Tag: Wheat

Surinder Kumar

Read full story

Innovative Farmer Surinder Kumar: Pioneering Success in Relay Cropping and Strawberry Farming in Jhangola

In the heart of Dasuya district in Hoshiarpur, Punjab, a tale of agricultural innovation and resilience is unfolding. Sh. Surinder Kumar, born and raised in this agrarian landscape, has emerged as an inspirational figure for farmers across the region. His transition from a 20-year career in exhibition conference management in Delhi to becoming an innovative farmer in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic shows his determination and commitment to sustainable farming practices.

Surinder Kumar’s journey into agriculture wasn’t a predictable one. Driven by the economic uncertainties brought about by the pandemic, he returned to his roots, drawing on the farming experience instilled in him during his childhood. His parents, deeply rooted in agriculture, had imparted invaluable knowledge that would later become the foundation of his success.

In pursuit of a new venture, Surinder Kumar turned to a friend in the UK, a seasoned farmer with expertise in strawberry cultivation. Armed with this knowledge and complemented by his own extensive research, Surinder Kumar embarked on the ambitious journey of strawberry farming in India. The initial challenges were manifold, ranging from the unavailability of high-quality seedlings in India to the struggle of exporting seeds and seedlings from other countries.

The first year proved to be financially daunting, as he faced significant losses on his initial 3-acre venture, with expenses averaging 8 to 9 lakhs per acre. Undeterred, Surinder Kumar sought solutions and identified the need for superior strawberry varieties. This realization led him to import unique strawberry varieties with distinctive flavors from Italy, varieties that could thrive under Indian conditions. Fulfilling all government regulations for seed importation, he received guidance from PUSA on the proper procurement and cultivation of these imported plants.

As Surinder Kumar’s strawberry enterprise began to take root, he expanded his agricultural footprint by acquiring land in Himachal Pradesh. Currently, he manages an impressive 8-acre plot in Jhangola village in Delhi, with 4 acres dedicated to strawberry cultivation and the remaining 4 acres supporting a variety of vegetables, including capsicum, cauliflower, broccoli, radish, and wheat.

One of Surinder Kumar’s key strategies for maximizing profit margins is his adoption of relay cropping, a method where different crops are cultivated sequentially on the same piece of land within a single growing season. His relay cropping patterns, particularly between strawberry-watermelon and capsicum-watermelon, have proven to be highly lucrative, demonstrating the potential for diversification in farming practices.

In addition to innovative cropping patterns, Surinder Kumar places a strong emphasis on sustainable agricultural practices. He has implemented integrated pest management techniques to minimize the use of harmful pesticides, safeguarding both soil and crop health. Recognizing the importance of water management, he has developed a variety-specific fertigation regime, optimizing the use of water and fertilizers for enhanced crop growth.

Modern technology plays a pivotal role in Surinder Kumar’s farming approach. Real-time temperature and humidity monitoring through data loggers ensure optimal conditions for his crops, showcasing his commitment to leveraging technology for agricultural efficiency.

For the marketing and sale of his produce, Surinder Kumar has strategically partnered with supermarket giants Reliance Fresh and Big Basket, providing him with a fixed market and ensuring a steady income stream. This collaborative approach not only secures his financial stability but also contributes to the economic growth of Jhangola.

His message to the fellow farmers is seed selection and plantation at the right time is very important in strawberry farming. Also, he actively engages with and assists other farmers who wish to delve into strawberry farming, offering guidance on seed selection, cultivation practices, and post-harvest care.

In conclusion, Sh. Surinder Kumar’s agricultural story stands as a beacon of innovation and sustainability. His strategic adoption of relay cropping, importation of unique strawberry varieties, commitment to sustainable practices, and embrace of technology exemplify a holistic approach to farming. As an advocate for responsible and profitable agriculture, Surinder Kumar not only cultivates success for himself but also serves as an inspiration for the farming community at large.

Sikander Singh Brar

Read full story

Revolutionizing Agriculture: The Visionary Journey of Sikander Singh Brar

In the heartland of Punjab, where farming is not just a profession but a way of life, one man’s unwavering passion for innovation has brought about a transformative change in the agricultural landscape. Sikander Singh Brar, a pioneer in the realm of farming, has not only challenged conventional practices but has redefined the essence of agriculture itself. From humble beginnings rooted in a traditional farming family to becoming a beacon of modernity, Sikander Singh’s journey is a testament to the power of determination, innovation, and a relentless pursuit of excellence.

From Tradition to Innovation: The Early Years

Sikander Singh Brar’s journey began in Balihar Mahima, Bathinda, where he was born into a farming family deeply entrenched in traditional agricultural practices. His father, S. Buta Singh, was a stalwart in traditional farming techniques that had been passed down through generations. Yet, even amidst the familiarity of these age-old practices, young Sikander Singh harbored an unyielding desire to bring something new to the table.

“Why settle for the same crops year after year?” Sikander Singh pondered.

His inquisitive mind refused to succumb to the status quo. This innate desire to break free from convention, to reach for the skies from the earth to the heavens, became a guiding principle in Sikander Singh’s life. He understood that the urge to forge ahead, to innovate, should be the driving force across all fields of endeavor.

Cultivating Change: The Birth of Innovation

As Sikander Singh embarked on his academic journey, enrolling in Pharmacy at Sirsa in 1983, his foray into farming began to take shape. Supported by his elder brother, S. Samsher Singh, a Veterinary Inspector, he started to usher in a new era of farming in his village. The duo challenged the age-old practices of wheat and barley cultivation, which had long been the staple of the region.

Their motivation was clear: Why not infuse freshness and diversity into farming practices? This question echoed in Sikander Singh’s mind as he delved deeper into his newfound passion. After leaving his Pharmacy studies in 1984, he shifted his focus entirely to farming. And thus, the journey of transformation began.

Embracing Diversity: A New Chapter in Farming

Sikander Singh’s determination to explore the uncharted territory of farming led him to the cultivation of delicate and diverse crops. He took the plunge into cultivating tomatoes, an unconventional choice that would soon reap rewards. Through collaborations with various companies and the implementation of advanced techniques, his efforts bore fruit – both literally and metaphorically.

Yet, Sikander Singh’s innovation extended beyond crop selection. He held a staunch aversion to harmful pesticides and chemicals that wreaked havoc on the environment and human health. Opting for organic fertilizers and sustainable practices, he set an example that spoke volumes about his commitment to a holistic approach to farming. In 2005, they planted a kinnow orchard on five acres of land. In addition, they prepared wheat seeds from 15 acres of land and supplied seeds to the National Seed Corporation Limited, expanding their efforts to cultivate 50 acres of wheat seeds from 15 acres for the corporation.

Agricultural Revolution: An Inspiring Legacy

Sikander Singh Brar’s pioneering spirit did not go unnoticed. His successful endeavors earned him recognition from prestigious institutions like Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. He emerged as a luminary in the agricultural landscape, sought after for his expertise, knowledge, and innovative methods. His insights were not confined to his fields alone; he generously shared his wisdom on television, radio channels, and workshops, inspiring fellow farmers on both local and global platforms.

His journey, however, was not just about accolades and achievements. It was about ensuring a sustainable future for agriculture. Sikander Singh was an ardent advocate for proper training and preparation before venturing into new farming practices. His emphasis on organic farming, minimal pesticide use, and the adoption of innovative methods echoed his unwavering commitment to the betterment of the land and its people.

The journey of Poultry farm

Sikander Singh Brar, established Sikander Poultry Farm in Balihar Mahima, Bathinda, in 1997. Starting as a modest venture with 5000 birds, it has evolved into a thriving enterprise that has a housing capacity of 35,000 birds of BV 300 breed. The Poultry farm is now managed by Amrinder Singh Brar who is a nephew of Sikander Singh Brar.

Amrinder Singh Brar holds a Masters in Agriculture from PAU and has been operating Sikander Poultry Farm in Bathinda since 2020. What started as a side business with 5000 birds has now grown to accommodate 27000 birds, including 15000 BV 300 red birds and 12000 BV 300 white birds. Under the guidance of his retired uncle, Nachhatar Singh Sran, a former Poultry Inspector, Amrinder modernized the farm to address challenges like water wastage and efficient feeding. By incorporating nipple waterers and feed trollies, Brar’s farm now operates semi-automatically, with human labor operating elevators to efficiently feed thousands of birds.

Vaccination is a crucial aspect of maintaining the health of the birds, with Brar administering 10 to 15 vaccinations to protect against diseases like CRD, Ranikhet, Fowlpox, and Coxy Variant. He emphasizes three primary factors for successful poultry farming: proper feed ingredients, constant water availability, and optimal temperature control. Despite challenges like fluctuating egg prices, Brar markets his products effectively through networking skills and has received recognition for his prominent poultry farm, as well as his ventures into horticulture and agriculture.

Amrinder Singh along with Sikander Singh are taking the Sikander Poultry Farm to new heights.

The Road Ahead: A Vision of Innovation

As Sikander Singh Brar looks to the future, his vision remains steadfast. He envisions a continued journey of growth, collaboration, and innovation. With his family by his side, he aims to explore uncharted territories, embracing change and transformation. His collaborations with experts and organizations stand as a testament to his humility and eagerness to learn.

