa and started working with 30 goats, including Beetal and Sirohi, in the beginning and at present, Harbhajan has 150 goats. Later in 2017, he started visiting Kisan Mela at PAU, from where he got the inspiration to rear Quails and Hens. Hence, he bought 2000 Quails and 150 Kadaknath Hens from Chandigarh. These hens are allowed to roam openly and find their feed on their own from the leftovers of other animals’ feed. Currently, he rears 3000 Quails at his farm.

All the feed for the animals is prepared at the field by him with the help of machines. Today, Harbhajan runs his farm successfully with his two sons, who help him in the farm works. He manages all the farming with the assistance of only one helper. He sells fish seeds for 2 Rs per seed. Besides, he sells the goats in Malerkotla on Bakar Eid’s occasion and prepares Goat pickles from the meat. The eggs of Kadaknath hen are sold for Rs 15-20 and the chicken meat is sold for Rs 700- 800. Harbhajan then got training from ICAR-CIFE, Kolkata, for making fish pickles, fish soup etc and marketed the product in the home market. He sells his product under the name “Khiala Pork and Fish Products”.

Marketing of the products is done at my farm itself– Harbhajan Singh

All the marketing process is done in his field itself; he does not need to go anywhere to sell his products. He motivated many young farmers and they visit him for taking his advice regarding integrated farming. He became an inspiration for others and encouraged many other people to run an integrated system of farming.

Future Plans

Harbhajan Singh wants to increase his income and take his farming to a higher level. He wants to be more successful in integrated farming and teach people about the benefits of organic and diversified farming.

Message

Harbhajan Singh advises young farmers to pursue organic farming. If any farmer wants to start integrated farming, he should begin from a base level and gradually add other aspects to their business.

Paramjit Singh

Read Full Story

A farmer who conquered high ground at an early age- Paramjit Singh

Living according to nature is a big thing in itself. Whatever we eat or drink today is all given to us by Mother Nature. It is upon us to keep it this way only. If we follow its fundamental rules, we will never get sick and lead a healthy life.

A farmer, Paramjit Singh, residing in Katahri village near Ludhiana, tends to preserve the gift of nature and nourish it. It is not easy to connect with nature, but it is essential to protect it for the future.

He fell in love with nature so much that he quit his job to serve it in the right way. He used this to cure a lot of diseases such as Blood Pressure, Diabetes, etc.

A person, who truly loves his work and is passionate enough, starts doing it in a fun way to enjoy himself. Therefore, he got training in various courses and decided to work with Indigenous (Desi) seeds. Working with indigenous seeds such as Ragi, Kangani, etc., took him to a platform where he became an inspiration for others.

While I was working in a Millet research centre, I came to know about the seeds of Ragi and Kangani. I then started doing research on these seeds- Paramjit Singh

He started growing Ragi and Kangani on the fields as an experiment. Later, he was so impressed by the results that he decided to grow indigenous seeds at his own level and pursue business in the same.

As the business started to grow, we started visiting Mela, and from there, we got a lot of recognition- Paramjit Singh

His friends helped him in the process; they worked in a group and visited different places for marketing. He had 3 acres of land near his village, where he also grew vegetable seedlings. He has a Pannu Natural Farm named business there and various farmers visit it for buying the seedlings.

The problem arose when Paramjit had to make people aware of the indigenous seeds and organic farming. Most of the people from his village had the mindset that they are doing cultivation for a very long time, and Paramjit is not capable enough to tell them anything about the farming culture. Even after such obstacles, he never gave up and started to grow his business and promote it to a higher level.

He imported the seeds and a Ragi plant when he started the business, and now that plant is being grown on several acres. Paramjit went to Hyderabad for training and, after that, started working on seeds in Punjab. He did research on the seeds and started to produce new seeds, making new products out of them. Starting from the production to the packaging, everything is done by him alone. While Paramjit does this work, his friend has his own machine for making designs for his products.

When we started producing various items, we made a group and registered it through ATMA- Paramjit Singh

He made the following products:-

  • Pearl Millet flour (Bajre da atta)
  • Pearl Millet biscuits (Bajre de biscuits)
  • Pearl Millet porridge (Bajre da dahlia)
  • Finger Millet flour (Ragi da atta)
  • Finger Millet flour (Ragi de biscuit)
  • Biscuits of Green Ragi (Hari Ragi de biscuit)
  • Beetroot Powder (Chukandar da powder)
  • Desi shakar
  • Jaggery
  • Suhajana da powder
  • Desi kanak diya seviya, etc.

Paramjit does everything with his own hands, from sowing seeds to selling the products. He believes that the work done by ourselves gives us more satisfaction than relying on others. He can do marketing from his home through social media platforms, but he chooses not to and goes outside and does everything on his own.

Today, Paramjit Singh is on such a stage that everyone comes to him to get information about the indigenous seeds. Apart from that, he guides people about natural farming also. People know him by his work more than his name.

He is awarded various awards, such as the Young Farmer award on district-level and more, from different universities for his work and passion. Paramjit Singh also gets multiple opportunities to visit exhibitions and is more prevalent in South India as he is the only farmer in Punjab who started indigenous seed cultivation and also educates others.

The plants get the natural fertilizers from the soil itself. I have never used chemical fertilizers- Paramjit Singh 

He has proved that we should not waste the gifts of nature. If you eat organic food, you will never need to have medicines. The people who have bought products organically farmed by Paramjit cured diseases like diabetes, blood pressure, etc.

FUTURE PLANS

He wants to grow his business to the next level and have a processing machine in the field. Additionally, he wants to make everyone aware of the benefits of organic farming; this would conserve nature and make people healthy.

MESSAGE

To become successful in agriculture, one should be more focused on organic farming. To practice organic farming, one should always start with a small scale of land. The young farmers should be well educated about organic farming so that the cultivation could be done chemical-free and health issues can be prevented.

Japinder Wadhawan

Read Full Story

Japinder Wadhawan, a young engineer, engrossed in Farm machinery

It is said that if you are determined to do something, then success runs back and forth and this truth is shown by a young engineer named Japinder Wadhawan.

Japinder connected his engineering studies with the field of farming because the farmer and farming have a huge contribution to society. The need for farm machinery also changes from time to time. With the help of latest technology, the work from sowing to processing can be done easily within a short span of time. But not every farmer is investing in these expensive machines. This problem was easily understandable to engineer Japinder Wadhawan, also known as ” Raftaar engineer. This young engineer is famous in Mohali for creating farm machinery at a low price. Japinder Wadhawan, who studied mechanical engineering, was completely unaware of the field of farming at first. He first worked as an assistant professor and maintenance engineer. Fortunately, he got an opportunity to attend the “Make in India” event in Delhi.

In this event he met a farmer, Sardar Harpal Singh Grewal, who had come there for rotavator. Japinder, realized Harpal’s need, and promised him to make a 10 foot rotavator. Harpal also got 40,000 rupees deposited in Japinder’s bank account for the preparation of machine. But Japinder had never designed any such machine, but at the same time he did not want to break his promise. So, realizing his responsibility, he started preparing the rotavator. With great hard work along with his colleagues, he prepared the rotavator in a month. This new attempt made by Japinder was successful and he got a lot of encouragement from the farmers. After this, Japinder started meeting the farmers in his spare time and came to know about the difficulties related to the machinery used by farmers in farming. During this time, Japinder met Dr. Ramandeep Singh, an expert and professor of farming business, Punjab Agricultural University and Mr. Sukhi Longia, a progressive farmer. With such personalities around him, Mr. Japinder encouraged himself to know more about the difficulties faced by farmers in farm machinery.

“Today, a number of farmers are committing suicide in our country, which is a shameful thing for our country. The major cause of farmer suicide is the pulsesost of farming machines. Very few farmers buy these expensive machines. Therefore, we understand the need of the farmer and try to manufacture machines at low prices” – Japinder Wadhawan

He got another project for a turmeric boiling machine. He got this project too by luck. In a bus, he met a farmer who wanted to make turmeric boiler machine. Within a month, Mr Japinder prepared turmeric boiler. After this, Japinder decided not to look back. Whatever projects he got from the farmers, he tried his best to meet the expectations of the farmers with his hard work, in which he was successful. After the success of these Projects, Mr. Japinder formed a team with his fellow colleagues and this team was named – Raftar Engineering Professional Company. Their team consists of engineers and college students from about 15 different disciplines, who have done a master in their respective fields. To make his skills accessible to other farmers and people, Japinder shares videos of machines prepared by his team with other farmers through social media.

This platform of social media has been very helpful for them to join more people. “If we put it in simple words, we understand the difficulties of the farmers. We make machines as per the requirement of the farmer, so that they can adopt new technology and increase their earnings” – Japinder Wadhawan
Out of about 300 farmers associated with the Raftar Engineering Team, 120 farmers practice organic farming and Japinder himself motivates farmers to adopt for organic farming. Not only from Punjab but farmers from many areas including Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh comes to Japinder to get the machinery ready. It is said that in human life, success comes along with failure. The Raftar Engineering Team has so far worked on 20 projects, out of which 17 projects got success and 3 projects failed. But this failure did not break their courage and made them to work more efficiently. He has a team of 15 associates with him, who helps him in everything.

Machines made by Japinder:
  • Rotavator
  • Garlic Onion Peeler
  • Jagery processing frame
  • Turmeric steam boiler
  • Turmeric pulverizer
  • Turmeric polisher
  • Power weeder
  • Pulses mill
  • Pulverizer Irrigation scheduler
Along with preparing machines for the farmers, Japinder also helps the students studying engineering to complete their projects, which will prove beneficial for the farmers in the coming time. In order to motivate the farmers to go for organic farming, Japinder also gives huge discounts to the organic farming farmers for machinery.

Future
In the future, Japinder wants to take his company to a larger level, set up his own industry and start working for import and export of his own made machinery.

Message for farmers
“Farmers need to focus on organic farming instead of going for chemical/pesticide farming. Farmers should invest thoughtfully. No decision should be taken under the influence of others rather always invest the money wisely.” – Japinder

Priyanka Gupta

Read Full Story

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.”

Mandeep Verma

Read Full Story

How a Farmer is earning Lakhs of money from barren land

Land is everything to a farmer. Yield of the crop will directly depend on how fertile the land is. But if the land will be barren, then there would be no hope left for a farmer. There is a farmer from Himachal Pradesh who is earning good money by doing farming on barren and unproductive land.

Mandeep Verma, after completing his MBA, served 4-5 years in Wipro Pvt. Ltd. But he was not satisfied with his job and returned to Solan with his wife. He decided to do farming on his land, in Solan, which was not productive. He didn’t want to do conservative farming like all the farmers generally do. He decided to do something different from others and ended up at choosing horticulture.

To make this view a reality, he first got complete information about the weather in his area, then he met the doctors at Agricultural University and got the knowledge about horticultural crops cultivation. Then he decided to do Kiwi farming.

To know everything about Kiwi, i went to the university library and read a number of books on Kiwi farming. I also met University professors and then i started the Kiwi farming – Mandeep Verma

After meeting with Horticulture department of Solan and professors in Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University, he decided to prepare Kiwi orchard in 2014. He made the Kiwi orchard in 14 bigha land.

In this garden, he planted the Alicene and Hayward varieties of kiwi plant. He invested about 14 lakh rupees on his kiwi farm and then in 2017, he made a website to sell the kiwi fruit.

The attempt made to bring fruits directly from orchard to the customer was successful – Mandeep Verma

The supply of Kiwi is done after the online order is received from the website. The delivery is available in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.

All the information regarding harvesting and packing of the fruit is given on the box. A packing of 1 kg fruit is prepared and sold at Rs 350 but price of kiwi in Solan is Rs 150/kg.

According to Mandeep, kiwi cultivation in India is originated from Himachal Pradesh. But now Arunachal Pradesh contributes 60% of the total Kiwi production in India.

Mandeep cultivates the kiwi using organic methods only. He knows the importance of organic farming that’s why he prepares the vermicompost himself.

The kiwi that we grow in our farm, does not get perished for 2 months – Mandeep Verma

After successful results in Kiwi farming, he started Apple farming in 2018. He believes in “Zero Budget Farming”

Achievements

Due to getting success in Kiwi farming, in 2019, Mandeep was awarded with “Progressive Farmer Award” in Kisan Mela, HP.

