Sandalwood Archives - Progressive Farmers

Young Farmer Leading His Way By Adopting New Crop & Modern Farming Practices

In our country, farmers are more leaned towards conventional farming, but this practice does not provide expected profit as per the hard work. But, a swift shift has been encountered among the farmers of young generation.

It is observed that youngsters are adopting new farming patterns and techniques and they are giving preference to vegetable and fruit farming above conventional practices. And as we know those who dare to think and do different, only they can make a big change.

This is a story about one such young farmer, Amandeep Singh Sarao, who is cultivating a crop about which earlier he had no idea. He has gained a new identity in the society, with his hard work and passion.

Mansa (Punjab) based Amandeep Singh’s grandfather and father had bought many land pieces for their personal business interests. But due to lack of time, they rented their 32 acres of land to another farmer, on which conventional farming practices were being followed. He was not much influenced towards agriculture in the beginning, as there was not much farming work at home.

After completing his graduation, Amandeep visited Gujarat with his friends for outing. There, he visited a farm. His friends find that farm very odd, so he decided to go inside the farm and explore it. He discovered that it was a dragon fruit farm by the name GDF.

Very few farmers in our country know about dragon fruit, as it is a foreign fruit and that’s why Amandeep too did not know much about it. GDF farm’s owner Nikunj Pansuriya briefed him more about its farming. After coming back to Punjab, he consulted with his family about it and they praised their son that he has decided to do something different from the usual. Social media was the main source of information for him about the dragon fruit farming and he came to know many new things about it.

“After visiting GDF farm, Lakshmi Putra Dragon Fruit Farm and RK Dragon fruit farm, Vasupujya Dragon Fruit Farm, Shri Hari Horticulture Nursery, Sangar Nursary, I realized that our farmers have been stuck in the cycle of conventional farming from the beginning. Therefore, it’s time for the new generation to do something innovative in the field of agriculture. ” – Amandeep Singh Sarao

Through the internet, he came to know that in Punjab, a Barnala based farmer Harbant Singh Aulakh is also practicing dragon fruit farming. So, to gather more information he visited his farm and from there he felt encouraged & determined to start this new venture.

Amandeep took back 2 acres from the rented land. With the advice of GDF’s owner he get the poles ready and ordered plants from four different places. He named his farm – “Sarao Dragon Fruits Farm” and whenever he faced any difficulty, he took help from experts and internet. In the beginning, he planted red and white variety of dragon fruits.

As it is said that “Things which are happening around you are noticeable and does not require evidence or proof”, in the same way, first year’s fruit of Sarao Dragon Fruits Farm were very tasty and everybody relished it.

After starting dragon fruit farming, all my family members encouraged me and inspired me to work harder and then I never looked back. ” – Amandeep Singh Sarao

Amandeep’s sister-in-law, Harmandeep Kaur, works in the forest department and she advised him to grow sandalwood along with the Dragon Fruit. In our country, sandalwood has its own importance, as it is used for religious activities and its prices are also very high. So, he started collecting information about sandalwood farming.

Amandeep contacted and met Mr. Nitin Patel, the head of Chandan Vikas Association, Gujarat. Nitin Patel has about 2000 sandalwood plants at his farm. In the beginning, Amandeep took a few sandalwood seedlings to plant it on his farm on trial basis. And today, Sarao Farm has about 225 sandalwood plants.

“Do not let the situation overcome you so that you lose courage, rather keep courage in such a way that the situation can be defeated.” – Amandeep Singh Sarao

As a young farmer, Amandeep always thought about doing something new. So he started grafting Dragon Fruit plants. For this, he took training from Mary Ann Passaul, who is from Tangum Philipine Island.

There are 12 varieties of Dragon Fruits at Sarao Dragon Fruits Farm:

• Valdiva Rosa

• Asunta

• Connie Mayer

• Delight

• American Beauty

• Purple Haze

• ISIS Golden Yellow

• S8 Sugar

• Ausi Golden Yellow

• Vietnam White

• Royal Red
• Simple Red

Amandeep still gathers new information related to agriculture field and he has also installed drip irrigation system at his farm. Everybody nearby his village praises him because of his strong determination and hard work and many people visit his farm to know more about his farming techniques.