Sikander Singh’s journey is a testament to the power of a single individual’s determination to create a better world. From a traditional farming family to a torchbearer of modern agricultural practices, he has illuminated the path of innovation for generations to come. His legacy will forever remind us that the desire to do something different can, indeed, compel humans to reach for the skies, turning dreams of innovation into tangible realities on the fertile soil of our land.

Message for farmers

For any new farmer aspiring to bring innovation in agriculture, it is crucial that they seek training and advice from relevant experts or organizations before initiating any new endeavors. After gaining the necessary knowledge, they can begin their work. Additionally, it is essential to minimize the use of pesticides and chemicals wherever possible and strive to adopt organic farming practices.

Mohammad Gafur

Read Full Story

The Inspiring Journey of Mohammad Gafur: From 1 Bigha to 65 Acres of Land

In the bustling town of Patiala, Punjab, a remarkable farmer named Mohammad Gafur has defied all odds to build a flourishing agricultural empire. Starting with just 1 bigha of land, he has now expanded his farming operations to an impressive 65 acres. Today, Gafur is an expert in the intricacies of farming, achieving remarkable success through his sheer determination and unwavering spirit.

Hailing from the town of Malerkotla, Mohammad Gafur’s life took an unexpected turn in 1983 when his father passed away. With the weight of responsibility on his young shoulders, he had to leave his studies and seek a way to support his family. Gafur’s journey in farming began with a small vegetable nursery. He soon realized that this was his true calling, and he was passionate about cultivating the land.

Gafur’s progress in farming was nothing short of extraordinary. In 1992, he seized an opportunity to get 6 to 7 acres of land on lease, belonging to Khalsa College. This marked a significant milestone in his journey. In the year 2000, Gafur expanded his farming operations to 20 acres and by 2004, his land grew to 31 acres. His relentless dedication and hard work yielded remarkable results. In 2017, Gafur’s land on lease reached a significant milestone of 41 acres, and today, he proudly practice farming on 65-acres of land on lease.

What sets Gafur apart from others is his ability to understand the complexities of farming purely through experience. He did not receive any formal training or guidance from any agricultural institute. With time, he mastered the art of farming and became well-versed in various agricultural techniques. Gafur’s journey is a testament to the value of hands-on experience and perseverance.

Throughout the years, Gafur experimented with different crops and irrigation methods to maximize his yields. In his early days, he worked in Sangrur Nehru Market and Moga, where he sold Paneeri. In 1991, he shifted to Rajpura and eventually settled in Patiala. It was during this time that Gafur began using the mulching irrigation method, which he has employed for the past 5 years. In addition, he uses a drip system for 15 acres of his land, receiving subsidies from both the Patiala officers and the central government for this initiative.

Gafur’s expertise extends not only to farming but also to crop planning. He strategically reserves 15 acres for vegetables, 5 acres for wheat, and 25 acres for paddy during their respective seasons. His knowledge of farming practices has earned him the respect of fellow farmers, who often seek his advice and assistance. Gafur generously helps others with vegetable farming and provides guidance regarding medicines and spray names.

Mohammad Gafur’s family has played a crucial role in his farming journey. While his three brothers continue to be actively engaged in farming, the rest of his siblings have established seed shops. In 2000, Gafur became an Army contractor and started selling 10 acres of his produce to them. This agreement has been ongoing and benefits both parties. As for the future, Gafur wishes to continue farming for as long as he can and has no intentions of leaving it in the hands of servants. His children are currently involved in successful businesses of their own and are not directly involved in farming.

Gafur’s farming endeavors have been profitable, with wheat and paddy on contracted land earning approximately 10,000 to 15,000 INR per acre. The cultivation of vegetables has the potential to generate even greater profits, ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 INR per acre. However, Gafur emphasizes the importance of not solely relying on these figures, as market rates can fluctuate. He advises farmers to carefully consider their investment and start from a smaller scale, gradually increasing their operations.

To manage his extensive farming operations, Gafur employs between 40 to 50 laborers during the busy season. As the season winds down, the number decreases to around 20. Looking ahead, Gafur remains dedicated to his farm and has no plans to retire. He firmly believes in staying humble and grounded and rejects any notions of accepting rewards. Gafur’s dedication, perseverance, and hard work continue to inspire farmers across the region.

Message to farmers

His message to fellow farmers is clear: do not rely solely on others; start small, gain experience, and steadily expand. Gafur’s legacy will undoubtedly inspire a new generation of farmers to weather the challenges and embrace the possibilities that lie within the realm of agriculture.

Amitesh Tripathi and Arunesh Tripathi

Read Full Story

Two Brothers Fulfilled their Dreams by Continuing their Father’s Profession of Banana Farming

It is said that a person can do anything if he has his family’s support, either it is about starting something new or taking an old work to new heights of success.

One such story is of two brothers who made their own mark in the society with their hard work and gained success by taking their inherited banana farm to new heights.

Continuing their father, Hari Sahay Tripathi’s occupation of banana farming, the two brothers worked hard and made their father proud of their achievements.

Being a resident of Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh, father of Amitesh and Arunesh was the head of the village and he used to do banana cultivation along with conventional farming in his 65 bighas of land.

Mr. Tripathi was the first farmer to start banana cultivation in his village and at that time both of his sons were studying. Amitesh (elder son) studied B.Sc in Agriculture and used to work in a private company and Arunesh (younger son) was preparing for SSC exams along with that pursuing B.Sc degree in Biology. During this time Mr. Hari Sahay Tripathi passed away.

In those difficult times both brothers returned to their village to support their family. As their father was the village’s head, the villagers decided to make Mr. Tripathi’s elder son Amitesh as the new head of the village. And along with that both the sons decided to continue their father’s occupation of banana farming.

But during this time, a storm came in the village and destroyed the entire banana crop. In those difficult times, Tripathi brothers didn’t lose their hope and courage and after trying hard they were compensated by the government for their affected crops.

After this incident, both decided to start a new beginning with the compensated money they received from the government. Animesh and Arunesh planted all the nine varieties of banana that were earlier planted by their father. They started banana farming in 30 bighas of land and in the rest of the 35 bighas they continued conventional farming.

During this time, whenever we faced any difficulty, we resolved it by consulting the experts of banana farming. – Arunesh Tripathi

As a result of the new beginning, the crop production was very good and the income was around 1 lakh per bigha. Quality of the crops grown by Tripathi brothers was excellent, resulting to which many companies started contacting them directly to do business with them.

As banana is an evergreen and nutritious fruit, so while marketing the crops we didn’t face any hurdles as the merchants directly visited our farm to buy it. Along with bananas we also grow wheat in large quantities. – Amitesh Tripathi

Both the brothers fulfilled their dreams by taking their father’s business of banana cultivation to new heights with their hard work and understanding. Apart from being a farmer, Amitesh is also the village’s head and also has some duties & responsibilities towards his village which he manages honestly. And due to this reason, both the brothers are quite famous among the good farmers of the city.

Future Plans

In the coming time, the two brothers want to prepare banana plants by setting up their own factory together and become a successful farmer like their father.

Message
“If we do something different in the field of agriculture along with following conventional farming practices, then also we can earn good profit from farming. The young generation should come up with new discoveries in the field of agriculture with their understanding and skills, so that they can earn great benefits & profit from agriculture which is also commonly known as the deficit deal.”

Shamsher Singh Sandhu

Read Full Story

This Is What Happens When the Nursery Preparation Venture Turns Out Well In the Field Of Agriculture

When it comes to agriculture, then farmer should stop following the sheep herd and do what truly motivates them to wake up daily from their bed and stand up in the fields, whether its vegetable farming, poultry, piggery, floriculture, food processing, or door to door delivery of the produce. Because this is how a farmer can make out the best from agriculture.
One such a progressive farmer from the land of Jaats- Haryana – Shamsher Singh Sandhu, has excelled his way up in the field of agriculture by following his ideas and dreams. Unlike other farmers, Mr. Sandhu is mainly into seeds preparation which is giving him good returns as compared to conventional farming practices.
Inspired by his father’s achievements in the field of agriculture, Shamsher Singh also decided to adopt farming after completing his studies (Bachelor of Arts) in 1979 and in the next year he got married too. But following the same footsteps as his father of cultivating wheat, paddy, and other conventional crops was not that fortunate, and he was still confused about his profession.
However, the agriculture sector is such a wide sector with so many fields and opportunities, so, in 1985 he came to know about Young Farmer Training Programme of Punjab Agriculture University, it was a 3 months training programme under which there were 12 subjects like dairy, horticulture, poultry and many other subjects. He got himself enrolled in it. After finishing the training he started preparing seeds and without visiting the vegetable market or having any shop, he earned well from the seed preparation business just by sitting at home.
Apart from agricultural activities, Shamsher Singh Sandhu is also involved in a social initiative through which he helps the needy by donating clothes to them. He has made a group of farmers specially, to collect unwanted clothes and use it for a better purpose.
For seed preparation, first Shamsher Singh Sandhu himself buys seed from the university (PAU or HAU), cultivate them, harvest it when it has reached its full maturity stage and after that treat it with semi-organic methods before selling it the other farmers. In this way, he is making a good profit out of nursery preparation business. His venture is so successful, that he has been awarded two times for his outstanding efforts from IARI with Innovative Farmer Award and Fellow Farmer Award in 2015 and 2018.
Presently Shamsher Singh Sandhu is farming Guar, Wheat, Barley, Cotton and seasonal vegetables along with seeds preparation and is reaping good profit out of it. In future, he is planning to expand his Sandhu Seed Farm work, so that he can supply the seeds not only in Punjab but in other neighbouring states as well.
Message
Farmers should try seeds of other seed suppliers as well because in this way they can know the difference between the good supplier and the bad one and take the better yield of the crops by choosing the best.