Future Planning

Currently Mandeep Verma has two nurseries and he want to increase the number.

Message
“Before doing any type of farming, weather related information of the place should be obtained. Every type of information is available on social media, so we must use it properly. To get more profits, we should go for organic farming and Zero Budget Farming.”

Rishab Singla

Read Full Story

Haryana’s 23-year-old young boy is emerging as an example for other youngsters

In this era of unemployment, our young generation is either becoming a drug addict or settling down abroad. But on the other side, there are few youngsters like Rishab Singla, who are doing miracles by their innovative ideas in the field of agriculture. This is the story of a 23 year old young boy Rishab Singla from Haryana, who wants to achieve something different in his life. He has pursued BBA and wished to do his own business. As we all know, now-a-days, each and every person, from a small child to old ones, everybody likes chocolates a lot. So, Rishab started to think about chocolate manufacturing. During his studies, he came to know that organic farming of cocoa plants is done in Karnataka. But he was not much aware about this because his father was a trader of intense sticks. In order to know more about cocoa plants, he went to COORG (Karnataka). After getting proper information about cocoa plants and their cultivation, he decided to start chocolate manufacturing.

In February, 2018, Rishab purchased organic cocoa beans from the farmers of Karnataka and for the first time with the help of mixer-grinder, he prepared a chocolate at home. In the starting, he faced a number of problems in doing this work but he never lost hope. He made a variety of different flavours chocolates successfully. In this way, he started to manufacture chocolates at his home. His family members also helped him in making chocolates, but as the work load started to increase, he hired 8 labourers in manufacturing process, resulting in employment of the unemployed.

“According to me, it is okay to earn low profits in a business but it is not okay compromising on the quality of the product. We focus more on increasing our quality rather than increasing profits. Because, currently people only get adulterated food products due to which health problems increase.” – Rishab Singla

Rishab Singla always purchases only organic cocoa beans and manufacture chocolates from them. Now Rishab has started to procure organic cocoa beans from Bengal also. After gaining complete knowledge about cocoa beans and preparing chocolates from them, now he has started packaging of the chocolates himself. He does the packaging of chocolates in such an effective manner that customers can get the idea of the quality from the outside itself. His customers feel extremely delighted after tasting the chocolates.

Being a young boy, he understands the importance of social media in everybody’s life. By using social media as a tool, he started online marketing of his brand ‘Shyam Ji chocolate’. By doing this, his business got a new direction.

“Manually, the work can be done with more accuracy and perfection rather than using machines. But efficiency of work can be more using machines and also it becomes easy to do with the help of these.” – Rishab Singla

Products by Shyam Ji Chocolate:

  • 85% Organic Dark Chocolate Bar
  • 75% Organic Dark Chocolate Bar
  • 55% Organic Dark Chocolate Bar
  • 19% Organic Chocolate Bar In So much Different flavors
  • Sea salt Organic Chocolate Bar

Invention

  • Mind Booster Chocolate Bar
  • Jaggery Chocolate Bar
  • Chia Seeds Chocolate Bar
  • Fiber Booster Chocolate Bar
  • Black Pepper Chocolate Bar
  • Flex Seeds Chocolate Bar

Festival Item

  • Festive Celebration Assorted 15 pieces Chocolate Box

Future plans:
As Rishab has been into chocolate manufacturing for a year , he plans to continue his work only in high quality chocolates.

He also has plans to establish his own chocolate company which will be equipped with all the latest technology.

Message:
“Rishab prepares only organic products and he wants to spread his message that we must use only organically prepared products because we cannot have happiness, peace and success without good health.”

Amarnath Singh

READ FULL STORY

How organic farming left a positive impact on the life of Amarnath Singh and is cheering him to never stop!

The desire to eat healthy and live chemical free life is leading many farmers towards organic farming. One such farmer, Amarnath Singh from Bathinda has also turned towards organic farming and is successfully reaping profit out of his farm.

Before stepping into the agriculture field, Amarnath was an ICICI life adviser for 5 years (2005-2010), and the land which comes from ancestors in inheritance to him was given on rent to other farmers earlier. Well, this is not the only background story of this land. Everything was going smooth, his father – Nirbhai Singh used to cultivate the land until 1984. In 1984 conditions got worse and matters got escalated in many regions of Punjab. At that time Amarnath’s father decided to leave Rampura Phul – a city in Bathinda district, and they shifted to Tapa Mandi – a town in Barnala district and also the maternal home of Amarnath’s father.

Nirbhai Singh was very attached to his land, so even after leaving the Rampura Phul, he used to daily visit his farm from Tapa Mandi. But, one day, when Nirbhai Singh was coming back from his farm, he met with an accident and he died (2000). Since then, Amarnath has been taking care of that land and other family responsibilities.In 2010, income source from the rented land reduced, as he got no fair deal that could offer him the land’s right price. So, he decided to switch to farming. Moreover, in 2007 one of his friends, Nirmal Singh Ghootna told him about many progressive farmers in the field of organic, in case if he thinks of switching to farming.

Rajiv Dixit is the person who inspired Amarnath Singh towards farming. To get more help Amarnath also joined Kheti Virasat Mission in 2012 and started attending their camps from where he extracted the most knowledgeable information required for farming.

Cotton & Paddy were the first commercial crops reaped by Amarnath Singh and some veggies for home purpose too. In 2012. He grew Kharif crop Guar in 11 acres from which he didn’t earn much profit, but income was enough to satisfy his home and other farming expenditures. Gradually with the time, Amarnath reduced pesticides use and in 2013 he completely stopped it. In 2015, he also started reducing fertilizer in his fields. Out of total land (36 acres), he is doing farming on 26 acres and has given rest of the land on rent.

Amarnath – I can myself feel the positive change in me and my family’s life after boycotting the use of fertilizer and pesticides.

Eventually, Amarnath decided to shift to his native village in 2017 and today he is leading a happy life with his family. He has named the farm on the name of his father – Nirbhai Farm so that he could be remembered always through it.

To promote organic farming, Amarnath himself prepares decomposer and natural pesticides at home and also distribute it among the farmers free of cost. Today, whatever Amarnath Singh has achieved, it’s all because of his own hard work and determination.

Future Plan:
In the coming time, I am planning to encourage my children towards adopting farming. I want them to stand by me and help me in the fields.

Message
My message is for the younger generation, nowadays younger generation is very much influenced by the social media sites and apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Whats App, so they should take useful information related to agriculture from it, instead of wasting time.

Jaswant Singh Sidhu

Read Full Story

Jaswant Singh Sidhu Sizing up Organic Farming with Floriculture

It was Jaswant Singh’s grandfather who passed on the interest of floriculture to him and today Jaswant Singh is a progressive farmer who is practicing flower farming along with organic methods. The journey of Jaswant in the field of farming started at a very young age when his grandfather used to ask for his help while gardening. Slowly the interest of Mr. Jaswant Singh also turned towards flower farming. But for commercial purpose, his father was cultivating Paddy and Wheat like his ancestors, and due to less land and weak economic condition of the family, his father was least interested in taking any risk and adopting any new thing.

Besides knowing the family conditions, Jaswant Singh enrolled himself in the horticulture training organized by PAU, just after completing his 12th studies. Although he took the training of horticulture, his father never allowed him to practice floriculture on their land due to the fear of crop failure and loss. For some time, Jaswant Singh also continued with wheat and paddy cultivation, but soon he convinced his father for flower farming (Marigold, Chrysanthemum, Gladiolus, Rose, & Local Rose) and in 1998 he started it on a small patch of land (2 Marla ≃ 25.2929 square metres).

“When my father agreed, at that time I was totally steadfast about floriculture and decided to expand it with the time and reap good profit from it. Although there was no good market nearby to sell the flowers still I was determined and didn’t want to step back.”

When the time of harvesting came, at that time Jaswant Singh visited the houses in his nearby villages in which marriage ceremonies or any celebrations were going to be held, and took the contract of decorating their houses and car with the flowers. In this way, he earned a profit of Rs. 8000 to 9,000 over his income. Seeing the progress of Jaswant, his father and other family members were very happy and this boosted up the courage of Jaswant Singh. Gradually he expanded flower farming in 2 ½ Kanal and presently it’s in 3 acres. Time-to-time, Jaswant bring some new flowers and plants from the nursery, to add variety to his farm. Now, he has also started preparing nursery of flowers, from which he is earning a good income and even today also he manages the marketing part on my own.

Well Jaswant Singh’s hard work did not go in vain, for the tremendous efforts he has been awarded Surjit Singh Dhillon State Award (2014)

Future Plan:
In future, Jaswant Singh is planning to expand floriculture and also venture in the field of poly-house farming by taking land on lease.
Message
“Instead of depending on the government plans and subsidies, farmers should start putting their own effort in agriculture.”

Prateek Bajaj

Read Full Story

Passionate Young Man from Bareilly Chose Vermicomposting over CA Studies Just to Make Country’s Soil More Fertile & Help Farmers Double Their Income

Prateek Bajaj is a bright example for the agriculture society by contributing his efforts in nurturing the Mother Nature and making the country’s soil more fertile. With his beautiful field of vision and inventiveness, today he is solving the country’s waste management problems with great efforts and is helping farmer too to adopt the vermicomposting technology and make their farming an economical venture rather than a loss deal.

Hailing from one of the famous cities of India – Bareilly and coming from a business class family background, Prateek Bajaj always thought of becoming a CA so that later he can join his father’s real estate business. But at the tender age of 19, this boy changed his mind overnight and decided to start the vermicomposting business.

The idea of vermicomposting came in the mind of Prateek Bajaj in 2015, when one day he attended dairy farming training at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, IVRI, Izatnagar, with his elder brother who had recently started dairy farming. At that time, Prateek Bajaj had already cleared his CPT exam and was studying for CA and with his ambitious spirit he could have cleared CA also, but once he attended the training, he came to know about the basics of vermicomposting and bio-waste. He found the idea of vermicomposting so interesting that he decided to drop his career goals and adopt bio-waste management as his future plan.

“I wondered that why we gave away all the cow dung and urine obtained from his brother’s dairy farm if we can use it in such a better way. – Said Prateek Bajaj”

He finished his training with IVRI and learned the advance method of composting with the researchers and scientists present there and fetched all the necessary knowledge required for successful vermicomposting.

Almost, after six months, Prateek shared his plans with his family, it was understandable at that time that his father would disapprove over his decision of quitting CA. But when for the first time Prateek prepared Vermicompost and sold it in the market, his father accepted his son’s decision open heartedly and applauded his work.

“For me becoming a CA was not a big deal, I could have studied for hours and cleared all the exams, but doing what I love whether it takes 24 hours at the composting plant makes me feel happy. Moreover, I don’t need any break, as I know my passion is my career and it makes my work more fun. – Said Prateek Bajaj”

When Prateek’s family agreed with his future plan, then Prateek invested in seven bighas agricultural land in Pardholi village nearby and started vermicomposting in the same year – 2015, and then there was no turning back.

While opening the new unit of vermicomposting Prateek had decided that through this he going to deal with the waste management problems and will also help the farmer to manage their agriculture activities in an Eco-friendly and economical way.

To make his compost richer he experimented with various techniques of using the society waste in a different way. He used flowers from the temple, vegetable waste, residual waste of sugar and he also added neem leaves to the Vermicompost, which ultimately boosted up the antibiotic qualities.

Well, making this venture turn into a complete profitable project, Prateek also started organic farming after buying some more land in the village. And from his vermicomposting and organic farming practices, he concluded that soil requires less compost if a definite amount of cow urine and neem leaves are used, on the other hand, it also doesn’t affect the crop yield. By adding neem leaves in the compost, less pest and insects affected the crop making the crop yield better and soil more fertile.


In his vermicomposting plant, Prateek uses two types of worms – Jai Gopal and Eisenia Foetida, out of which Jai Gopal is provided by the IVRI and is very good in making the composting method efficient than before.

 

Prateek with his constructive spirit believes in disseminating the knowledge and that is why he gives free vermicomposting training to the farmer in which he uses a small earthen pot to make compost from a small level. In the beginning, six farmers approached him and adopted his technique but today there are around 42 farmers who are profited from it. And all the farmers have adopted the technique of Prateek on their own by seeing the progress.