Future Plans

In the coming time, Amandeep is planning to start marketing its fruit produce on a larger level and along with that he also wants to prepare and sell products made up of sandalwood.

Message

“Farmers should adopt chemical free method of farming. Especially the young farmers, should come forward with their innovative thinking to create more employment in the field of agriculture.”

Father-Son Duo Moving Towards Organic Farming By Making Internet their Research Weapon

Farming is one of the most important ingredients of human civilization and with the advancement in technology and living, farming has also been transformed over the years. But still, many farmers in India are stuck to the conventional farming method. But one such farmer or we can say a pair of a father-son duo who made the internet as their research weapon to progress in the field of farming are Harbant Singh (father) and Satnam Singh (son).

Like other farmers, Harbant Singh was also into conventional farming until his son came up with the idea of orchard farming organically. Yes, it was Satnam Singh who after his 1 year of research, approached his father to start dragon fruit farming.

It all started just one year ago when Satnam Singh came in contact with a person (Vishal Doda) in Gujarat through one of his friends. Vishal Doda is doing dragon fruit farming in 15 acres of area. Satnam Singh researched everything about dragon fruit plant and discussed it with his father. And when Harbant Singh came to know about dragon fruit farming and its benefits, he very happily encouraged his son to start it, no matter how much investment they have to do. Soon they visited Gujarat, bought dragon fruit plants and took some guidance from Vishal Doda about its farming.

Today, this father-son duo is the first one who started dragon fruit farming in Punjab and now the plant has started bearing fruits also. They have planted 500 seedlings of dragon fruits in one and a half bigha of land. One plant gives 4-20 kg of fruit in 4 years. They especially cast and prepared a cement structure with a wheel mounted on the pillar to support this plant. Whenever they need help related to dragon fruit farming either they search the internet or they consult Vishal Doda.

Well, dragon fruit farming is not the only thing that they are doing, they have also planted Sandalwood seedling on their farm. The idea of planting sandalwood came when Satnam was watching a news channel where he came to know that a minister gifted a sandalwood tree trunk in a temple that was worth in lakhs. At that time, the thing that struck his mind was to make the future secure and more profitable in both the terms- environmentally and financially. So he invested in sandalwood farming in July 2016 and planted 200 seedlings in 6 canal area.

Both father and son are very actively involved in the farming and are well aware of the plant characteristics. They know that sandalwood is a hemiparasite plant, so they have planted split red gram seedlings, lemon plants and cauliflower along with sandalwood. They are doing diversified farming so that they can generate profit both in present and future also.

According to Harbant Singh, the farming pattern that they are following is preparing them for the future. Because both dragon fruit and sandalwood need less water (can also be irrigated through rain water only) and don’t need any special type of manure or fertilizer. Moreover, they are well aware of the fact that in the coming time paddy and wheat farming will get disappear from Punjab because of the depleting level of ground water. And orchard farming will become the need of the coming time.

Harbant Singh is strictly following organic methods for dragon farming and sandalwood farming and slowly with the time, he will reduce the chemical use in his other crops also. The thing that encouraged Harbant Singh and his son towards organic farming is the increasing diseases and ailments in the society. They want to make the environment healthy and liveable for the future generations, as their ancestors left the atmosphere for them. There is one more reason that Satnam Singh chose organic farming after completing his engineering and that is his interest in farming from the beginning.

Today Satnam Singh is making full effort in helping his father in farming with mechanized ways. They prepare jivamrit and manure at home by using cow dung and Gau Mutr (cow urine). They avoid using pesticides and fertilizers. Harbant Singh is also working on water management in his village and is teaching other villagers about it, so that, they use less tube well water. He himself has only one tube well for 12 acres of land. Other than usual crops he also has guava, banana, mango and peach tree at his farm.

Satnam especially did one year of research before starting sandalwood and dragon fruit farming because he wanted to invest in a crop that needs less irrigation and has a plethora of health and environmental benefits. He wants other farmers to do the same and adopt a farming crop that is eco-friendly and has various benefits also.

Future Plans
His future plan is to grow garlic and mahogany tree. He wants other farmers to recognize the potential and start investing in it for their better future.

Message to farmers
“Harbant Singh and his son both want other farmers to start organic farming and save the environment for the future generation, only then they can survive and make earth a better living place.”