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.

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.”

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.”

 

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.”

Mani Kaler

Read Full Story

How the Scattering Fragrance of Flowers Has Established a New Potential Floriculture Hub in Punjab

Investment in floriculture is one of the flourishing career choices in which farmers are taking great interest. There are many successful established floriculturist, who are scattering the sweet fragrance of gladiolus, roses, marigold and many other flowers and are creating a new potential floriculture hub in Punjab. One of the floriculturists, who is reaping great profit out of flower and vegetable business is Mani Kaler.

Like other landlords, Kaler family also use to give their land to other framers on lease, and on a small landholding, they use to grow wheat and paddy for home purpose. But when Mani Kaler completed his education (Bachelor of Arts) he decided of stepping in the business of horticulture. Mani took back half of the land (20 acres) that was given on rent and started farming on it.

After some time, with the help of one of his relative, Mani came to know about the RTS Flower business, which is successfully run by Gurwinder Singh Sohi. So, after getting inspired by the owner of RTS Flower, Mani finally started his flower venture and started growing five to six types of flowers like petunia, barbina, and mistasium etc.

In the beginning, he also gave a try to contract farming but after facing a bitter experience with the contracted company, he decided to apart his way with them.

In the second year of flower farming, he bought seeds worth rupees 1 lakh from Gurwinder Singh Sohi. He started gladiolus farming from 2 canals and today it’s been 2 years and he has expanded the farm in 5 acres.

Currently, he is farming on 20 acres of land, out which they are using 4 acres for low tunnel farming of vegetables, where they grow bitter gourd, pumpkin, eggplant, cucumber, muskmelon, garlic (1/2 acre), and onion (1/2 acre). For the home purpose, they grow paddy and wheat. From some time they have also started preparing onion seeds.

His hard work and diversified farming technique has resulted in increased income. Till now he has taken no subsidy from the government. He manages the whole marketing on his own and sells the flowers in the market of Delhi and Kurukshetra. Although, he makes good profit from vegetable and flower farming business, still he faces some problems in flower cultivation, but he never loses his hope and always continues his work with strong determination.

Mani’s family always supports him and never stops him from whatever he wants to do in the agriculture field. Presently, he is living with his father – Madan Singh and elder brother – Raju Kaler in his village Rai Dhariana of Sangrur district. For milk purpose, he rears 7 cattle out of which 2 are Murrah buffaloes. He never compromises with the care and feed of the cattle. He himself prepares the fodder with organically grown paddy, wheat, and fodder crops. In the free time, he also processes sugarcane juice into jaggery and sells it to the villagers.

Future plans:

In the future, he is planning to expand his flower farming business.

Message
“
Nowadays, farmers are stuck in the conventional cycle of paddy and wheat. They should start thinking and doing out if this cycle if they want to earn well.
“

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.
”

Sher Baz Singh Sandhu

Read Full Story

SHER BAZ SINGH SANDHU, BRINGING WHITE REVOLUTION IN PUNJAB WITH THE BEST BREED OF BUFFALO- MURRAH

This is the story of a man who continued his interest in dairy farming and turned it into a successful dairy business- Lakshmi Dairy Farm.

Unlike many other farmers, Sher Baz Singh Sandhu had shifted away his mind in teenage from seeking employment in private and public sectors. His interest was developed in dairy farming and the reason behind Mr. Sandhu’s affinity toward dairy farming was his mother- Harpal Kaur Sandhu.

This love towards dairy farming was a thing which was carried from the maternal side of Sher Baz Singh Sandhu by her mother. In earlier times maternal grandfather of Mr. Sandhu, had a fascination of rearing best breeds of cattle. And this fascination was later on followed by her daughter after marriage, and by seeing his mother’s interest in cattle rearing, Mr. Sandhu was also influenced by it.

In 2002, Mrs. Harpal Kaur passed away. Yes, it was a sad moment for Mr. Sandhu, but after her mother’s death he got an inspiration to pursue his interest of cattle rearing in a better way and that was when he decided of entering the dairy farming venture. Mr. Sandhu sold the old cattle and bought a new buffalo of breed Murrah from a region in Haryana in Rs. 52,000. At that time, that Buffalo used to give 15-16 kg of milk per day.

In 2003, he bought again a new buffalo of the same breed in Rs. 80,000 and this buffalo was giving 25 kg milk at that time.

Then in 2004, he bought a male calf of buffalo in Rs. 75,000, by doing a complete family background check (her mother used to give 20 kg milk and also won an award for it).
And this is how he improved the breed of his farm buffaloes and increased the number of quality buffaloes in his farm.

Once, Lakshmi his buffalo won best breed championship in the Muktsar Mela and just after that, he named his farm – “LAKSHMI DAIRY FARM”.

Not only Lakshmi but many other buffaloes and bull are there like- Dhanno, Rani, Sikander…, who made Mr. Sher Baz Singh Sandhu proud and broke records again and again by winning prizes in Kissan Melas and for milk production and breed championship.

Some of his awards and achievements are mentioned below:
• Lakshmi Dairy Farm holds national record for buffalo milk.
• Sherbaj Singh has been awarded by “State Award for excellent services in Dairy Farming” by CM S. Parkash Singh Badal
• His buffalo came first in 8th National Livestock Championship
• Awarded by Sardar Gulzar Singh in Maghi Mela
• His buffalo won 1st award in milk production competition in Muktsar (2008)
• PDFA Mela in 2008, his buffalo got 1st award
• Buffalo (Dhanno) gave 25 kg milk and broke all records (2015)
• In January his Murrah buffalo won all the prizes in Muktsar Mela (2016)
• His bull (Sikander) won 2nd prize in the Muktsar Mela.
• Lakshmi Buffalo won best breed championship
• Rani Buffalo gave 26 kg and 357 gram of milk and created a new record and won first prize.
• Dhanno Buffalo gave 26 kg milk and came second in the same competition.
• Many articles have been published in the newspaper in advisory magazine

Today, he has total 50 Buffaloes in his farms spread over 1 acres and he sells all the milk in the city to multiple stores. Mr. Sandhu prefers to grow fodder by himself, he has total 40 acres of land in which he grows wheat, paddy, and fodder.

Mr. Sandhu’s son- Barinder Singh Sandhu who is an advocate by profession and his wife- Kulwinder Kaur Sandhu, is also very supportive in managing Lakshmi Dairy Farm. His son has created an FB page by the farm name which has around 3.5 lakhs of followers and he wants to increase the number of followers to 10 lakhs till 2022-23. Because of the farm’s popularity, many people even from foreign, buy buffaloes from them.

Mr. Sandhu always tries to help the farmers with dairy farming and motivate them to progress in it. He also provides good quality semen and milk to farmers.

FUTURE PLAN: His future plan is to increase the farm area and keep only quality buffaloes and provide good quality semen and milk to farmers.

Message:
“
Nowadays farmers are more interested towards rearing foreign breeds rather than local. They think foreign breeds can make them more profit. But this is not true. Because foreign breeds need a different climate and conditions, which is not possible in India. Moreover, rearing foreign breed need more expenses than local breed, which ordinary farmers are not able to manage. Due to which, after some time farmers shift to rearing local breeds or they stop rearing cattle completely.
Farmers should understand that now good breeds are also available in India which can produce 20-25 kg of milk per day. Farmers should opt dairy farming business along with farming because it helps in increasing the income. In this way, farmers can deal with the problem of unemployment and India can progress in dairy farming.
”

Bhupinder Singh Bargari

Read Full Story

How This Son Stepped Into His Father’s Shoes So Perfectly by Reinventing His Father Jaggery Processing Business at a Greater Level

This story is all about, how a son (Bhupinder Singh Bargari) prosperously carried out his father’s (Sukhdev Singh Bargari) occupational work and came up with the famous Jaggery Brand- BARGARI in Punjab.

There was a time when the ox was used to extract the sugarcane juice to make Jaggery out of it. But as the time evolved machines came into function for the sugarcane juice extraction. Moreover, due to indiscriminate use of chemical and color in making gudd, this coarse sweetener lost all its charm and slowly people got attracted towards the crystal of white sugar.

Still, many families prefer jaggery over sugar and they use the traditional method to make Jaggery from sugarcane juice. This is the story of Sukhdev Singh Bargari and his son- Bhupinder Singh Bargari. In 1972, Sukhdev Singh used to sharpen the tools and equipment of the farmers and in return he uses to take grains, vegetables or whatever the farmers offer, as his daily wage. After some time, he purchased an engine and started making jaggery from it. His pure traditional method of Jaggery extraction and no use of chemicals made his Gudd famous and many villagers started giving him sugarcane crop to make Gudd for it. Sukhdev used to do this work mainly from mid of November to March.