Prateek affirms the farmers that by investing in vermicomposting and organic farming a farmer can more economically make his land fertile and can also take better yield as compared to the poisonous way of farming. And when it comes to the marketing then organic produce always hold better price in the market.

He himself shared his experience of selling organic wheat in the market at the double price as compared to the chemically grown wheat. So ultimately adopting organic farming and vermicomposting is a profitable deal for the farmers.


Prateek also shared a chunk of knowledge with us while sharing his experience- There are two main things before using the cow dung in vermicomposting – Cow dung should be 20-15 days old and completely dry.

 

Presently, Prateek Bajaj, 22, is successfully running his Sehyogi Biotech Plant and is selling compost under the brand name YELO Khaad to different nurseries in Noida, Ghaziabad, Bareilly, and many more other cities of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Also follows other modes of marketing to sell his compost.

With the determination to clean the soil and make it more fertile, Prateek always continues with experimenting with various bacteria and input components in the compost. Prateek feel privileged and blissful of being the part of this nourishing job through which he is not only helping the farmers but is also making the earth a better place.

Prateek is doing his bit, are you? To read more inspiring stories of progressive farmers like Prateek Bajaj, download Apni Kheti app from Google Play Store.

Gurpreet Singh Atwal

Read Full Story

Achieving Success by Practicing Organic Farming in Its Simplest Form

Gurpreet Singh Atwal, 35, is a progressive organic farmer who comes from a small humble and hardworking family of district Jalandhar (Punjab). But before reaching to this level of success and serving inspiration to other farmers in his community, Mr. Atwal was also a practitioner of chemical farming like his father and other farmers nearby.

After 12th, Mr. Gurpreet Singh Atwal decided to pursue college studies, he got himself enrolled in the course of B.A. in Khalsa College of Jalandhar, but soon, due to some thought processing and change in mind, he dropped college in the first year and joined his uncle and father in farming. Along with farming, he also stood in the election for the Pradhan of Youth Akali Dal in 2006 and also won it. As the time accelerated, Mr. Atwal got promoted in his political career from Pradhan to Senior Pradhan in 2015 of the same organization at the district level.

But maybe in farming, luck was not on his side as he was facing continuous loss and difficulties. Wheat and Sugarcane cultivation was reaping no benefit to him, so in 2014, he decided to cultivate Turmeric, but that too proved a lost deal from him, as he was not able to properly sell his harvest in the market. In the end, he processed all the turmeric into turmeric powder and distributed in Gurudwaras and Temples for free. After facing this kind of situation, Gurpreet Singh Atwal decided that he is going to market all the harvest himself and will not depend on the middleman.

In the same year, Gurpreet Singh Atwal came to knew about Bhangu farm in his neighbouring village. The visit to the Bhangu Farm was so inspiring for Mr. Atwal that he decided to switch to organic farming. Although Bhangu Farm was all about the cultivation and processing of Sugarcane, he gained enough knowledge about organic farming practices from there and on the basis of that, he started organic farming of vegetables on 2.5 acres land for his family.

Now, Gurpreet Singh Atwal has started organic farming on almost all of his farm and the yield is also better than earlier. He is growing crops like Maize, Wheat, Paddy, Sugarcane and seasonal veggies and in future, he is planning to process wheat flour and maize flour. In the meanwhile, Mr. Atwal has started home delivery of fresh farm produce vegetables in nearby 2 km of the area which includes the Bhogpur town.

Other than organic farming, Gurpreet Singh Atwal is also actively involved in dairy farming. He rears indigenous breeds of cows and buffaloes for home purpose and sells the extra milk in the village. Whatever Gurpreet Singh Atwal has achieved today in his life, he gives a huge credit to Krishi Vigyaan Kendra. KVK’s organized training camps, assistance and support has helped Gurpreet Singh Atwal learn a lot about organic farming.

Future Plan:
Gurpreet Singh Atwal is planning to open an organic store on Punjab level and then on India level.

Message
Every farmer must do organic farming, if not possible to a larger extent then at least try it in a smaller area for home purpose. In this way, they can create a difference in their own lives and make it better.

Gurpreet Singh Atwal is a progressive farmer who is not only practicing organic farming at his farm but is also inspiring other farmers of his village to adopt it. He prepares natural pesticides and fertilizer with the help of decomposer and also distributes it among the farmers who need it. With his actions, Gurpreet Singh Atwal has proved that he is a visionary and has the courage to go against the current and achieve success in it.

Gurmail Singh

Read Full Story

How This Farmer Made Farming a Real Profitable Venture with Sustainable Agriculture Practices

Well, farming is a profession by thinking of which everyone imagines a tough life where the farmer has to work for hours under the scorching sun or pouring rain. But you will be quite surprised to know that Gurmail Singh finds his peace and satisfaction of life in Organic Farming.

Gurmail Singh, 68, started farming in 2000 and has been going steady ever since. But before organic farming, he opted his hand on multiple professions of Motor Mechanic, Electrician, and he also learned the work of fabrication and welding, but none of the jobs suited him well and provided him a sense of fulfilment and happiness.

In 2000, when his ancestral land was getting distributed among him and his other two brothers, at that time, he also received one-third part of the property i.e. 6 acres land. Thinking of getting settled with the farming he left his job again as an electrician and began with conventional farming practices of wheat and paddy. Gurmail Singh did everything in his field of whatever he was capable of, with full dedication, but the yield was never satisfying. Fulfilling the input cost of conventional farming (chemical) practices till 2007, he was so badly submerged in the loan debts that it was almost impossible for him to come out of it. At last, he was disappointed with the farming.

But after going under the spiritual enlightenment – a Sikh ritual process of Amrit Sanchar (Amrit Chhakna) in 2007, his perception of the farming was totally changed. He decided to start organic farming on 1 acres of land and slowly its expansion in throughout the acreage. Finding of Gurmail Singh’s intention of organic farming his whole family boycotted him and he started living alone.

Adopting the path of organic farming on a land where chemical farming has been practiced ever since is a very difficult task. As a result, the yield reduced, but Gurmail Singh’s intentions for organic farming were as strong as a mighty mountain.

Watching Subhash Palekar’s video helped him a lot in the beginning, and after that in 2009, he joined multiple organizations like Kheti Virasat Mission, Nabha Foundation, and NITTTR, which educated him with the best suitable results and marketing approach to go organic. Gurmail Singh attended many events and programmes on the national level which made him aware that organic farming practices globally. Gradually with the time yield also got better and he also got the opportunity of selling his produce at a good platform. With the help of NITTTR, in 2014, Gurmail Singh got his own stall in the Chandigarh vegetable market where he can sell his produce on every Saturday. In 2015, with the co-operation of Markfed, he got another opportunity to sell his produce.

“With the time, I won my family support back and they were happy with my way of farming. In 2010, my son also joined me in my farming venture and from that day onward he is with me at every step of my farming life.”

He sells more than 20 harvested crops of his farm which includes Peas, Sugarcane, Bajra, Sorghum, Mustard, Potatoes, Green Grams, Pigeon Pea, Maize, Garlic, Onion, Coriander and much more. Other than cultivation, Gurmail Singh also started processing food processing after taking Bakery Training for 1 month from Punjab Agriculture University.

Gurmail Singh not only processes his own produce but also help other group members of Nabha Foundation by processing their produce. Flour, Multigrain Flour, Pinniyaan (Indian sweet dish), Sarson Saag and Makki Roti are some of his processed food items which he sells along with the vegetables.

When it comes to marketing, it had always been a smooth thing for Gurmail Singh, because of his determination, hard work, and well-known personality among the officials and organization members. Currently, he is living with his family in a village of Nabha, where with the help of 4-5 workers he manages all the labour work at the farm, and for processing, he employees 1-2 workers according to the need.

Future Plan:
In future, Gurmail Singh is planning to form a new group where all the members will do organic farming, processing, and marketing.
Message

“Farmers has to understand that quality matters, not quantity, the day when they will understand this thing, at that day all the problems of yield, marketing, and other issues will get resolved. And today farmer should focus on demand and supply rather than growing conventional crops aimlessly.”

 

In the beginning, there were many problems that Gurmail Singh faced, moreover, his family also abandoned him, people used to call him mad for adopting organic, but the desire to do something different has made him achieve the present success in his life. He is one of the modest people for whom award or appreciation never mattered, for him his yield is the only award for his work.

Gurmail Singh is happy that he is playing his part very dedicatedly and he wants others to do it as well.

Sirbeerinder Singh Sidhu

READ FULL STORY

Punjab – Malwa Region Based Farmer Paired Agriculture With Mechanized Technology, Have You Tried It…

Sirbeerinder Singh Sidhu, 44, keeping in mind about the Mother Nature, implements the best Eco-friendly farming practices through which time and money, both can be saved. And this thought of working in harmony with nature comes in his mind while he was far away in a foreign land.
Farming, as we know, is an age-old practice, which was followed by our ancestors and their ancestors… to cultivate food and sustain life. But, with the revolution and change in demands, today, agriculture has come a long way creating a vast history behind. Yes, there are some negative impacts of modern agriculture practices, but now not only the farming community but a lot of individuals from the city are also taking initiative towards sustainable agriculture practices.

Sirbeerinder Singh Sidhu is also one of those individuals who realized while living in abroad that he has done nothing for the land which provided him everything since his childhood. Although he was very successful living in abroad, learning about new farming technology, machinery and serving the community, he felt very despondent. And that was when he decided to take a long respite from his life in abroad and came back to his motherland, Punjab (India).

“After completing my graduation from Punjab University, I went to Canada to pursue higher studies and later on I got settled there. But after 5-6 years I felt a strong urge from the bottom of my heart that I need to go back to where I belong.”

Already aware of the foreign agriculture practices, Sirbeerinder Singh Sidhu decided to mechanize his own way of farming and then he paired commercial farming and agriculture technology together. Moreover, he decided to start Kinnow farming rather than wheat and paddy.

“Wheat and paddy are the conventional crops of Punjab which needs only 4-5 months of labour in the field. Instead of getting stuck in the cycle of wheat and paddy, farmers should focus on horticulture crops and other agri-allied activities which can be done around the year.”

Mr. Singh designed a machine which can be taken in the orchards by attaching it with a tractor and that machine can grade the Kinnows in 6 different sizes. The machine has inbuilt 9 cleaning brushes and 4 drying brushes; mechanization of the machine up to this level has reduced the cost of labour to almost zero.

“Machine designed by me can grades around 1-1 ½ tons of Kinnow in an hour and the running cost of this machine is 10-litre diesel per day.”

According to Mr. Singh – Earlier, the main obstacle faced was during the marketing of Kinnow, labour cost of harvesting Kinnows from the orchard and then taking care of it was very time and labour consuming and also was not economical. Since the grading machine is developed by Mr. Singh, half of the problem of harvesting and grading is already solved.
This mechanized way of grading Kinnows in six different sizes has created a valuable place for Mr. Singh’s harvest in the market, as it gets more pre-eminence and better return on investment. Using this mechanized way for grading the Kinnows is a valuable addition to the “Sidhu Model Farm”, and from the last 2 years, fruits produced by Mr. Singh is achieving first and second prizes at the State Level in Citrus Shows.

This is not the only approach that Mr. Singh is following; drip irrigation, crop waste management, green manuring, bio-gas plant, vermicomposting, organic production of vegetables, cereals, fruits, and wheat, are other means through which he is trying reduce the harmful footprints of conventional farming practices on his behalf.

Sirbeerinder Singh Sidhu’s contribution in the agriculture field has bagged him many awards and honour at state and national level, out of which these two are the main:

• Won State Level Citrus Show at Abohar, Punjab
• Received award form PUSA Delhi for Innovative Farming
Along with farming, Mr. Singh is also master of other animal husbandry and agri-allied activities, just because of his hobby. He rears dairy animals, poultry birds, kennel dogs, goats, and Marwari horses. He has also maintained a fish pond in half acre and forestry which includes 7000 Eucalyptus trees and 25 Bush Bamboos.
With his 12 years of experience in the agriculture field, Mr. Singh has focused his attention on some important matters and want to give the message to the society through these issues, which are the major concerns in Punjab ….

Subsidy and agriculture schemes:
Farmer assumes that Government is helping us by giving subsidy and making different agricultural schemes, but this is not true; this is a way of making farmers handicapped and grabbing their land. Farmers have to understand their good and bad themselves because agriculture is such a wide field that if it is done properly with determination then it can make anyone rich.

Mind Set of Young Generation:
Nowadays, the young generation is all set to go abroad or get settled in the city, they don’t care what kind of work they have to do in there; for them farming is a dirty job. What’s the sake of investing in the education and employment, if ultimately it will result in brain drain! Youth is unaware of the fact that agriculture is such a prosperous and diverse field that it can provide more advantages, profit, and happiness than the life in abroad.

Marketing in agriculture field:
Today, the farmer also has to become the seller by eliminating the middlemen and this is the only way by which farmer can clinch their forgotten position from the society. Farmer has to adopt modern eco-friendly practices which will lead them towards sustainable agriculture results.

Everyone should remember that-
” once in your life you need a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman and a preacher but every day, three times a day, you need a farmer.”

Narayan Lal Dhakad

Read Full Story

How This 19-Year-Old Boy Is Using YouTube & Facebook to Teach Farmers Sustainable Farming Practices

Young farmers are the future and this 19-year-old boy has proven it right by showing his passion towards farming. Narayan Lal Dhakad is a young boy from Rajasthan- the land of Kings, Legacy, Tourism, Heritage and Rich Culture, and his personality is also very distinctive like his homeland.

Nowadays, we are seeing many examples where educated people of India are choosing agriculture as their working place and are coming up as an independent agri-entrepreneur, same is the case with Narayan Lal Dhakad. Despite, lacking the basic facilities and enough resources, this boy chose the medium of YouTube and Facebook to disseminate knowledge to help the farming community. Currently, he has 60,000 YouTube subscribers and 30,000 Facebook followers. You will be shocked to know that this boy doesn’t have any laptop, personal computer system or any kind of video editing equipment for editing the videos. With the help of his smartphone, he is making informative farming videos.

“My father died some days before my birth and it was a very dreadful situation for my family. My family was facing a severe financial crisis, but even then my mother raised us well by doing farming and labour work. Perceiving the family conditions, I started farming at a very young age and also learned it well very soon.” – Narayan

Living a hand-to-mouth life, Narayan realized that utilizing the resources well and innovating new ideas with simple hacks to deal with daily common pest and farm issues, is the best thing. Narayan also recognized that the big part of the farming expense is just because of the use of fertilizers and pesticides, and this is the only reason which builds a big mountain of debt over the farmers.

“When it comes to adopting organic farming, then every farmer cannot successfully do it, because its productivity is low; and in distant locations, organic spray and products are not easily available.” – Narayan

Understanding the problem of his area, Narayan invented many easy techniques to control termite, Nilgai, pest and crop disease. All the techniques developed by Narayan were successful and were very cheap that any farmer can easily follow. And to make his techniques available to every farmer he makes videos with his phone, explain everything in it and share it on YouTube and Facebook.

Despite facing difficulties in making videos through his phone, he never dropped his idea of helping the farmers. Narayan has reached out to many farmers in his area and has solved their problem by reaching out to Krishi Vigyan Kendra’s and Agriculture Scientists.

Message:

“Farmers should adopt organic farming because using chemicals and pesticides on their farm not only harm the environment but also their own people. Moreover, by following organic farming farmer can take healthy yield without doing expenses on the pesticides and insecticides.”

 

Narayan Lal Dhakad has written a success story at just the age of 19. By seeing his passion and determination to work harmoniously towards sustainable agriculture practices, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare has nominated him for Krishi Award in 2018.

Today, Narayan Lal Dhakad has become an emerging voice in India which has the capability to change worsening circumstances of farmers.
Do check his YouTube channel & Facebook page, for more inspiring stories of farmers download  Apni Kheti app from Google Play store.

Kulwinder Singh Nagra

READ FULL STORY

Hope for the Better Present and Future, Turned Kulwinder Singh Nagra towards Sustainable Farming Practices

Hope is the only positive feeling which gives a person the strength to think about the future even not being sure about it. And when we know that we are thinking about the better future then our actions are accelerated automatically despite knowing some negative consequences. Same was the case with Kulwinder Singh Nagra, a progressive farmer from Nagra village of district Sangrur, for whom hope acted as the driving force to turn towards natural farming.

“Before venturing into natural farming I knew that I will face loss for consecutively two years, even after sensing this situation I decided to adopt natural practices. Because for me my family and surrounding are more important than earning money. Moreover, I am earning for my family and myself, what if, even after earning so much money I am not able to keep my family healthy… then everything is in vain.”

Coming from a farming background, Kulwinder Singh Nagra also decided to follow the same footsteps like his father. In 1997, after completing his matriculation, he started following the family old traditions of paddy and wheat cultivation. Till 2000, he continued wheat and paddy in 10 acres of his land and some vegetables like Peas, Onion, Garlic, and Bottle gourd in one acre. But somewhere in his heart, he was not satisfied with the mass production of wheat and paddy. So, gradually he started increasing the vegetable cultivation area from one acre to 7 acres and Kinnow and Guava in 1 ½ acres.

“Kinnow was less successful but Guava gave good returns and I continued it in the future also.”

Experiencing the success in horticulture, raised Kulwinder Singh Nagra’s confidence, and steadily he expanded his agriculture activities to generate more profit. From vegetable cultivation to nursery preparation he started doing everything. In 2008-2009 he started selling prepared nursery of Chilli, Onion, Pumpkin, Bitter Gourd, Bottle Gourd, Tomato, and Bel, outside Punjab in Shahabad Markanda, Sirsa, and in different Kisan Melas also.

In 2009, he thought of changing his farming practices into natural, so he took training of Kudrati Kheti from Pingalwara, where the basics of Zero Budget Natural Farming are taught to the farmers who want to make earth a better place. Keeping in mind a safe and stable start Kulwinder Singh Nagra started natural farming from 5 acres.

He was well-aware from the fact that converting pesticide and chemical treated land to organic will take a long time and he will earn no profit in the beginning. But he never stepped back from what he started. In between, he decided to upgrade his farming skill and he took training in different fields for food processing, hybrid seed production of chili and cucumber, net house cultivation of vegetables, and greenhouse management. Almost after two years, he started earning the minimal profit.

“Marketing was the main hurdle which I faced the most to sell my organic produce. As I was a newbie so it took me some time to understand the marketing strategies. In 2012, I adopted right marketing strategies and then it became easy for me to sell the vegetables.”

Another step that Kulwinder Singh Nagra took to avoid any harm to nature was that he stopped burning stubble. Today stubble burning is one of the major problems, which Punjab is encountering and on Global level also it is a big issue. Just to save the time, labour and money farmers in Punjab and Haryana are burning stubble, but Kulwinder Singh Nagra instead of burning the stubble, used it for the mulching method and the rest of the stubble for composting.

Kulwinder Singh Nagra always prefers modern environment-friendly technologies like happy seeder, cultivator, bed planter, plough, ripper, and rotavator, to move ahead in the field of agriculture flourishingly.

Currently, he is cultivating wheat on 3 acres, fodder crop on 2 acres, vegetables (Chilli, Capsicum, Cucumber, Ash Gourd, Watermelon, Bottle Gourd, Brinjal, Onion, and Garlic) on 6 acres and fruits like Peach, Amla (Gooseberry), and Kinnow in 1 acre. He uses drip irrigation to properly utilize the water at his farm.

To support his agricultural activities he is also doing dairy farming. He has 12 animals in his barn which include Murrah buffalo, Neeli Ravi, and Sahiwal. 90 to 100 kg is milk production per day, out of which he sold 70-75 kg milk in the market and uses the rest for home consumption. Now, marketing is not a big deal, he sells all the organic vegetables in the market of Sangrur, Sunam, and Samana. Merchants come to his farm themselves to buy the fruits. And in this way, he is earning the right price of his crop produce.

For all his accomplishments he gives credit to Punjab Agriculture University and his family. Today, he has become a person who inspires others with his natural vegetable farming skills; and he is proud of it. For his work in the field of natural farming of vegetables, he has received many awards and appreciation and some of them are…

• Received “Krishi Karman Award of Progressive Farmer” given by Hon. Prime Minister of India – Narendra Modi at Sooratgarh (Rajasthan) – 19th February 2015.

• Received Block Level Award under ATMA, given by Shri Kumar Rahul IAS Deputy Commissioner Sangrur.

• Received award from Punjab Agriculture University Ludhiana.

• Received award from Director of Agriculture, Punjab

• Achieved 1st and 2nd position many times in cultivating best vegetable variety

Well, these awards are just a few to mention, he is mainly recognized for his work for the farmer society. Farmer interactions, PAU and KVK Scientists visit at his farmhouse is organized often to provide a broad insight to the farmers to work successfully in the field of agriculture. He has also established Vermi compost plant, follows inter-cropping pattern, low tunnel technique, practice beekeeping, bed planting in wheat (in some areas) zero tillage of wheat by using No-till drill Happy Seeder, Laser Levelling before transplanting of paddy, mechanical transplanting, Integrated Pest Management and Integrated Nematode Management.

Impact of Adaptation of Agriculture Technologies:

After the adaptation of different agriculture technologies, his wheat production increased creating the record of highest wheat production across the country which was 6456 kg per hectare in 2014 by following natural farming practices. And for this achievement he was awarded Krishi Karman award as mentioned above. Farmers living nearby him idolize him and consult him to adopt more environment-friendly technologies.

Future Plan:
In future Kulwinder Singh Nagra is planning to export vegetables to abroad.

Message
“Farmers who chose the path of suicide to get relieved from the burden of loans and responsibilities, should stop doing this. God has given us numerous opportunities and abilities to achieve our life goals and we should never let these chance skip.”

 

Karamjit Singh Bhangu

Read Full Story

Meet the Modern Farmer, Who Is Growing According To the Need of the Hour

For Karamjit Singh, becoming a farmer was a distant dream, but the circumstantial conditions changed everything. In the last seven years, Karamjit Singh’s perception changed completely towards farming and now he has turned towards organic farming completely.

Like other young boys, Karamjit Singh was also a free soul who loved to play cricket all day long, he used to participate in the local cricket tournaments. His life was confined between school and playground. He never thought at that time that his life would take a whole new turn about which he had never thought about. During his academic years (school) in 2003, his father passed away and soon after some time, in 2005, his mother also passed away. After that only his grandparents were left in his family. At that time, situations were not under his control, so he decided to drop his studies after 12th and support his family.

At a very young age he got married and he also had the opportunity to go abroad and start his life from a new beginning again, but he chose to stay back with his grandparents. 2011 was the year when he decided to step in the field of farming. He started cultivating cereals, pulses, grains, and everything organically for home purpose in a small acreage. He got inspired by other farmers in his area and slowly expanded his farming expanse. Time and experience built confidence and then Karamjit Singh took his land back from lease.

He added more vegetable varieties like Squash Melon, Cauliflower, Okra, Peas, Chilli, Sweet Corn, Bottle Gourd, and Brinjal in his farmland and also started preparing nursery of chili, tomato, capsicum, and other vegetables.

The exposure that Karamjit got from farming, boosted up his confidence and in 2016 he decided to take 14 acres land on lease; and this is how Karamjit started making a happy life out of his living.

Today, in the life of Karamjit, he is still a newbie in the field of farming who has the curiosity to explore more and do more. With the same spirit, he entered in the field of floriculture, in 2017 and started cultivating Marigold by inter-cropping it with Gladiolus.

There also came a man- Ashok Kumar in the life of Karamjit Singh, who enlightened him with the knowledge of friendly pest and enemy pest, and this is how Karamjit Singh boycotted the use of insecticides in his field completely. Karamjit Singh took every chance as an opportunity to learn something new about farming and this is how he stepped towards his successes.

Currently, the whole farm of Karamjit Singh is equipped with drip irrigation system and pack-house for vegetables. He gives every nutrient to the vegetables in the most natural way possible. For marketing, he is following farm to the home concept in which he is doing home delivery of fresh insecticides free vegetables and he has also established an on-farm-market through which he is earning well.

For his initiative of cultivating fresh insecticides free vegetables he has been awarded by PAU, Kisan Club on 1st February, and he was also awarded second prize for best quality peas by Patiala Horticulture Department in 2014.