There came a time when Sukhdev’s hard work came with the real zest and the demand of jaggery made by him increased to multiple times. This is a matter of 2011 when his daughter was getting married. At that time he distributed a sweet made up of jaggery, desi ghee (clarified butter) and dry fruits with the wedding invitation cards to all his relatives and friends. Everyone relished that sweet very much and demanded him to make more for them, and at that stage, his son- Bhupinder Singh Bargari decided to take hold of his father’s work and expand it to a grander level. After this instance, the father-son duo started making two types of jaggery- one with dry fruits and another without.

Bargari family’s traditional method of cleaning the sugarcane juice with the slimy substance of okra made their product superior than the artificial jaggery made by using chemical and color. Their pure and clean method of making jaggery made Sukhdev Singh and Bhupinder Singh popular and people start recognizing them for their work.

Just following father’s footstep is not what Bhupinder Singh Bargari is up to. Mr. Bhupinder holds the degree of B.Ed. and MA and after that, he has also cleared ETT Teacher Exam and he is working as a school teacher. After getting free from his teaching profession he daily makes out time for the jaggery business.

In order to make this traditional sweetener more popular, Bhupinder started farming sugarcane of C085 variety in 2 acres area and also formed a Self-Help-Group through which he motivated farmer-members of the group to grow sugarcane. This step of Bhupinder resulted in farming sugarcane as much as needed, which reaped great profit to farmers as well as to Bargari family.

From last 5 years, Jaggery produced by Bargari family has won 4 times first prize and one-time second prize in the competition organized by PAU. In 2014, they also won Udami Kisan State Award for good quality jaggery. Bhupinder Singh also went to Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research, Lucknow and discussed his marketing techniques with them in National Jaggery Sammelan. This is not the only approach that he took to spread the awareness for Jaggery marketing. He also participated in PAU event held in March, to enlighten the farmers with the marketing knowledge for their betterment.

Establishment of his own processing plant…
Jaggery Processing Plant

Currently, he has his own Jaggery Processing Plant at Kot Kapura-Bathinda road, where he processes pure Gudd (Jaggery) by following their own traditional method. The demand of Gudd and Shakkar (Jaggery Powder) increases in winter because the tea made up of pure jaggery (made from traditional method) don’t have any harmful effect on human body. Even, the specialist of Gastroenterologist (Stomach Doctors) of that particular area also started recommending their patients to eat gudd (Jaggery) made by the Bargari Family.

Cereal Crops Processing Plant

Other than this Bhupinder also have his own cereal processing plant at the same place, where he processes wheat, maize, barley, sorghum, and mustard grown by the members of his SHG. Along with the processing plant, he has also opened a store, through which he sells his processed products.

How the brand was named:

After knowing about the recommendations of the doctors about his Jaggery, he was very influenced by it and he decided “Bargari Jaggery” as his brand name.

Bhupinder also has an FB Page by the name “Bargari Jaggery” through which he communicates with the ideal customers. He has also discussed the whole procedure of Jaggery making through his FB Page.

He always maintains a continuous contact with the food technology and food processing and engineering departments of Agricultural University to bring positive changes in his business.

Today, Bhupinder Singh gives all the credit to his father- Mr. Sukhdev Singh Bargari for whatever he has achieved in his life. Apart from running a successful business, Bhupinder Singh Bargari is also a good teacher and is helping the people and kids of the village Kothe Kehar Singh village of Faridkot district. Many articles have been published in the local newspaper about his good deeds. He not only wants to help the farmers but also to inspire the youngsters and help them with his work and knowledge.

Well, this father-and-son duo worked successfully and has reached up to this level in their lives, just because of the understanding they had in between them. In future also Bhupinder Singh Bargari will continue his good work and will keep inspiring the young generation farmers with his knowledge.


Message:
“
I want farmers to get involved in food processing business along with farming. In this way, they can make a good profit out of their occupation. Today, farmers need to be updated with the modern agricultural practices only then they can move ahead and do well in their fields.
”

Karamjeet Kaur Danewalia

Read Full Story

HOW A WOMAN PURSUED HER PASSION OF FARMING AFTER HER MARRIAGE AND IS LIVING THROUGH IT SUCCESSFULLY

Generally, in India, when daughters are married away and sent to their husband’s home then they get so busy in their life after marriage that they forget to think about their interest and hobbies, they just get bounded to the household chores. But one such woman who pursued her passion even after marriage and outliving it is Mrs Karamjeet Kaur Danewalia. Instead of just becoming house woman she chose to step outside the house and pursue her hobby of orchard farming.

Mrs Karamjeet Kaur Danewalia is a woman who was born raised in a typical Punjabi farmer’s family of a small village. As coming from a farming background, Mrs Karamjeet was always fascinated towards farming and had an interest in helping his father in the fields. But she never get a chance to be a helping hand to her father before marriage.

Soon she was married to Mr Jasbeer Singh, to a business class family. She never thought that after marriage she would get an opportunity to fulfil her dreams and pursue it as her profession. Just after few years of marriage, in 1975, with the support of her husband, she decided to start with the fruits orchards and give a chance to her interest. With the help of leveller machine and workers, she levelled 45 acres of land and prepared it for orchard farming. She planted kinnows in 20 acres, Plums, pear, peach, java plum, banana, naak pears on 10 acres and in the rest of the 5 acres she planted wheat in winter and cotton in summer.

Her hobby changed into passion and she decided to continue it. In 1990 she build up a pond and stored rain water in it so that, she can irrigate her orchards with it. But later on, she started fish farming in it and used it for both purpose fish farming as well as irrigation. To expand the business to one level ahead she also started preparing seedling herself.

In 2001 she created a record of Kinnow production in India. And to make the kinnow orchards business more successful, she especially went to California in 2003 to take kinnow packaging and processing training. After coming back she implanted that training and gained a huge profit from it. Since she has started kinnow farming from that year her kinnow quality is always no. 1 in district level and state level, every year. And because of her growing popularity in kinnow production, Prakash Singh Badal (Former CM of Punjab) entitled her as the Kinnow Queen in 2004

For the farming purpose, she has every type of modern technological farming equipment and machinery at her farm. Her popularity in the horticulture field has made her member of many prestigious communities and recipient of many awards. Some of them are listed below:

• Awarded First Prize in State Level Citrus Show by Agriculture Minister S. Gulzar  Ranika (2001-02)
• Awarded Desh Seva Rattan Award by Ravi Chopra by Shahee Memorial International Seva Society, Ludhiana. (2004)
• Entitled by Punjab’s Former CM- Prakash Singh Badal as Kinnow Queen in 2004
• Best Kinnow Grower Award by Agriculture Minister by S. Jagjit Singh Randhwa in 2005
• Awarded 2nd prize in state level citrus show kinnow crop (2012)
• 1st prize at district level citrus show kinnow crop (2012)
• 2nd prize district level citrus show kinnow crop (2010-11)
• 2nd Prize in state level citrus show kinnow crop (2010-11)
• Best women kinnow grower awarded by agriculture minister- S. Such Singh Langhah (2010)
• State awarded as innovative women farmer at kissan mela by PWD Minister S. Shranjit Singh Dhillon & V.C PAU, Ludhiana (2012)
• Champion Female Farmer Award for excellence in agriculture at 7th National conference on KVK at PAU, Ldh. Presented by Mr. Sharad Pawar Minister of Agriculture, Govt. Of India. (2012)
• Award of Honor in progressive women farmer on 64th Republic Day at Amritsar presented by Chief Minister, Punjab, S. Parkash Singh Badal. (2013)
• Award of appreciation in innovative contribution to Indian agriculture at global agri connect (NSFI) IARI, New Delhi presented by Dr. R.R Hanchinal, Chairperson PPUFRA, Govt. Of India, Ministry of Agriculture. (2013)
• National Awarded as Best Kinnow grower of Punjab at NRCC (National Research Centre of Citrus Nagpur) (2012)
• Bharat Jyoti Award for Meritorious Service, Outstanding Performance & Remarkable role in Agriculture presented by Dr. Bhisham Narain Singh(former governor of Tamilnadu & Assam) (2013)
• Bharat Gaurav Award as in Recognition of contribution and dedication to worthy cause and your achievement in keeping the flag of India high presented by Justice OP Verma former governor of Punjab at New Delhi. (2015)
• Zee Punjab/Haryana/Himachal Agri Award as best farmer horticulture of her outstanding contribution as a horticulturist in adoption & promotion of kinnow farming presented by Agriculture minister S. Tota Singh and Cabinet Minister S. Gulzar Singh Ranika and Mr. Dinesh Sharma editor, Zee Punjab Haryana Himachal.
• Member of PAU Kisan Club,
• Member of Punjab AGRO,
• Member of Punjab Horticulture Department,
• Member of Mandi Board,
• Member of Changi Kheti,
• Member of Kinnow Utpadak Sanstha,
• Member of Co-operative Society,
• Member of Kisan Salahkar Committee.
• Member of PAU, Ludhiana Board of Management

Despite being a recipient of so many awards and appreciation, she is always curious to learn something new and that’s why she never misses any district level agricultural events or meetings. She also regularly visits farms of the farmers who are associated with PAU and Hisar Agriculture University to learn something new from there and gain knowledge.
Today she is harvesting 130 ton of kinnows per hectare and generating revenue of 1 lakh and 65 thousand from it. From the rest of the fruit orchards and wheat and cotton crops, she is making revenue of 1 lakh each in every season.

Behind all her success, she gives credit to his husband who supported her dreams also helped her in farming all these years. Other than farming she is also contributing to a very good cause for the society; she helps in poor girls get marriage by providing financial help and other marriage material also. Her future plan is to make agriculture a more profitable commercial business.

MESSAGE TO FARMERS-
“
Farmers have to start maintaining their expenses properly and stop showing off what they don’t have. Today, agriculture field needs more attention, so young kids even daughters should also be involved and taught about this field. And everyone should remember one thing that every human being in the field of agriculture is a farmer first and then a businessman.
”

Prem Raj Saini

Read Full Story

HOW A UTTAR PRADESH FARMER IS BLOOMING HIS BUSINESS WITH FLORICULTURE

Floriculture is a profitable livelihood choice and it is booming lives of many farmers across the country. One such farmer- Mr. Prem Raj Saini from Peer Nagar village of Uttar Pradesh is an emerging floriculturist and he is an ideal example for the rest of the farmers in our society.

Prem Raj’s father was the biggest inspiration behind Prem Raj being a floriculturist. It’s a matter of the seventies when his father used to bring different varieties of flower seeds from Delhi to grow it in their farm. He used to observe his father very closely and from that time only he wanted to do something related to flower farming. Although, Prem Raj Saini is a B.Sc graduate and he could have chosen a different occupation other than farming, but he chose to follow his dreams.

On 20th May 2007, his father got expired and just after that Prem Raj decided of starting what his father left in the middle. At that time the family was financially stable and his brothers were also settled. He started farming and his elder brother opened a wholesale flower shop through which they will be selling their farming produce. The other two younger brothers were doing jobs but later on, they also joined Prem Raj and elder brother in their venture.

One initiative taken by Prem Raj united the whole family into one thread. The eldest brother is managing two flower shop in Kanjipur Phul Mandi, Prem Raj himself manage the whole farm work, and the two younger brothers are managing the shops in Sabzi Mandi of Noida. In this way, they have divided all their work, resulting in increased income. They have kept only one permanent labour and they hire more when they need in the harvesting season.

Prem Raj farms every type of flowers and vegetables according to the season. For better yield, he is following Net house farming and Bed farming method. Moreover, for good quality of yield, he avoids the use of chemical and use pesticide very rarely when required. In this way, his expenses are also reduced to half. He use all the latest farming equipment like tractor and rotavator at his farm.

Future Plan-

Saini brothers are planning to establish more shops at the different location for better income. Their future plan is to expand their farming area and business.

Family-

Currently, he is living with his full-fledged complete family (Mother, Wife, two sons and one daughter) in his village. He is very open-minded and he never enforces his thinking on his children. With floriculture business and income, today, Prem Raj Saini and his brothers are supporting every need of their family.


Message
“Nowadays, there is job scarcity, because if there is one job vacancy then there are thousands of applicants to apply for it. So, if you have land, then it’s better to start farming and reap benefit from it. Take farming as your job rather than as a low profile occupation.”

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.”

 

Gurraj Singh Virk

Read Full Story

A Farmer Who Made His Skills His Strength in His Difficult Times and Emerged as a Futuristic Agriculturalist

It is generally seen in India that most of the farmers gave up very easily, instead of facing their home, financial, and other types of difficulties with confidence. Even some farmers also choose the path of committing suicide. But today we are going to discuss one such a farmer, who not even faced his personal and financial problem with boldness, but he also worked harder and achieved many high level of awards in the field of horticulture and that man is, Gurraj Singh Virk who is farming Kinnow from the last 30 years.

Gurraj Singh was born on 1st October 1954, in a normal farmer’s family and he is a residence of Surgapuri village (District Faridkot). Even though he has just passed 12th standard, but he never gave up on his courage, and not only with his self-confidence had he accomplished a great position in the field of horticulture, but he also invented the machine to make his work easier and efficient. But the position he has achieved today for that he had worked very hard.

Beginning Struggle in his life
In the beginning, he was farming cotton, but his crops faced many diseases due to which he had to stop the farming of cotton in 1990 because money debt on him was increasing day by day that he took from other local merchants and banks. Then he started sugarcane farming, but after some time, he had to stop that as well because of low profit as Faridkot Sugarcane Mill was on a stage of getting shut down. After that, he decided to start paddy farming, but in this venture also he didn’t gain much of a profit because the land was not capable enough for irrigation.

Turning Point in Life
At last, with the support of Horticulture Department, Faridkot and Punjab Agriculture University he got trained in 1983 and planted Kinnow Orchard. It was not even 2 years since he planted the kinnow trees in the orchards, his father (Sardar Swarn Singh) expired, and because of this, the whole family’s strength was shattered. Although it took a lot of time to recover from it, but from patience, hard-work, and faith he managed to direct their life on the right path. The family was not even recovered properly from their great loss, and his mother also got expired in 1999, the whole family was again in a great shock. But even facing all this he never gave up his confidence and he continued his hard-work and effort.

Fruit of Hard Work
It is said that fruit of patience is sweet, in the same way, his kinnow orchards started giving fruits and good days were returned. He never misused the profit he earned from kinnows, on the other hand, he used it well with his wise senses to expand his orchard area and got installed a deep tube well. Now he has enough water to irrigate his paddy field which resulted in increased revenue. He also planted grapes on 2.5 acres of land, which made him earn a profit of almost one lakh per acre.

But the path of success was not that easy, almost after 15-year termite attacked his grape vine fields due to which he had to uproot the whole grape orchard. Then also he never loses his hope and he expanded and continued his kinnow, paddy and wheat farming.

Modernized ways of farming
Sardar Virk always keeps himself updated with the latest technology and also implemented the necessary technology in his farm. Today he has total 41 acres of land, from which 21 acres is for kinnow farming and 20 acres is for wheat and paddy farming. Other than kinnow he also has trees of Lemon, Grape Fruit, Mousambi, Malta Red, Malta Jaffa, Nagpuri Orange, Orange, Plum, Pomegranate, Grapes, Guava, Amla, Jamun, Falsa and Chiku on his farm. For better water management he uses drip irrigation system and in summers to maintain the moisture level in the soil he implies mulching technique. He is well-skilled in taking care of natural resources. Most of the times to increase the fertility of the soil in which Kinnow plants are planted he always supports and recommend the use of green manure. Along with traditional ways, he also follows high-density farming technology for kinnow farming.

Inventions and Creations
To make his work easier he has invented many things. He has designed many types of machines, which are not of high level and costly, instead they are very normal and designed in a simple way. Machines designed by him save time and money both. He has also designed a spray pump and machine to cut and give proper shape to the trees in a very simple layman’s way. Other than this he has also created a machine for cleaning and grading the kinnows, which cleans 2 ton of kinnows in one hour. And the total expenditure in cleaning two tons of kinnow it only costs him Rs. 125, whereas if that work is done by hand then the expenditure is Rs. 1000. And there is more money is cleansing the kinnows by the mechanical way.

Other than above-mentioned inventions, Gurraj Singh Virk has also contributed to literature. He has written 7 famous articles for kinnow farming and a book also.

Achievements
The success and hard work of Gurraj Singh Virk have made him many achieve many awards in different events. Some of them are as follow:

• He has received many awards district and state level for kinnow farming. He was awarded Best Kinnow Farmer in 2010-11 and 2011-12 by National Horticulture Board.

• He was also honoured by the Advisor of Monthly Agriculture Magazines for organizing fair in March 2012.

• Gurraj Singh Virk was also an advisor to the high-level committees of PAU (Punjab Agriculture University) of fruits and vegetables, and he also made a special position for himself in Malwa Vegetable and Fruit Growing Committee.

• He is also known for helping many farmers on the behalf of many departments and organizations.

• Gurraj Singh Virk has helped farmers in around 150 acres for Kinnow farming.

He is very thankful to KVK Faridkot State Horticulture Department for the training of Kinnow Production.

Family Life
Even though Sardar Gurraj Singh Virk was not that educated enough and he also faced many great problems in his life, but then also he has great achievements. Today his kids are also reflecting the same and are well settled at higher job positions. His wife (Jagmeet Kaur) is more of a home lady. Of their 5 children, one son is a doctor in America, one son is an engineer in Canada, one daughter is doctor in Canada and other is in Punjab and one is nurse in Canada. All his children are happily living with their family. Gurraj Singh Virk often visits his children in Canada and America.

MESSAGE FOR FARMERS
“Farmers should never lose their hope and self-confidence because of small losses and other difficulties and they should never give up. Farmers should also think other than conventional framing ways. There are still many fields in farming in which farmer can reap higher profit. Horticulture is the same field like this in which farmer can make profits in lakhs very easily. But in the beginning, they should keep patience. I’m making a huge profit from horticulture and for the future also I want that farmers should adopt horticulture along with other traditional farming methods. “

Gurwinder Singh Sohi

Read Full Story

Young Agripreneur Booming In Floriculture Business by Blossoming Holland Gladiolus in Punjab

It is said that success is not that easy to attain, you have to taste failures many times, only then you can enjoy the real flavor of success. Same was the case with Gurwinder Singh Sohi- a normal student who opted farming when he wasn’t able to crack the Punjab JET Exam.

He was determined from the beginning that he was not going to act like a sheep and start his family occupation of wheat-paddy cultivation. So, he started mushroom farming, but it was not that successful, soon after that he setup his own sweet shop in the nearby town- Khamano. But maybe he was not meant for that also, so he took up the profession of horse breeding and later on he shifted his profession to jeep customizing.