Karamjit Singh’s wife – Premdeep Kaur is his supporting pillar, she helps him in labour and harvesting process, and he manages the marketing part. In the beginning, there were some problems in marketing, but slowly he overcame all the hurdles with his hard work and enthusiasm. In place of chemicals and fertilizer, they prepare organic compost and spray at home. Recently, Karamjit Singh has planted 200 fruit trees of Kinnow, Pomegranate, Guava, Apple, Loquat, Lemon, Java Plum, Pear and Mango in his farm and in future he wants to focus on guava orchards.

Message:

“Committing suicide is not the solution. Farmers have to come out of the conventional cycle of farming, only then they can achieve success in long run. Moreover, farmers have to understand the importance of our Mother Nature and they should work towards saving water and soil.”

Currently, at the age of 28, Karamjit Singh has established his own organic business in his village Kansuha Kalan in Nabha Tehsil of Patiala District, and the spirit with which he is succeeding towards organic farming indicates a better future for his family and his surroundings. Karamjit Singh is a progressive farmer who has the capability to set an example for those aimless youth who are confused with their career choices… we need more farmers like him.

Uma Saini

READ FULL STORY

Uma Saini: The Woman behind the Revolution of Turning Waste Food into Soil Food to Make Earth A Better Place

It’s been years, since our soil is getting exploited and abused with the use of chemicals, fertilizers, and dumping of poisonous waste in the earth, and by understanding this situation, Uma Saini, a Ludhiana based female entrepreneur and Managing Director of Agricare Organic Farms, decided to take an initiative of preparing soil food which can help in regaining all the nutrients and richness which has been lost in the past decades. Other than contributing to the Mother Nature, she is also playing the role of a powerful protagonist in the field of women empowerment. With her dynamism, she is making earth a better place and will continue to do so in the future also…

Have you ever imagined…what will be the life on earth if anything that died or is waste is not getting decomposed but it is just lying on the ground!

Thinking about this view can send chills down the spine, and by making you think about this situation, is an indication towards the soil health. The soil is considered as an important element because directly or indirectly, people are dependent on it. Green Revolution and Urbanization are the major factors that have led to the deterioration of the soil, and still, farmers, big pesticide companies and other MNC’s are unable to understand this.

The endless use of chemicals kindled Uma Saini to turn towards organic practices. It all started in 2005 when Uma Saini decided to start organic farming. Well, organic farming sounds very easy but when it comes to its implementation then some of the experts even don’t know where to start and how to make it fruitful.

“Although, I decided to start organic farming on large scale, but from where to get good quality manure in large quantity was the major hurdle. So, I decided to establish my own Vermicompost plant.”

Establishing organic farm and Vermicompost plant in the middle of the city was almost impossible, so Uma Saini started investing in small land masses in the villages and slowly Agricare brand came into reality. Today, there are multiple units of vermicomposting plant and organic farms of Agricare in different parts of North India.

“Purchasing land in the village area was also a very difficult thing that we finally overcame. Villagers use to ask us multiple questions like… what is your purpose of buying land here, will your production unit pollute our area… etc.”

One of the production units of Agricare is established in the small village- Sidhwan Kalan of Ludhiana (Punjab), where Uma Saini has employed most of the women at the farm.

“I believe, a woman plays an important part in our society, so with the motive of women empowerment, I have employed most of the women of Sidhwan Kalan village and other nearby villages at my farm.”

Moreover, other than advocating women empowerment, Uma Saini is also a great mentor. She invites college students, especially female student to make them aware of this blooming field of Organic farming, vermicomposting and agri-business. For young aspiring women, Uma Saini also conducts free training sessions.

“Student who pursue B.Sc. in agriculture have larger scope in the field of agriculture and especially to make them aware, my husband and I provide free training, deliver guest lectures in various colleges.”

Uma Saini has also prepared a vermi hatchery in his Ludhiana vermicomposting plant where she prepares worm seeds. Vermi-hatchery is a term, about which very few people are aware of. We all know that worms are the real worker in making the soil mineral and nutrient rich, so, in this unit, Eisenia fetida also known as red worm (species of earthworm) adapted to decaying of organic material are prepared for further selling purpose.

Most of the vermicomposting units of Agricare are fully automized giving a boost in the production leading to good sales. Other than this, Uma Saini has contracted more than 700 farmers from different parts of India under organic farming.

“By contract organic farming and vermicomposting, our work is getting done, but along with that the society is also getting the benefits of employment and healthy nature.”

Today, Agricare has become the largest seller of Vermicompost in North India after knocking down major brand of organic compost like TATA. Himachal and Kashmir are the leading markets of SOIL FOOD currently. The major input that Agricare is utilizing in the production of Vermicompost- Soil Food is food waste of big companies like Nestle, Hindustan Lever, Cadbury, etc. Agricare is playing a major role in keeping the environment healthy by consuming food waste of big MNC’s.

Very soon Uma Saini and her husband- Mr. V.K. Saini is planning to launch a new organic label brand in Ludhiana for fresh organic vegetables and fruits where they will deliver their products door to door to the customers.

“Going organic is the need of the hour, people have to learn from their grassroots, then only they can do well in the field of farming by keeping harmony with nature.”

Undying spirit of Uma Saini to work for nature and by nature, signifies that there is no periphery to work in harmony with nature. Moreover, children of Uma Saini- daughter and son, both are very interested in following their parent’s footsteps and to invade this field magnificently in the future they are pursuing their studies in the field of agriculture.

Message:
“Nowadays, many children are opting B.Sc. Agriculture field, but when they complete their degree, at that time, they just have the bookish knowledge and they are satisfied with it. But this is not enough to succeed in the field of agriculture unless they put their hand in the soil. Practical knowledge is very much necessary and youth has to understand that and progress accordingly.”

Ankur and Ankita Singh

Read Full Story

Graduated From Symbiosis This Husband-Wife Duo, Giving a New Definition to Agribusiness with Their New Concept of Dairy Farming

What life do you imagine after doing MBA in Agribusiness from a prestigious university of India, maybe an Agricultural Analyst, Farm Appraiser, Market Analyst, Quality Controller, or Agribusiness Marketing Coordinator?

Well, all these are dream job profiles for MBA Agriculture graduates and it will become cherry on the top if you have done your MBA from an esteemed university like Symbiosis, Pune. But there are very few people who instead of being part of a multinational organization, prefer to emerge as a start-up which gives true meaning to their skills and adequacy.

Urban Dairy- An initiative taken by a power couple- Ankur and Ankita with the mission to redefine the concept of dairy farming with their distinctive idea of selling milk in raw form. This farm is located in district Unnao, 55 kilometres from Kanpur city.

Before starting this milk venture, Ankur was working as a Bio-technologist and Agriculturist in different companies (total work experience 2 years). In 2014, Ankur tied love knot with his friend Ankita, who also did MBA from Symbiosis, Pune with him.

Well, this idea of selling raw milk came into accomplishment after Ankur’s nephew came from abroad to visit him. As this was the first experience of Ankur’s nephew in India, so he decided to make it special.

Ankur especially bought an indigenous breed of cow- Shahiwal and started rearing her for milk purpose. Although the purpose of raw cow milk was only for Ankur’s nephew as he had realised that unpasteurized cow milk is more healthy and tastier than packed milk. Slowly, the whole family started drinking the cow milk and everyone liked it.

Ankur was fond of animals since childhood, but after this instance, he thought why to compromise with the health, and in 2015 both husband and wife (Ankur & Ankita) decided to start their own dairy farm. Ankur attended a short training at NDRI Karnal before starting dairy farming and in the meanwhile, his wife Ankita looked after all the construction work of the farm. They began with 6 Holstein cross breed cows, and now it has been 3 years and they have 34 Holstein/ Jersey cross breed cows and 7 indigenous cows (Sahiwal, Red Sindhi, Tharparker) at their farm.

Urban Dairy is what they thought of naming their brand, blending the rural theme with the city, a fusion of two regions, which are completely opposite to each other. From managing dairy farm to product marketing & development, they did not leave even a single step to reach where they are today. The whole farm is build-out in 4 acres of land and there are 7 workers for its maintenance. Bathing, feeding, maintaining hygiene of cows and other farm-related work are done manually by the worker and milking is done by the milking machine as well as manually by hands as per the comfort of cow. Both Ankur and Ankita make it a point to visit the farm once daily without fail. They not only like to spend most of their time at the farm but also it helps them supervise the workers in a better way. The entire milling and bottling and transport is under strict supervision of the founders.

“Ankur: We also prepare the cow feed ourselves, because milk yield & cow’s health totally depends on the feed and we never compromise on this. The cow feed formula that we follow is- 33% protein, 33% industrial waste (choker), 33% grains (maize, chickpea) and extra minerals.”

Other than dairy farming they are also actively involved in organic farming of vegetables. They have leased an extra 4 acres land. Earlier Ankita used that land as a kitchen garden. She never used any fertilizer/pesticide on that land other than cow dung. Now the land has totally turned into an organic piece of fertile acreage which they are using for farming wheat, chickpea, carrot, garlic, chillies, coriander, and seasonal veggies. They use farm crops for the cow’s feed and home purpose.

“In the beginning, my HF crossbreed cow was giving 12-litre milk, after second pregnancy she started giving 18-litre milk and now she is pregnant the third time and we are expecting 24-litre milk. There is a possibility of increase in milk production imminently.”

Marketing:

Instead of carrying milk in large milk containers to the customers and using primitive milk measuring ladle, they have come up with an innovative concept to enhance their product image. They pack the raw milk directly into glass bottles after filtration process and then deliver it to the door of the customers.

People have accepted their product with open arms. Till today, i.e. 3 years and they haven’t used a single marketing strategy or advertising to allure the customer to use their product. The entire market they are catering to, has been formed through word-of-mouth publicity by their existing customers. The response has motivated them to a level that they have started with the production of paneer, ghee and other milk based dairy products. The positive response from customers has increased their sale.

They have their own distribution network in the city for milk sale and by seeing their advancement slowly with the time it will increase to manifolds.

Future Plan:

Indigenous cow breeds milk production capacity is not that high, and he wants to develop a new cow breed by cross-breeding indigenous cows which have good milk production capacity as the milk of our Indigenous breeds is considered better in quality and proven to have multiple health benefits for humans.

According to him, milk can be kept at 2 degree centigrade for one week in healthy condition, and for that purpose, he wants to invest in chiller storage in the coming time, to store the milk for long time and use it for multiple purposes.

Message:
“Dairy farmers should never neglect the hygiene and care of their cows, they should care about them as they care for their own health. And before starting dairy farming every farmer must acquire knowledge and keep themselves updated with the current dairy farming trends for better future. Dairy farming can only be profitable if the animals in your farm are happy. The selling price of your product wouldn’t get you to earn profits, but a happy animal can definitely help you earn good profits.”

Lovepreet Singh

Read Full Story

How Booming Interest of This B.Tech Graduate, Made Him Choose Agriculture as His Full-Time Career

Meet Lovepreet Singh, a young lad with B.Tech. Degree in his hand, who instead of having a choice of doing a desk job and living a comfortable city life, choose to stay in his village to reap prosperity out of agriculture.

About 20 km towards east from district headquarters Sangrur, Kapial village is situated in Bhawani Garh tehsil, where Lovepreet Singh is living with his father, grandfather, mother and sister.

In 2008-2009, Lovepreet started organic farming of wheat on just 1 acre of land because of his growing interest in the agriculture field. Rest of the land was given on lease to other farmers, as farming was never a primary source of income for Lovpreet’s family. Moreover, Lovpreet’s father- Mr. Sant Pal Singh was settled in Dubai and had a stable income to support the family needs.

As the time passed, Lovepreet’s interest grew more and his motherland called him back. Soon after completing his degree, he thought of taking his big step towards farming. He got his land soil sample tested by Punjab Agro and took rest of his land back from the farmers.

The next crop that Lovepreet organically cultivated on his land was turmeric and along with that he also started processing it by himself. Turmeric on 1 acre and wheat-paddy on 4 acres. But adopting organic farming completely was not acceptable by Lovepreet’s family. In 2010, when his father returned from Dubai, he was against Organic Farming, because in his views organic yields less productivity. But no criticism and no bad words had the power to stir the strong determination of Lovepreet.

To increase his income, Lovepreet decided of cultivating turmeric on large basis instead of wheat. In the beginning, he faced many problems in turmeric processing, as he had no knowledge of it, but with his efforts and expert advice, he was able to achieve all the difficulties. He started using cow and buffalo dung as manure in his field to increase the productivity and quality of the crop.