After leaving all these jobs, in 2008, he came to know about a news that, Punjab Horticulture Department is giving subsidy on Holland Gladiolas Seeds and then the real game started for Gurwinder Singh Sohi. He started growing Gladiolas in 2 Kanals and gradually started adding more acres under the same flower. He started getting a higher price than the local variety of flower and his revenue also got increased.

The area got increased from eight acres to 18, of which 9 were his own and nine were on lease. He used 12 acres out of the total for gladiolus, 3 acre for marigold and the rest for pulses, paddy (mainly basmati), wheat, maize, and cattle fodder. The sowing (September-October) to harvesting (January- March) time of gladiolus is 7-8 months, while paddy and wheat have just opposite sowing and harvesting pattern, so the same land gives him revenue round the year. Moreover, these gladiolus are sold as Rs 7 per stick in wedding season and Rs 3 on an average. In this way, he has secured his income around the year.

Gladiolus crop is just like reaping treasure because the seeds of Holland variety are a one-time investment of 1.6 lakh per acre- which is later sold at Rs 2 per bulb and from that crop next year plants can also be prepared. Although it’s a one-time investment, it requires large workforce while sowing and seed extraction from Feb-April and labour almost cost is up to Rs 40,000 an acre.

The marigold field is also rewarding and it generates profit around Rs. 1.25 lakh to Rs 1.3 lakh every season. And this revenue is far better than wheat and paddy. All-n-all after taking out the land lease, labour and another input cost, he is left with the half of the total profit, and that is good enough.

His startup is with the name of RTS Flowers and it is booming in many cities of Punjab like Chandigarh, Ludhiana, and Patiala. However, he didn’t pursued his higher studies but time-to-time he up-skills himself to become a pro in marketing and today he is selling his gladiolus produce across the country through his firm’s Facebook Page and other online websites like India-mart.

With the coming modern marketing skills and advancement, Gurwinder has also updated himself about the term agri-marketing, and his work is in progress on the concept of farm-to-fork. He and his 12 friends have installed drip irrigation, solar pumps and other agriculture equipment with the help of government departments, and has also setup a Friends Farmers Welfare Club which has a membership of Rs. 5000 each so that in future they can buy other machinery like rotavator, power spray, and seed drill. And to promote organic farming the members of the group has also started growing turmeric, pulses, maize and basmati organically. And to expand their market of the organic food industry, they have started marketing the produce directly to the customers through Whats App groups. And to ensure that the customer and farmer both get the fair deal, they directly market their produce to 30 homes in Mohali and soon they will be staring their service through website also.

Recently, they have also started a company named as Akal Farmers Producer Company Limited and all the crops produced by farmers are packed and sold under this company. They have total 20 types of products like moong bean, black gram, chickpea, honey, Kidney beans, mustard oil, turmeric, 4 types of flour, Squashes, Garam Masala, Lassi Masala etc. and to expand the business they have also opened a shop in their village for selling the products and farmers income has increased by this. Besides this Gurwinder Singh Sohi also organizes farming, Horticulture and KVK camps on his farm to motivate other farmers.

Gurwinder Singh Sohi’s young mind hasn’t stopped dreaming and soon he will be coming up with more bright ideas to chase.

MESSAGE TO FARMERS
“Farmers should work in unity by making small groups, because buying and using farming machinery in this way is easy. By using machines in a group the expenditure get reduced resulting into a profitable venture. I’m also doing the same, I have also made a group in which we buy machines by the group names and all the members of the group can use it.”

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.”

 

 

“

Hind Pal Singh

Read Full Story

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Harbant Singh

Read Full Story

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.”

Satvir Singh

Read Full Story

Story of a Successful Agripreneur Coming Up as a Role Model for the Other Farmers in the Society – Satvir Farms Sadhana

It is said that great things never come from the comfort zone. And if a person really wants to do something different that he has never done before, then he has to leave his comfort zone. One such a person who left his cushy lifestyle and came back to Punjab, India, and pursued his interest is Satvir Singh.

Today Mr. Satvir Singh is a successful agripreneur and is earning two times more profit than wheat and paddy and has also established his own farm by the name Satvir Farm in Sadhana. He is mainly farming and cultivating vegetables in 7 acres of land out of which 5 acres land is his own and has taken 2 acres on rent.

The path that Satvir Singh followed to reach this stage in life was not that easy. He faced many ups and downs, but still after his steady efforts and struggles he pursued his interest and achieved success in it. It all started when he completed his school (12th) and after four years he went to Dubai for a job. But after some time, he came back to India and decided to start farming and dropped his idea of going back to Dubai. In the beginning, he started farming wheat and paddy, but after a visit to a vegetable farm with one of his friends, he was very much impressed and attracted towards vegetable farming.

Almost 7 years back (in 2010) he started vegetable farming and faced many problems in the beginning. Cauliflower was the first vegetable that he grew on 1.5 acres of land on his farm and suffered a severe loss. But then also he never gave up and keep on doing vegetable farming. Slowly he expanded his vegetable farming area to 7 acres and started growing pumpkin, bottle gourd, eggplant, onion, different varieties of chillies and bitter gourd and he also started preparing seedling and selling them in the market. Gradually, his work gains momentum and he started earning good profit from it.

After facing the severe loss from the first batch of cauliflower, Mr. Satvir Singh put his efforts into vegetable farming very wisely and in a strategic way, to avoid such situations in the future. First, he understood the customer and market demand and according to that, he began with vegetable farming. He gave at least one acre of land to one type of crop and in this way, he solves his marketing problems. He also participated in PAU event in which he got a chance to visit different farms and learned about the Net House farming method and he is using it currently to give his vegetables a protective environment. He also cultivated and harvested Tatuma Summer Squash a bit earlier and made them available in the market at the right time in December, just before the stock of the same vegetable reached the market from Gujarat. In this way, he marketed his veggie produce at a good price in the market. Moreover, he goes himself to the market every time to sell his produce and is not dependent on anyone.

In winters he does vegetable farming in the whole 7 acres of land and in summers he reduces his vegetable land to 3.5 acres and uses the rest of the land for paddy and wheat. In the whole village, only his land is seen with vegetable plantings cover and the surrounding area is covered with paddy and wheat. For his efficient agricultural practices and marketing tactics, he has received four prizes from Punjab Agriculture University till date. One of his great achievements is developing a new variety of pumpkin and he named that pumpkin after his son’s name “KABIR PUMPKIN”.

Currently, he is living with his family (mother, father, wife, two children and his elder brother and his wife are settled in Singapore) in Sadhana village which is located in Rampura Phul Tehsil of Bathinda district in Punjab. His father was the main inspiration that dragged him towards farming in the beginning, but now his father no more works in the field, he only stays at home and be with the kids. Today his whole family is a big support behind his successful farming experience and he gives all the credit to his family.

Satvir Singh manages his farm with the help of only one permanent worker and sometimes hires women workers for picking the vegetables. He earns 1-2 lakhs in a season from one acre of land depending upon the vegetable price.

Future Plans
In future, he is planning to switch to organic farming and for that, he has also taken 3 days training for Vermin-compost making. He wants to make people aware of the difference between organic and non-organic vegetables and food products. He also wants that vegetables should also come in packets like the other grocery products so that people can recognize that they are buying vegetables of which farm and which brand.

MESSAGE TO FARMERS
“I have faced many problems in the beginning, only because of lack of knowledge. But other farmers who are interested in doing vegetable farming, shouldn’t follow that same mistakes that I did and should consult some experts and analyze the vegetable market before starting vegetable farming. Moreover, the farmers who have enough resources should fulfil their basic home needs themselves instead of buying them from the market.”

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.”

Kunal Gahlot

Read Full Story

URBAN FARMER REAPING MILLIONS FROM VEGETABLE FARMING

As we know that time is a limited commodity for everyone and working hard won’t help a person to compete from the multi-millionaire competitors. Because if it was possible to earn fortune by working hard, than today farmers would be the multi-millionaires of this country.

The thing which makes your work more impactful and productive is smartness. This is the story of an ordinary farmer from the outskirt village-Tigi Pur of Delhi, who is making millions from vegetable farming by using smart modern farming approach. It’s not like he has any high-tech farming machinery or equipment or he is using gold in place of manure, it’s just his smart approach which he is implementing in his fields.

Technology adopted by Kunal Gahlot….

Kunal Gahlot is engaged in crop diversification and farm diversification since 2004 which has resulted in boosting up the farm income by 500% in a stretch of 10 years. Yes, you read it right! In 2004 his farm income was Rs. 500000/- and in the end of 2015 it was turned into 3500000/-

Turning this 6 digit income into 7 was only possible for Kunal Gahlot because of the implementation of new and modern techniques. Unlike other farmers he embraced scientific technologies in the production of crop plants and horticulture products, like mushroom farming, and intensive vegetable farming. By this initiative, he has earned Rs 3.60 lakh/per hectare in just 4 months.

How marketing boost up his farming to next level….

As per the market demands, sale of the farm produce rocketed and developed many new effective marketing linkages, which helped Kunal Gahlot to identify the potential market place as per the needs.