After seeing the results, his father also started helping him in farming. He even contacted Punjab Agro to get his turmeric powder get organic certification and by the end of this year, he will get that. Currently, he is actively involved in turmeric farming and processing. Whenever he gets time, he visits Punjab Agriculture University and read books suggested by the experts of the university to bring positive outcome in his farming. Punjab Agro also helps him with necessary information and make him interact with other progressive farmers who are actively involved in organic farming. Other than turmeric he is also cultivating Wheat, Paddy, Maize, Bajra, but on small scale.

Future Plan:
 His future plan is to expand turmeric farming and processing work, and form a group of farmers doing organic farming. Purchase common machines for the use of the group and support farmers doing organic farming. 

Message:
“
The one message that I want to convey to the farmers is that organic farming is very important to conserve the environment. Everyone should do organic and eat organic, in this way pollution can also be reduced.
”

Davinder Singh

Read Full Story

How a farmer made diversified farming his path of success and is inspiring others through it.

One of the successful diversified farmer Davinder Singh from Nakodar (District Jalandhar) discussed with Apni Kheti Team that how he was motivated towards diversified farming and what other inventions he did in the field of farming to reap good profit from it.

Davinder Singh is a firm believer of the thought that – “The work done by self is important only” and today whatever he has achieved is by his hard work and hunger to do more in the field of farming. As coming from a farming background he started farming after completing his 10th and didn’t go for higher studies. He started farming with vegetables like an ordinary farmer. He already had 1.8 hectares land of his own but he also took 1 hectare on rent. The income he was generating from farming was enough to satisfy the present family needs but not that enough to think about the better future for his family.

In 1990-91 he came in contact with Punjab Agriculture University and learned about some new farming techniques which could help in generating good profit from farming without expanding the farming area. And the reason which motivated him to implement those new techniques on his farm was that it doesn’t include any hi-tech machinery or chemicals.

To expand his area of expertise he also took beekeeping training from KVK- Noor Mahal, Jalandhar and started beekeeping. This venture made him good profit and he continued it. By implementing new farming techniques like bed farming and tunnel farming, he started diversified farming.

Well, many people are doing diversified farming in Punjab, but they are limited to few crops only. Davinder Singh let his thought of wild horses run and he experimented by intercropping cabbage and onion together. This initiative of diversified farming gave him a very good yield and he harvested 375 quintals of cabbage and 125 quintals of onion in that season. Many agriculture experts got help from his farming ways in their research. He was also the first one who inter-cropped “onion, tomato, coriander” together and after that, he also inter-cropped “onion, cucumber, capsicum” and “cabbage, marigold” together.

All the crops pairing done by him for diversified farming was a great success and he made a great profit from all these inter-cropping patterns. He also received Jain Adviser State Award for his “Papaya-Eggplant & Cabbage-Onion” inter-cropping patterns.

Education never became a barrier between him and trending new farming techniques. His inquisitive mind always wanted to learn, and to satisfy the needs of his mind, he also fed his mind with appropriate knowledge. He always visited many progressive farmers of Maler Kotla to learn basics of vegetable farming and he also attended every type of meetings and camp organized by Punjab Agriculture University or Horticulture Department.

Davinder Singh’s farming ways were so better and productive that he was also awarded Surjit Singh Dhillon Award by PAU in 2010 for Tunnel Farming. He also became the member of PAU Kisan Club and Agriculture Technology Prabandh Agency- ATMA Governing Body (Jalandhar).

Well, the key to scale success in the field of farming while moving from a beginning stage is to keep your creative/innovative edge alive and Davinder Singh also did the same. He implemented drip irrigation and shower irrigation in his farm better water management. He also started using Tensiometer for paddy farming and Jantar to increase the yield of the soil.

Recently, he has started diversified farming of cucumber and water melon and is expecting great profit returns from it also. Many farmers visit his farm to see and learn from him and he also open-heartedly shares his learning with them. He wants to experiment more with diversified farming and spread his learning with other farmers so that they can also take benefit of it.

Future Plans:
For the future, he has great ideas aligned in his mind and very soon he will be implementing those also. 

Message to Farmers:
“Our land is gold and to cultivate gold out of it we have to do hard work and smart work both. We just need good farming techniques to harvest gold on our own. If we have skills then we should share it with others.”

Gurdeep Singh Brar

Read Full Story

A MAN’S AWAKENING TRANSITION: FROM CONVENTIONAL FARMING TO ORGANIC FARMING

The main reason behind people’s awakening is because they have finally stopped agreeing to the things that doesn’t satisfy them. It is said that when a person is evolving into something good, at that time the road may seem lonely but you are simply shedding the things and habits that no longer is required. One such person who went opposite of the society’s trend and gone through an awakening transition of conventional to organic farming is Mr Gurdeep Singh Brar.

Gurdeep Singh Brar is a resident of village Mehma Sawai , District Bathinda. 17 years back a huge transition phase came into Mr Gurdeep’s life which totally changed his views and methods of farming. Today, Mr Singh is a successful and well known organic farmer in Bathinda. And his earning is also very good as compared to the other farmers who are practicing conventional farming.

Before doing organic farming, Gurdeep Singh Brar was an ordinary farmer who used to do the same thing that he saw while growing up all his childhood. He had only 2 acres of land on which he was farming and his income was only hand to mouth.

In 1995 he came in contact with the experts of Farmer Salahkar Seva Kendra. There he discussed all his farming related doubts with them and found out all the solutions and answers of it. He also get associated with the experts of KVK Bathinda branch. After sometime the experts of Farmer Salahkar Kendra motivated him to make a small kitchen garden in 1 canal of area by providing him a vegetable seed kit. When the kitchen garden idea went successful then he expanded the 1 canal area to 2 canal and started generating good produce of vegetables out of it.

In 1999, just after 4 years he came in touch with Ambuja Cement Foundation, he co-operated with them and visited many different farms…

Some of them are:
• Nabha Organic Farm
• Bhagat Puran Singh farm in Ganga Nagar.
• Organic Farm

This whole series of visit to different farms inspired him towards organic farming. And after that he also started growing seasonal fruits along with vegetables. He uses organic method for seed treatment, traps for pest control and also prepare organic manure. For seed treatment he uses Neem Water, Cow Urine (Gau Mutr), mixture of Lime Stone Water and Asafetida water mixture. He also uses Jivamrit (made by him at home) to make vegetable yield more healthy and chemical free. For pest attack prevention he uses sour buttermilk (Lassi made by him) in his fields. He is also very conscious towards the water management so for irrigation he uses drip irrigation system.

Gurdeep Singh has also established a vermi-compost unit at his farm so that he can provide pure organic manure to the vegetables and fruits. He has made two holes of 1 canal each, where he decomposes cow dung, buffalo dung, and poultry manure.

Along with farming he also prepares seed of pumpkin, bitter gourd and ridge gourd himself at home, which completely end his need of buying vegetable seeds from the market. To increase the quantity and quality if the pumpkin, he especially uses rope mesh to give pumpkin vines proper support.

Today his vegetable are so popular that people from Bathinda, Goniana Mandi and other nearby villages visit his farm especially to buy vegetables. When it comes to marketing the vegetables, then he is never dependent on any third person. He himself sell his produce by making 500 grams of packets and in current date he is earning good profit out of it.

For his farming techniques and methods he is awarded with many local awards and he also has membership of many farming societies and organization. In 2015, he received Surjit Singh Dhillon Award from PAU. Reaching up to this level for a man who never went to school, is really considerable. Currently he is living with his mother, wife and son in his village. His future plans is to continue organic farming and provide health and chemical free food to the community.

Message Given To Farmers:
“
 Today cancer like disease is spreading among the people is because of chemicals being used by the farmers. I’m not saying that farmers shouldn’t use fertilizer and pesticide, but they should reduce its use and switch to organic farming. In this way they can stop the soil and water pollution and can also prevent cancer like deadly diseases.
”
These are some of his inventions
pic1_en

Angrez Singh Bhullar

Read Full Story

How the deteriorating health of this farmer enlighten him to recognize his mistake and switch to organic farming

Angrez Singh Bhullar, this 53 old year farmer from Giddarbaha, after recognizing what mistakes he has made and how it is affecting his health, made the most enlightened decision of his life.

In the young age of 4, Angrez Singh Bhullar lost his father. His family conditions were deteriorating day by day, as there was no bread earner. They were surviving on the money they were getting from their land rented to the relatives. There were two elder sisters in his family and fulfilling the family needs was becoming very difficult for his mother day-by-day. Due to worsening financial conditions, Angrez Singh received academic qualification until 9th class only and his sisters never went to school.

After dropping off from the school, Angrez Singh used to spend time with his uncles on their farm and learn some farming techniques from them. Until 1989 the land was rented to relatives, but after that Angrez Singh was big enough to take the responsibility of the family, so, he decided of taking his land back, and start farming on it.

On the behalf of whatever he learned from his uncle and by seeing other farmers of his village, he also started chemical farming. He started earning well and financial conditions of his family were improved. Soon after some time he got married and was living a happy family life.

But in 2006, he got sick and suffered from major health issues. Earlier he used to take this problem lightly but later after getting diagnosed, he came to know that his intestine are swelled up which can lead to serious problem in the future. At that time, many people use to visit him to ask him about his well-being, and someone told him that using chemical in farming is the reason behind your health issues and you should start organic.

Although many people told him many things to do, to get cure, but the one thing that knocked his mind hardly was switching to organic. He took this matter very seriously and started organic farming in 2006 with 2.5 acres of land. He grew wheat, vegetables, fruits, lemon, guava, sugarcane and paddy and earned good profit from it. To multiply his profit, he thought of processing his produce on his own and then he started making jaggery out of sugarcane. He adopted manual jaggery processing method as he was starting this venture on his own. In the beginning, he was unsure that how it is going to benefit him, but slowly his village people started liking his jaggery. Slowly the jaggery demand rose up to a level that he started making jaggery on advance booking. After sometime he also established vermicomposting plant at his farm to reap good harvest from homemade manure.

He has received many awards, achievements and attended many training camps, and some of them are listed below:

• Participated in District Muktsar Science Fair held between 15 to 18 November in 1979.

• Participated in 90 days training of Artificial Insemination organized by Verka Plant Bathinda in 1985.

• Attended 3-days-training of Hybrid Seeds Preparation organized by PAU, Ludhiana in 1988.

• Received Yog Teacher’s Training Certificate for participating in Patanjali Yog Samiti from 9 July to 14 July of 2009.

• Appreciation from the Director of Kheti Baadi Vibhag, Punjab, 28 Sep, 2012.

• Participated in Vibrant Gujarat Global Agricultural Summit held at 9 & 10 Sep on 2013.

• Appreciation Letter for Natural Farming & Environmental Fair which was help on 26 July, 2013 by Kheti Virasat Mission.

• Received appreciation for attending Rabi Crops Farmer Training Camp at state Level- by Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) on 21st Sep, 2014, Organized by Kheti Baadi Vibhag, Dist. Shri Muktsar Sahib, Punjab.

• Appreciation Letter by Kheti Baadi Vibhag at shri Muktsar sahib on 21st Sep, 2014 for State Level Farmer Training Camp.

• Participated in Advance training course of Bee Breeding 7 Mass Bee Rearing Technique organized by PAU on 12-14 Oct, 2014.

• Attended Poultry Farming Training of 2 weeks organized by Department of Animal Husbandry, Punjab at Sarkari Murgi Sewa Kendra, Kotkapura.

• Registered as a Beekeeper by National Bee Board

• Received CRI Award.

• Attended Kharif Crop Farming 1-day-Training camp organized by KVK, Goniana.

• Attended 10 days beekeeping training organized by PAU Ludhiana.

• Attended 1-day-Training Pest Control in Grains stored in Storehouse organized by KVK, Goniana.

• Participated in Organic & Herbal Products Mela organized by department of Rural Development, NITTTR, Chandigarh.

• Participated in workshop training programme- “MARKET LED EXTENSION” conducted by PAMETI (Punjab Agriculture Management & Extension Training Institute), PAU.

Angrez Singh Bhullar is a futuristic farmer of Punjab who understands the importance of going organic. Today, we need more farmers like him to deal with the worsening environment conditions.

Message for Farmers:
“If we don’t start organic farming now then our future generation will be in a big problem.”

Satya Rani

Read Full Story

SATYA RANI: A SELF-MADE WOMAN RISING LIKE A SUN IN THE FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRY

When it comes to development, then there is no doubt that women are playing a major role in shaping and guiding the young minds of India. Even in agriculture field also women are not left behind, they are leading the way to sustainable and organic farming. Today, many Indian women from both rural and urban areas are aware of the issues related to chemicals used in farming and they are also working towards this cause. Satya Rani is also one of those women who is doing organic farming and is also actively involved in the food processing business.

With rising health issues and climatic change, food security has become a major challenge to deal with, and Satya Rani is one of the emerging agripreneur who is working towards this issue.

It was Satya’s childhood dream to contribute to the agriculture field and give back to nature. From the beginning, her parents always guided her and inspired her and finally the little girl’s dream was transformed into a woman’s vision.

There also came a bad time in Satya’s life, in which if there was any another girl, then she would have lost her confidence and hope easily, but Satya didn’t. Satya’s parents told her to stop her studies after 12th because of financial problems, but she was so determined towards her future that she told her parents that she will manage her higher studies on her own. She started part time job of making food roducts like pickles and chutneys and started selling it.

During this time she learned a lot of new things and her interest was increased towards food processing business. After completing her BA from Hindu Girls College, Jagadhri, she got the job of home science trainer in the same college. Soon after that she was married to Rajinder Kumar Kamboj in 2004, but after marriage also she didn’t give up her work. She continued her food processing work and developed many new products like mango laddoo, coconut laddoo, pickles, fruit jams, murraba and many other different types of laddoo. Her efficiency increased with the time resulting in good quality products and larger customer base.

Well, food processing is not the only field in which she excelled. From her school time, she was very active in sports and she was the captain of the Kabbadi Team. She was also very zealous towards her profession, and for her work, she even achieved Best Training Award by Hindu Girls College. Currently, she is doing organic farming on 1 acre of land and is also actively involved in dairy farming. She grows every type of seasonal vegetables with the help of her husband. Satya Organics is the brand name under which she is selling all her processed products (different types of laddoo, pickles, Jam, and Murabba)

In the coming time, she is planning to expand her work and make more revenue from it. She also wants to inspire other girls and women in the society towards food processing and organic farming, so that they can become self-dependent.

MESSAGE TO FARMERS-
“If God has given you everything – physically fit body and mentally fit mind, then you should work in a constructive direction and make use of strength in a positive way. Every person should recognize the hidden talent in themselves so that they can work towards it in benefiting the society.”

Baljit Singh Kang

Read Full Story

TEACHER TURNED ORGANIC FARMER BRINGING REVOLUTION IN THE FIELD OF ORGANIC FARMING

Meet Baljit Singh Kang from – a teacher turned into an organic farmer. Organic farming was not the principal idea for which Mr. Kang get early retirement from his teaching profession. It was his kids for whom he took early retirement and along with that he also started farming.

Baljit Singh Kang always wanted to do something different and not be a part of monotony and old traditions, and he found that something different in organic farming. Farming was not the primary occupation of his family, as his father and brother were already settled in abroad. But Baljit wanted to do something great by staying in his own country.

Just after completing his M.A. in Punjabi, Baljit got a job in school as a teacher. After working for some times as a teacher he opened his own restaurant from 2003 to 2010. In 201o he decided to quit restaurant business and start organic farming. In 2011, he got married and after some time he was blessed with two beautiful children, a daughter and a son. Daughter is now 4 year old and son is 2 year old.

Earlier he was using chemicals on a low scale, but in later he turned towards organic. He sowed maize crop in 1-acre of land. But everyone in his village was making fun of him because he planted maize in winters. Baljit was so determined and confident that he never let the bad words and negativity affect him. When harvesting time came, at that time he harvested 37 quintals of maize and that was above his imagination. The harvested produce encouraged him to expand the framing work and he took 1.5-acre land more on the lease.

Shifting from chemical to organic farming was a huge step for Baljit, but he never looked back. He started growing vegetables on 6 acres of land. On his farm, he grew every type of fruit trees and he has also established vermi-compost plant which benefits him a lot. He hires no extra labour for his work and is earning well from organic farming.

Future Plans:
Currently, he is growing mustard, basmati, wheat, and vegetables at his farm in 6 acres of land. In future, he wants to partner with Kheti Virasat Mission to market his products on his own.
Message to farmers-
“Farmers should start working themselves and stop depending on the third person for marketing. The second thing that farmers should understand is for better future organic farming is the only solution. Farmers should stop using chemicals and start adopting organic farming.”

Iqbal Singh

Read Full Story

FUTURISTIC FARMER ADOPTED A UNIQUE WAY TO MAKE A CHANGE IN THE FOOD CYCLE OF THE SOCIETY

Generally people know what faults there are in their work but they keep on doing it in the similar way, because others are also doing the same, and still they want to make a change in the society. But as said by Albert Einstein that-

“We can’t solve the problem by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them…”

So, if we want to make a change in the society we have to think different and do different. Iqbal Singh of Basarka Village (District Tarn Taran ) is a person who chose organic farming after completing his studies just to improve the food cycle and its bad effects on the people.

Iqbal Singh’s father used to do conventional farming earlier and after completing the studies (B.Com from PU) Iqbal also decided of starting farming along with his father. But when he noticed the deteriorating health of one of his relative then he realized that how badly our food system has been affected by the chemicals and pesticides use. At that time he understood that “our food cycle and water cycle has been poisoned and if we don’t take necessary steps towards our environment then our coming generation will get affected by it very badly.”

Iqbal decided of starting farming but in a different way. He stopped the use of chemicals and pesticides and slowly expanded the organic farming in his 16 acres of land. Today he is successfully earning good profit by farming all types of seasonal vegetables organically. He implements every type of tractor, trolley, plough device, disc, and rotavator. In the coming times he wants to start food processing and its marketing so that he can take better advantage of it and earn more profit.

Message to Farmers:
“If we don’t want our coming generation to face problems and diseases like cancer, skin allergy etc, then we have to turn towards organic. This is the right time, we can restore the damage that we have done to our environment, because any delay will cause serious impact on human’s health.”

 

Pooja Sharma

Read Full Story

Story of A Strong Willed Woman Who Stepped Forward to Support Her Husband in Managing Family’s Livelihood through Farming

In our Indian Society, a notion has been deep rooted in our minds that woman should be at home and men should earn. But still, there are many women who bear the tag of bread earner very confidently in a positive way and help their husbands in running and supporting the house needs. One such a woman who is helping his husband in fulfilling her house needs is Pooja Sharma.

Mrs. Pooja Sharma is a rising agripreneur from the land of Jats – Haryana, and currently, she is the president of Kshitiz Self-Help Group and leading women of her village (Chandu) under her. By using the innovative farming technique she is producing 11 varieties of ready to cook and ready to eat items made up of soybean, wheat, maize, pearl millet, and corn.

The decision of making a move in the field of farming was taken in 2012 when Pooja Sharma (mother of three children) realized that her house needs aren’t going to be fulfilled with just his husband (Government Contract Employee) earnings, and now it’s her responsibility to support her husband.

She joined KVK Shikoupur and told them to teach her things that will help her earn a livelihood. She took training from there and learned innovative farming techniques. There she learned how to process the soybeans and other cereals so that it can be directly used for eating. And after taking this training she encouraged other women of her neighbourhood and village to take the same training.

In 2013, she established her own small manufacturing unit of roasted soybeans at home and also involved other women of her village in her venture and slowly expanded her business. She also made a self-help group by the name Kshitiz SHG and involved and encouraged more women of her village to join it. By collecting all the savings of the group’s women, she purchased three more roasting machines. And after some time she collected more money and purchased two more machines.

Currently, their group has 7 units of manufacturing machines. The machines were expensive according to their budget but still, they managed and it cost them around Rs. 16,000 and Rs. 20,000 per piece. She has 1.25 acres of land and she is actively involved in farming also. She grows mostly those crops of pulses and cereals, so that, she can process it and use it later for selling purpose. She is teaching the same thing to other women of her village also to use their land effectively because it can benefit them in the future.

Along with the team of 11 women today she is processing and selling more than 11 varieties of products (millet khichadi, millet laddoo, roasted wheat grains, roasted sorghum, roasted soy beans, roasted Bengal grams) which are ready to eat and cook (wholesome packets of nutrients) across the states and country. With the willpower, Pooja Sharma has helped other women of her village to gain self-reliance and confidence.

For her, it has been a long journey to reach where she is today and she has faced many challenges also. Now they have setup the machines at their home, so that women can operate it at home when they are free; and in their village, as power cuts are very frequent, so they have divided their work according to that; some women dry up the beans, some clean them and the rest of the women roast and grind them.

Currently, the big problem that Pooja Sharma and group face sometimes is language barriers (English). Because when it comes to communicating with big companies then they realize that in which skill they are lacking the most and that is education. But they are not discouraged by it and are trying to work on it. Apart of manufacturing food items, she is also helping women acquire training in stitching, farming and other activities they are interested in.

Her future plans are to expand his business and inspire more women and make them independent so that they don’t have to be dependent on others for money. For her passionate work and effort, she has been awarded a cash prize of 50,000 and a citation certificate for innovative farming techniques with Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Krishi Puraskar from Zone II comprising states of Rajasthan, Haryana, and Delhi. She is also a member of ATMA SCHEME and she has also received appreciation by the Governor- Kaptan Singh Solanki, for making protein-rich food items.

MESSAGE TO FARMERS-
“Wherever farmers cultivate cereal, pulse or any crop, there they should create a group of those women who are just doing household work and train them to use the produced crops for making good things by processing them, so that they can sell those things in the market and get a good price for it.”

 

Raja Ram Jakhar

Read Full Story

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.”

Rajinder Pal Singh

Read Full Story

Story of a Man Who Learned From His Mistakes and Turned Towards the Wisest Pursuit: Organic Farming

Mother Nature is one of our greatest teachers and she never stopped from the earliest times in teaching us what we need to know. Today we are living on Earth in a way as if we had another one to go to. We are not aware that how we are disturbing the nature’s balance and how it can affect us in reverse. Nowadays, we are seeing many cases of diseases, abnormalities, and deficiencies, in humans and animals, but still, most of the people are not able to identify the slips, they are just sitting with the blindfolds as if nothing is going on. But there are still few people, who have learned from their mistakes and are trying to bring a change in the society.

It is said that mistakes have the power to turn you into something better than you were before. And one such person who turned his path towards something better is Rajinder Pal Singh and today he is a successful personality in the field of organic farming. His products are not only praised and have high demand in Punjab, but also in America, Canada and even the royal family of London is also aware of it.

Well, there is always a story behind a successful journey. Rajinder Pal Singh a resident of Kalalwala Village of District- Bathinda, was once a farmer who used to do conventional farming, but after facing the adverse effects of chemicals and pesticides himself, he realized that, with which intensity he is affecting his environment and his health by using the chemicals. He used to spray pesticides on his crops, but one day, that spray affected his nervous system and same was the case with one of his relatives. From that day he decided to quit the use of chemicals and adopt natural ways for farming.

In the beginning, he and his uncle started organic farming on 4 acres of land and slowly expanded the area. In 2001, he bought rose saplings from Uttar Pradesh and since then he is doing rose farming also along with cultivating other crops. He has taken no training for organic farming. His uncle helped him in organic farming by gathering all information from the books. Currently, he is living in a joint family, with his wife, children, uncles, aunts, and cousins, and he gives all the credit of his success to his family for their endless support.

He was the first farmer in Malwa region of Bathinda who chose organic farming over conventional farming. When he started organic farming, at that time, he faced many difficulties and many people discouraged him also by saying that he is just wasting money, but today his products are sold in advance booking. And he is also the first farmer of Punjab who gifted Rose Oil made by him on his farm to Prince Charles and his wife in 2010 in an event in Fatehgarh Sahib.