To lift up the productivity of farm produce he also established vermicompost plant on a large scale and used farm mechanization for better cultivation and harvesting process. Currently he is growing Wheat (HD-2967 and PB-1509), Paddy, Radish, Spinach, Mustard, Turnip, Cauliflower, Tomato, Carrot etc., and along with this he also prepares vegetable seeds. Well these are just few achievements of Kunal Gahlot to mention…

He has also modified the package of practices for cucumber cultivation, transplanting for cabbage, intercropping of marigold with radish etc.

For his work, he has received several awards and recognition from various government and non-government organizations. He always try to share his knowledge and innovations among the fellow farmers of his area and also contribute in the betterment of the agriculture field.

Rajmohan Singh Kaleka

Read Full Story

Story of a Man Who Is Known For Raising Poison Free Crop in Punjab

Born in an agriculturist family, S. Rajmohan Singh Kaleka is a successful progressive farmer from village Bishanpur, Patiala. Without using any kind of chemicals and pesticides he is growing Wheat and paddy on 20 acres of land and is taking good productivity (35 quintals paddy and wheat 22 quintals per acre) out of it from more than a decade.

He is also against stubble burning and he never burns the remains of the crop (straws). His method of poison free farming and eco-friendly agriculture practices has recognized him as a role model for the other peasants of Punjab.

Other than this he is also a member of the production committee of District Patiala. He is always affiliated with terms like progressive farmers, scientists, officers and agricultural expert; this is a big acknowledgement that he has received. Many agricultural scientist and officers often pay visits to his farm for research and exploration.

Along with his job and crop farming, he is also actively involved in dairy farming; he has kept few cows of Sahiwal breed. Other than this he has also established a Bio-Gas plant at his farm. According to him, one of the reasons that lead him to this level of accomplishment is the advisories taken by him from the agricultural experts, KVK’s and IARI.

In the free time, Rajmohan Singh likes to read books related to agriculture, because doing this boost him towards natural farming.

His Awards & Achievements…

For his good work and initiative towards poison free farming he has been honoured and awarded by many prominent people:

• State Level Award

• National Award

• Dhaliwal Award from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana

• Awarded by Honourable Supreme Court Judge

• Awarded by Honourable Rajyapal of Punjab & Haryana

• Awarded by Agriculture Minister

Not only awards, Mr. Rajmohan has also received special letters of appreciation from various government officials which has made him more proud:

• Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Agriculture, Punjab

• Director of Agriculture Punjab

• Deputy Commissioner Patiala

• Chief Agriculture Officer, Patiala

• Joint Director, IARI

Message:
“Farmers should take step towards poison less farming because this is the only way to sustain a better life and they should also make earth a habitable place for the future generation. Today farmer should understand the current need and look for more meaningful and sustainable ways of pursuing agriculture instead of fulfilling their monetary needs.”

 

Mohinder Singh Grewal

Read Full Story

STORY OF A MAN WHO MASTERED THE ART OF AGRONOMY AND ESTABLISHED HIS FEAT IN THE FIELD OF DIVERSIFIED AGRICULTURE

Anyone can think and dream. But there are very few people who can take stand on their thinking and have the ardour to accomplish it. With the strong determination there comes a navy man who decided to change his profession into farming. That man came up with an idea of multipurpose farm and with his passion and hard work, today that farmer has turned himself into a global personality in the field of agriculture.

Sardar Mohinder Singh Grewal, the first Farmer Consultant of Punjab Agriculture University, PAU, has 53 years of experience in diversified farming of growing 42 different types of crops. He has learned hybrid seed developing and progressive farming techniques from countries like Israel. Till now, he has won 5 international, 7 national and 16 state level awards for his work in the field of agriculture.

Mr. Grewal was born on 1st December 1937 in Lyallpur in present day Pakistan. His father’s name was Arjan Singh and mother’s name was Jagir Kaur. If we look at the entire life of Mohinder Singh Grewal, we can see that his life was full of struggles but he assumed every struggle and difficulty in his life as a challenge and with dedication and hard work he fulfilled the dreams of himself and his family.

During his school and college days, Mohinder Singh Grewal was really enthusiastic about football and he used to captain the teams of various schools. He was also a good athlete and due to this, he got a permanent job in Indian Navy. In 1962 Mohinder Singh Grewal travelled to Kala Pani in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia on the ship named INS. While playing a match in Indonesia he suffered a serious injury on his right thigh. Due to his injury and family pressure he left his job in Indian Navy in 1963 and after that his life came to a standstill for a while.

After leaving the job, he did not have much of a choice but to go back to his ancestral profession of agriculture. He started with the farming of wheat and maize and he did this for 4 years. Mohinder Singh along with his wife Jasbir Kaur made a cohesive plan to succeed in agriculture and today he has become world famous due to his agricultural activities. Even though he has a small farm of 12 acres but by doing crop rotation he is making a lot of profit. Mohinder Singh Grewal has been able to grow almost 42 types of crops in his fields and get good quality produce. His feat has not only been recognized in Punjab but in the entire India as well.

Mohinder Singh Grewal’s Work has made him so popular that he has served for many prestigious committees and councils. At the state level, he has served as Member of Governing Board, Punjab State Seed Certification Authority, PAU Publication Committee and PAU Farmers’ Advisory Committee. At the national level, he has served as Member of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, Government of India; Member of Seed Act Sub-Committee, Government of India; Member of Advisory Committee, Prasar Bharti, Jalandhar, Punjab; and Member of Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research, Lucknow. At present, he is a Member of Agriculture and Horticulture Committee, PAU, and Member of Governing Board, Agricultural Technology Management Agency. And he is also the Founder and Charter President of Punjab Farmers’ Club, PAU.

He has been honoured by many countries such as England, Mexico, Ethiopia and Thailand for his work in the field of agriculture and has also won over 75 awards at various levels. He has been awarded as “Man of the year” by Autobiographical Institute, USA in 1996; and on 15th August 1999, he was honoured with a Gold Medal and Loyi in Shri Guru Gobind Singh Stadium in Jalandhar by honourable Governor S S Rai.

He has also been invited by Farmers Institute, Pakistan twice to educate the farmers of West Punjab on how to earn more profits in agriculture and to educate the officials of the Agricultural University in Pakistan about crop diversification. He has been travelling most of his life and has been to many countries like USA, Canada, Mexico, Thailand, England and Pakistan as a scientific farmer and a delegate member, and wherever he went, he imparted technical knowledge to the local farmers.

Sardar Mohinder Singh Grewal is also a keen writer and has written five books, titled as “Kheti-Bari Di Safalta Di Kunji”, “Tere Bagair Zindagi” (poems), “Rang Zindagi De” (autobiography), “Zindagi Ik Darya” and “Successful Scientific Farming.” His writings have been published in foreign newspapers, national dailies, state newspapers, agricultural magazines and Rotary magazines. He has also contributed to the community by undertaking several community service projects like free eye check-up camps, road safety week, blood donation camps, tree plantation, field days and soil tests.

In the field of agriculture, Mohinder Singh Grewal has achieved tremendous success and has set higher standards for farming. His achievements in agriculture act as a source of knowledge and inspiration for all the farmers.

Gurdial Singh

Read Full Story

How A Farmer’s Hard Work & Passion Led the Yellow Revolution in the Gurdaspur District of Punjab

Punjab is a state where the dominance of wheat and paddy cultivation is greater as compared to the other crops because it generates a great level of profit to the cultivators. And generally, the farmer also prefer to invest in wheat and paddy farming because of the positive profit results. But there is a farmer who is different from the others, and he thought of initiating a change in the farming culture by starting the Yellow Revolution.

Mr. Gurdial Singh a turmeric farmer from Sallopur village in Gurdaspur district, has three roles by profession- a farmer, an entrepreneur and a turmeric cultivation trainer. Today he is cultivating turmeric, processing it, marketing his product himself and selling it in the market; he is not dependent on the third person to sell his produce. He chose a different path from the rest of the farmer to make his own identity in the society. At present, his yearly turmeric production is between 1500 to 2000 quintals and he is the king of Green Gold Spice Group.

Success is not achieved so easily, a person has to do hard work, face difficulties and hardships and sometimes losses also occurs. After facing all these adversities, with the spirit of not giving up and moving forward in the same direction, helps in achieving success. Gurdial Singh’s farming story is similar. After passing his matriculation he tried for government jobs, but getting failed after many attempts he decided to go hand in hand with his father to support him in farming. From the beginning, he was never satisfied with the conventional farming methods, because a farmer isn’t able to get the right worth of his crops grown from his hard work. So, in 2004 he experimented with turmeric cultivation on a small land with the guidance of Horticulture Department. And along with that he also started processing turmeric into turmeric powder but without using any machinery.

Processing turmeric into turmeric powder manually was very backbreaking. So, after the Horticulture Department suggestion, he installed mechanized processing unit for turmeric powder production. Further, he also invested in modern farming machinery, such as tractor, trolley, leveller, tiller etc. And all these steps taken by him has increased the production of raw turmeric from 60 Quintals to 110 Quintals today. By putting all these stepping stones together he started his own turmeric processing plant in 2007 and named it as Green Gold Haldi Processing Plant and Haldi Green Gold Spice is one of the products of this plant. His family including wife, two sons, one daughter, and everyone plays a major role in all the activities related to the processing of turmeric such as washing, boiling, polishing and grinding. He also has 4-5 labours working for him in the processing plant and all the packaging, sealing and stamping work is done by the equal contribution of family members in his home. After setting up all the machinery system there are still some minor problems that he is facing. Out of all the problems, not having enough space for drying up the boiled raw turmeric is the one.

The reasons behind why Gurdial Singh chose turmeric cultivation are:

• It needs less irrigation, in the time period between sowing to harvesting (8-10 months), irrigation is done only 10-12 times.

• Moreover, as turmeric is an antibiotic in nature, so the turmeric crop do not seem to catch any kind of disease from any other plants or crops, due to which less chemicals and sprays are used in turmeric farming.

• He invests around 35000 in one acre of land, and in one acre of land he sows 5 quintals of seeds and potato digger can also be used for turmeric harvesting.

• He sows turmeric in 6-7 acres of his total land, and after sometime, he rotates the crops, due which the land in which turmeric was cultivated becomes more fertile.

So, if a farmer is interested in turmeric farming then he can also start with it easily. The total machinery cost invested by Gurdial Singh in setting up the turmeric processing plant was 4.5 lakhs. He takes all the suggestion for training, types of turmeric seed from Punjab Agriculture University and also gets 25% subsidy on “Green Gold Processing Unit” as per NHM guidelines by the Horticulture Department of Punjab. For his revolutionary work and the different path he has achieved many awards and appreciations, some of them are listed below:

• Udmai Kissan Award 2014 from CM of Punjab

• Datawid Kissan Award 2015

• Awarded by P.A.U. Ludhiana and Horticulture Department Punjab at Chappar Chiri

The way he is rising and advancing his farming methods, these are just a few awards that he has received and in future, he is going to receive many more.

Apart from turmeric farming and processing it into powder, he is also helping other fellow farmers of his village by giving them the right guidelines for turmeric farming. Today, almost 60 farmers are associated with him and he gives free training to all of them. He helps other farmers by purchasing raw turmeric from them at the right price. Apart of sowing turmeric in his own land (6-7 acres), he also helps his other friends by sowing turmeric in their fields. To support all his work through marketing and promotion, NABARD supports them by giving them space in different exhibitions, events and Kisaan Mela under the Farmer Producers Organizations.

Other than turmeric cultivation and processing, Gurdial Singh has also invested in beekeeping business. He started it in 2000 from just 5 boxes and with the time and investment today he has 100 boxes. He has employed labours for beekeeping to manage it properly. In the rest of the land, he grows lentils (green mung beans), eggplant, ladyfinger, wheat and paddy for his own home use. His future plans for Green Gold Haldi Processing Plant is to advance the packaging process by using hi-tech machines.

According to his thinking, if a farmer wants to earn good profit from his farming and do something great from his harvested crops, then he has to eliminate the middle man. Farmer has to start process his crops himself and sell it himself in the market. All these things need great effort, energy, and enthusiasm. Otherwise, if the farmer feels ashamed of selling his produce himself directly in the market then he cannot earn the profit and will remain at the same level. Furthermore, if a farmer is interested in turmeric cultivation then he can refer the experts of PAU or other successful turmeric farmers because experts can tell better about the types of seeds, and types of land required, and other necessary conditions.


MESSAGE BY GURDIAL SINGH

“According to the current needs, conventional farming ways cannot help the farmer. The farmers need to diversify if they want to earn well from their harvested produce. From modern farming ways, even a small farmer can also achieve success. Today, food processing is the need of the hour, so every farmer should start thinking in a different way. Farmer has to understand that there is no need of middleman to sell their product in the market. They can also do it on their own.“

Baldev Singh Brar

Read Full Story

Baldev Singh Brar- A Progressive Farmer with 80-Year-Old Body but 25 Year Young Mind and Soul

1960 was the year when Baldev Singh Brar S/o Arjan Singh started farming and it was same year when Green Revolution was at its peak time. Ever since then, neither his enthusiasm nor his passion has diminished for farming.

Born and brought up on the land of Punjab – village Singhawala, district Moga, Baldev Singh Brar has made considerable achievements in the agriculture sector and won several awards from Agriculture Department, Firozpur.

He chose to do farming priority wise by taking advice from agriculture scientist of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Moga (Punjab). His main attention was especially towards the cultivation of Wheat and Guar. And after some time, he shifted his interest towards the cultivation of poplar and papaya by replacing paddy. In 1985 he also turned his way towards horticulture by planting Kinnow in 9 acres and vineyard in 3 acres to earn more profit. For the domestic purpose, he grows fruits and vegetables separately. In total, he has 37 acres of land out of which 27 acres is his own and 10 acres on the contract basis.

His Achievements:

Baldev Singh Brar was not only interested towards farming but also towards farm mechanization to make agriculture practices easier. Once he gave a technical advice to an industrial unit of Moga to develop a machine for puddling of paddy at a low cost and that machine has become very famous now.

He has also developed a powerful spring cultivator that is capable of breaking the hard layer of the paddy fields after harvesting.

One of his smart implementations through which he is earning good, is the advice given by agriculture scientist. He always keeps a full documentation of his income and expenditure. And in order to never let down the curiosity worm of agriculture inside him, he always attends “Farmer Fairs” to become aware of new inventions and trends in the field of agriculture. He also motivates other farmers towards scientific farming methods for better results.

Message:
“A farmer is a nation builder, so he should never feel down and hopeless in the time of difficulties. A farmer should be versatile in adapting the modern eco-friendly agriculture trends, then only he can progress and take good yield out of the land.”

Sardar Gurmail Singh

Read Full Story

How Gurmail Singh Made Modern Techniques His Tool to Earn Profit Out Of Vegetable Farming

Gurmail Singh is another progressive farmer from Uchagaon village of Patiala, Punjab. Despite having less land, he is reaping great profit out of it from the last 23 years by doing vegetable cultivation. He has around 17.5 acres of land out of which 11 acres he owns and has taken 6.5 acres on the contract basis.

Modern farming techniques like drip irrigation, spray irrigation, and laser leveller are some of his power tools which help him to do efficient farming and water conservation. And when it comes to pesticides usage, then he is very smart. He uses pesticides only on the recommendation of Punjab Agriculture University. Mostly he tries to use green natural manure in his fields for better yield.

The other modern technique which he is using adeptly is the light tunnel in 6 acres to grow vegetables. And some of the crops that he especially grows every season are rice, wheat, clover, cabbage, melon, tomato, eggplant, cucumber, peas and bitter gourd. To give a powerful boost to his farming venture he also took training for the preparation of hybrid seeds soy operations and other allied activities like beekeeping and dairy farming etc., from Agriculture Science Centre, Patiala.

Marketing
His vast year of experience not only includes growing different crops advantageously but he also enhanced his marketing skills, and today he has his own sales outlet at “Atma Kisan Hut (Patiala)”. Quality of his processed produce has increased his sales day by day. He has also established a soy plant under the brand name “Smart” in 2012 and under this plant, he processes and sells products such as soy milk, cheese, flour, and nuts.

Achievements
He is an inspiration for the other farmers and soon he will be honoured with the CRI Pumps Award.

Message
“Farmers should use less pesticides and chemicals in their field if they want to live a healthy life and reap good yield out of their land in the present as well as in the future.”

 

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.”

Avtar Singh Ratol

Read Full Story

53 Old Year Farmer Scaling New Heights and Harvesting Double Profit in the Field Of Horticulture

Agriculture is not just cows and plows…its more than that!

Today agriculture field has many new things to do, about which normal city people are not aware of. From planting improved variety of seeds to implementing new enhanced farming techniques and implements, farming is not less than any rocket science. And very few farmers are there who understands that changing farming practices with the changing time can help them alleviate the future risks. One such a farmer from Sarod village of Sangrur district who understood the fact of changing with the time very well is S. Avtar Singh Ratol.

32 is a great number of experience for a farmer, and S. Avtar Singh Ratol has used it well in shaping his horticulture career in the right direction. He started cultivating vegetables in 50 acres in the beginning and slowly expanded his farming reach to a greater area. For better irrigation he implanted underground pipeline in 47 acres which benefited him a lot in the future.

To boost up his farming productivity, he took training from Agriculture Science Centre and Farm Advisory Service Centre in Sangrur. From the knowledge that he gained during his training, he built two high-tech poly-houses in 4000 square feet and started cultivating cucumber and gerbera flower in it. Currently, his annual income from the cultivation of cucumber and gerbera is around 7.5 lakh rupees which are more than enough to manage his farming inputs.

Horticulture became S. Avtar Singh Ratol’s full-time passion and to give a kick to his arousing interest he went abroad to learn advance horticulture techniques. Abroad visit had positive results on the farm productivity and S. Avtar Singh Ratol achieved huge success in the crop cultivation of potatoes, pepper, melon, capsicum, wheat, etc. Besides this, he also started preparing the vegetable nursery and selling it to other farmers.

Counting on his achievements…

Adopting drip irrigation to save water, developing a small Trans-Planter to plant the vegetable sapling and perform many other tasks and using low tunnel technique, are some of his achievements which helped him doing successful cultivation of capsicum and many other vegetables. He faced no difficulty in implementing all these modern farming techniques at his farm, which encouraged him to progress more.

Awards
• Awarded with “S Dalip Singh Dhaliwal Memorial Award”.
• Awarded by “Chief Minister Award” for his success in horticulture.
Message
“Horticulture is a profitable field with lots of new farming methods and cost-effective techniques that farmer must try to give a great boost to his income.”