The title of “King of Flowers” is also given to him for the work he is doing. He has the best variety of rose called Damascus and you can smell the fragrance of roses by standing at a far distance from his rose fields which is spread over 6 acres of land. He has also set up an oil extraction project on his own farm where he makes rose oil by using his farm roses. Other than rose farming he is also growing Green Grams, Lentil, Maize, Soy Bean, Peanut, Bengal Gram, Wheat, Basmati, Chick Pea, Guar and other seasonal vegetables. In 12 acres he grows basmati and in the rest of the land, he grows other above-mentioned crops.

The roses which Rajinder Pal Singh is farming blooms once in a year in December and its harvesting is completed till the month of March and April. From one acre of land he is growing 12 to 18 quintals of roses and today his annual profit from one acre of rose farming land is 1.25 Lakhs. His products demand come from America, Canada, and other countries. Even the rose oil made by him is purchased at a good price in advance by the exporters, just because he makes it from pure organic roses. In the off-season, he grows other varieties of roses and make Gulkand from it and sell it in the nearby grocery stores. Other than rose oil, rose water, and gulkand, he also sells organic lentils, wheat, maize, rice and other crops that he grows. All the products made by him are sold under his brand name Bhakar Organic Farm.

Today, Rajinder Pal Singh is very much satisfied with organic farming. Yes, he is getting low yield but the price of his products is just two times than the price of other crops grown using conventional farming. He only uses cow dung manure and river water in his fields and does not buy any type of manure or compost from the market. By doing organic farming he is also able to maintain the nutrient and fertility level of the soil. In the beginning, he faced a little problem in marketing his products but as soon the people recognized the quality level of his products, he started gaining momentum in his work. And he is also facing very fewer diseases in his crops by doing organic farming.

Now coming to his awards and achievements- He is appreciated by the Central Government under the ATMA SCHEME and is presented as a role model to inspire other farmers in the country. He is also a member of Bhumi Vardaan Foundation which is led by the Royal Prince of Wales, Britain, and all his products are organically certified by this foundation. He has also received Appreciation letter from Punjab Agriculture Department, Patiala and even Ex-Agriculture Minister of Punjab – Mr. Tota Singh also awarded him as a Progressive Farmer.

Future Plans:

His future plan is to continue his work in the field of organic farming and make aware more and more farmers about organic farming and inspire them to do it.

Message Given by Rajinder Pal Singh
“Today our earth need us and we as a farmer are the most responsible person in saving the earth from pollution. Yes, by doing organic farming there is less yield, but in the coming times, there will be high demand for organic products, not just because it is healthy, but also because it will become the need of the hour. Moreover, organic farming is sustainable and requires less finance, it only requires labour, and if a farmer is interested in switching to organic farming then he can do it very easily.”

 

 

“

Rajnish Lambha

Read Full Story

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.“

Narpinder Singh Dhaliwal

Read Full Story

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

Read Full Story

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

Read Full Story

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.”

Yadwinder Singh

Read Full Story

This Farmer from Punjab Opted Best Alternative Over Conventional Wheat-Paddy Cycle and Is Making Double Profit from It

Where rice & wheat cultivation continues to rule in Punjab, some farmers still lack alternatives. Farmers having small land holdings and less awareness are still stuck in the conventional cycle of wheat and paddy. But this young lad- Yadwinder Singh from Chak Bakhtu village of Bathinda district has shooed away the old practices of farming with nursery preparation and organic vegetable farming.

Yadwinder Singh, a boy aspiring to fulfil his millions of dreams, completed his diploma in Hotel Management after his graduation and then placed as a reputed chef in Singapore for two years. But he was not happy with his work and he was feeling that something was missing in his life. So he came back to Punjab and very strong-mindedly he decided to enter the farming field.

In 2015 he started his organic venture but before that he acted wisely to avoid future losses. As being a nimble-witted person he took help of internet and attended farmer fairs and begin with nursery farming of organic vegetables. To promote his brand, Yadwinder also designed a logo for his business.

In the first year of his farming venture, he earned up to 1 lakh and today he is making more than 2.5 lakhs from just 2 canals (5 acres). Along with farming he also started nursery management which includes seed preparation, soil management. He even does not need to go to the market to sell the seedlings, because farmers themselves visit his farm to buy the seedlings.

Today Yadwinder Singh is very happy with his occupation and income. In future he want to expand his domain and grow some more crops to reap good profit.

Message:
“We know that government does not make enough effort to support the ordinary farmers. But farmers shouldn’t feel discouraged, because with strong determination and smart approach they can achieve what they want.”

Gurdev Kaur Deol

Read Full Story

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.”

Manjula Sandesh Padvi

Read Full Story

How This Woman Single-handedly Proved Organic Farming Profitable For the Community and Her Family

Manjula Sandesh Padvi looks like an ordinary farmer, but her knowledge related to organic farming and her life struggle is way beyond that. Living in a small village Wagsepa, district Nandurbar of Maharashtra, she not only cultivate land organically but also fulfils her family needs and educate her daughter from the farm income.

Manjula’s husband left her 10 years back at that time, she had two options to do with her life, first one was to feel bad for her circumstances, gain sympathy and look for another person’s support; the second choice was to stand up on her own and become her own support. She chose the second option and today she is an independent organic farmer.

There was also a time in her life when her health was not responding well to her body needs. At that time, she was going through a heart-treatment, in which her heart valve was replaced, but she never lost her hope. After recovering from the surgery, she took a loan from the saving group and planted a motor pump in her field. To make the soil more fertile, she chose bio-fertilizer in place of chemical fertilizer and pesticides.

The money that she got from various government policies was a good amount for her and she spent it wisely by purchasing a pair of bulls. And now she uses the bulls to cultivate her land by hoeing it. She grew maize and sorghum and got good yield as well.

Manjula Says- “Yield of crops grown in the fields nearby is less than mine. Last year we grew maize but our yield was much better than them because I am using biofertilizers and others using chemical fertilizers. This year also I am growing maize and sorghum”

Public Service System located in Namburdar district has been a great help to Manjula in her farming venture. They have created 15 saving groups in her area, and through these groups, they collect money and provide loans to the farmers in need. They especially encourage non-chemical and organic farming. One more group of which Manjula is taking advantage is Indigenous Seed Banks, she takes seeds through these groups and practices diversified farming of vegetables, fruits, and cereals. Manjula’s daughter Manika is proud of her mother and she always supports her.

Today, women play a major role in the farming field, from sowing seeds to conservation and storage of crops. But when farming gets mechanized then women generally fall out of this category. But, Majula Sandesh Padvi never made herself handicapped and turn her weakness into strength. Single-handedly she took care of her farm, her daughter and her house needs. Today she has made her daughter well-educated and capable enough to earn and live a good life. Presently her daughter- Manika is working as a nurse in Jalgaon.

Women like Manjula Sandesh Padvi act as the powerhouse for rural India, women like her motivate other women to be strong and chose sustainable farming for better future. Today, we need more Manjula Sandesh Padvi, if we want our future generation to live healthy and without any scarcity.

Sustainable farming is the need of the hour because chemicals are decreasing the fertility of the land and making the underground life polluted, moreover chemical use also increases the cost of farming, which increases the debt and forces farmers to commit suicide.

We need to learn from Majula to protect our water, soil and environment by adopting organic farming.

Krishan Dutt Sharma

Read Full Story

HOW ORGANIC FARMING HELPED KRISHAN DUTT SHARMA SCRIPT HIS SUCCESS IN THE FIELD OF AGRICULTURE

There are situations in life which make people realize the missing objective of their lives and inspire them to achieve it. The same thing happened with an ordinary farmer- Krishan Dutt Sharma, of village- Chikhar (Shimla) and motivated him to adopt organic farming.

Achievements of Krishan Dutt Sharma in organic farming has made him so popular that today his name is counted in the list of important people in the field of agriculture.

It all started when, Krishan Dutt Sharma got the opportunity to visit Hyderabad (November 11, 2002), with the help of Agriculture Department. During that visit, he got an overview of Organic Farming. He was curious to know more about it, as well as he wanted to implement it.

His passion and ideas came into action when he came in contact with Morarka Foundation (in 2004). Until that time, he got well aware of the adverse effects of increased use of chemicals in the agriculture field and this made him very distressed and anxious. As he knew that, he also has to face the consequences of fertilizers and pesticides in the coming future, so he decided to adopt organic farming completely.

He had total 20 bigha land out which 5 bighas was irrigated land and 15 bigha was rain-fed area. In the beginning, he purchased an apple mother plant (root-stock) from Horticulture Department, and from that plant, he established his whole garden with 400 plants of apples. He also grew pears tree (20), cherry trees (20), peach trees (10) and pomegranate tree (15). Along with fruits, he also started growing vegetables like cauliflower, peas, beans, capsicum, and broccoli.

Generally, broccoli crop grown with pesticides and chemicals gets easily spoil, but the broccoli grown by Krishan Dutt Sharma in an organic way, significantly has much life. Due to this reason now broccoli grown by farmers organically is being carried to Delhi market for marketing purpose. Moreover, broccoli grown organically is sold around Rs 100-150 / kg and these numbers are escalating the income reach of farmers up to 500000 rupees, and in the boost of this six-digit figure, half of the income is earned from the sale of broccoli only.

To inspire more farmers towards organic farming, Krishan Dutt Sharma has created a group in his village under his leadership. His initiative has inspired many farmers to adopt organic farming.

Krishan Dutt Sharma’s achievements in the field of organic farming are very huge and even Himachal Government has honoured him with Best Farmer Award in “Organic Fair and Food Festival” in June 2013. But because of his humbleness, he gives all the credit of his success to Morarka Foundation and the Department of Agriculture.

He uses cows (3), bullocks (1), and calves (2) dung in his fields and forest, and he also prepares Vermicompost for better yield. He has prepared a bed of 30x8x10 on his farm where he prepares Vermicompost from 250 earthworms every year. In place of pesticides, he uses herbal spray, aperture wash, Jivamrit, and NSDL. Using natural pesticides in place of artificial improves his land condition and also decreases his expense.

Message:
“He wants to inspire other farmers to adopt organic farming for better future and good income.”

Hartej Singh Mehta

Read Full Story

Hartej Singh Mehta- Laying Foundation For Better Future By Inspiring Others To Pursue Organic Farming

Earlier organic was a term which was very rarely used or practiced. There were very few farmers who use to do organic farming and that also for the home purpose. But with the time, people recognized that every shining vegetable or fruit looks good but is not good for health.

This is the story of a farmer – Hartej Singh Mehta, who took a wise decision 10 years back and is very grateful for it. For Hartej Singh Mehta continuing organic farming was the best decision he ever took in his life. And today he is the renowned personality for organic farming in his area (Mehta Village- Bathinda).

As being from the Malwa region of Punjab, where farmers use pesticides and chemicals at a very high rate to get good productivity, Hartej Singh Mehta chose to maintain harmony with nature. He is very dedicated towards his hereditary occupations from his childhood and for him living a simple life is more important than bragging about his achievements.

Despite being highly qualified (MA Punjabi, MA Political Science), he chose to pursue organic farming instead of running behind the city life and govt. job. Currently, he has 11 acres of land in which he grows Cotton, Wheat, Mustard, Sugarcane, Lentil, Spinach, Fenugreek, Carrot, Radish, Onions, Garlic and almost all the vegetables. He always prefers to prepare his fields by following natural ways which work well for cotton (F 1378), wheat (1482) and Bansi named seeds.

“Reasons like dissatisfaction, illiteracy, and desire of higher productivity of the farmers lead them to use chemical fertilizers and pesticides, due to which, farmers who are known as the Savior are now serving toxin in the society.Nowadays farmers use pesticides and chemicals for pest management which harms the good worms and fertility of the soil. They are not aware that by using chemicals in their farm they are ultimately poisoning the whole food chain. Moreover, by using chemicals and pesticides they are not only worsening the environmental conditions but also facing major economic loss due to increasing debt.”  – Said by Hartej Singh Mehta

Mr. Mehta always practices natural method and whenever he needs information related to natural farming he refers Pingalwara Society, Amritsar and Agricultural Heritage Mission. He generally uses cow urine and animal dung for preparing fertilizer, as this is good for the soil and is also very economical.

According to Mr. Mehta, consuming naturally grown food has kept him and his family perfectly healthy and away from diseases. Due to this reason also Mr. Mehta feels inspired towards organic farming and in future also he will continue doing it.

Message
“I want to give the same message to the farmers across the country that we should come out of the shackles of private companies and should pledge to make healthy society by serving them healthy food.”