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Many farmers of the region are taking the road less travelled and making a difference,
He rose to the challenge THIS progressive farmer in the hinterland of the Malwa region has carved out a niche for himself in other parts of the country by producing the high price-fetching rose oil and also shunning chemical fertilisers to grow grains and pulses. The youthful Rajinderpal Singh, after suffering initial setback, has now found the right place for marketing his rose oil produce at Kannauj (UP), which is to India what Grasse is to France in the matter of perfumes. He is perhaps the only farmer of this area who has set up his own plantation of roses in Kalalwala village to extract the oil that was this season fetching about Rs.6.50 lakh per kilogram as against Rs.3.50 lakh last year. The price has shot up because rose oil is being used as an ingredient for manufacturing paan masala, he says.
He sold 1.5 kg of rose oil last year and is engaged in the distillation of the current season’s crop of roses. Trained distillers have been brought by him from Uttar Pradesh for the month-long process that includes about 70 local women and children, who pluck fresh roses early in the morning. About two and a half dozen roses are required to produce a single drop of rose oil. He has become a role model for other farmers by setting apart 6-acres of his 58-acre landholding for rose cultivation and distillation with his indigenously developed boiler system in the backyard of his house. Rajinderpal is the only organic farmer from the Malwa region who was invited to meet Britain’s Prince Charles in Hansali village of Fatehgarh Sahib during his visit to Punjab in October last. Keeping in view the high prevalence of cancer in the Malwa region, Rajinderpal switched over to organic farming in 2003. He has a ready market for his organically produced wheat, rice, mustard and pulses that he sells at more than double the price of those cultivated with the help of chemical fertilisers. He says that people from Bathinda, Sirsa, Ludhiana and other neighbouring towns have done advance booking for 175 quintals of his coming wheat crop at a price of Rs 3000 per quintal against the cheaper chemically produced grain that might be available for around Rs 1250 per quintal. The crop fetched him Rs 2600 per quintal last year. The management of the famous Baru Sahib Gurdwara in the Solan district of Himachal Pradesh last year lifted 50 quintals of organic wheat from him. He says that his per acre yield of wheat is 7 to 8 quintals against 16 to 20 quintals of the chemically treated area. However, people are willingly pay a higher amount of money for his organic grains. His basmati paddy fetched Rs.33 per kg against Rs.24 per kg for the chemically grown crop. Rajinderpal claims that organic farming could help remove the stigma of the area being the cancer capital of Punjab. Chemicals have contaminated the groundwater and it is high time that the entire farming community reverts to the traditional system of farming, he stresses.
CZAR OF
CHEESE Gurdeep Singh (32) of Magror village in Ropar did not know the taste of cheese till four years ago. Neither did his parents. Belonging to a below poverty line (BPL) family, two square meals a day were barely manageable. Today, Gurdeep has 250 diary farmers under the canopy of A-One Milk Products, a registered company, which collects milk, churns out dairy products and sells it into the open market. Former employee of DCM Engineering, Gurdeep started his dairy business in 2007 with just one notion – to give pure milk and its products. "It was a rather difficult path to follow. I did not know even the basics of dairy farming. But as if the universe conspired in our favour and everything started falling into the place. It has been a bumpy journey, but I have grown wiser with every jerk," is what he feels about his experience of running a dairy.
With the help of Rs 10, 000, Gurdeep started this business, which has a monthly turnover of Rs 5 lakh today. He runs the dairy from a rented accommodation in the village. Instead of following the standard model of contributing milk to cooperative societies like Verka, Gurdeep preferred to start his own venture. The dairy farmers contributing their milk to A-one Milk Products are paid on the pattern of cooperative societies. "Our people earn more than Rs 3 per liter as compared to less than Re 1 per liter given by other societies," he says. In the initial phase, he had thrown 75 kg of cheese into nullahs due to failure in finding a suitable market. His unit produces cheese, ghee, lassi and khoya, which are sold in the open kisan mandis (farmer markets). Instead of relying on outlets to sell milk products, Gurdeep decided to market his products himself. "I eliminated the middle man from my sales and, luckily, I have been able to earn even Rs 25, 000 per hour," he says. Gurdeep’s success story has earned him place of a motivational speaker on poverty alleviation at the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration (MGSIPA), Chandigarh. He has been delivering lectures at state-level seminars to officers under training for the past around three years. "When I see people
listening me in rapt attention, I feel that somewhere up there God has
answered my prayers. I wish to take my dairy products to the level of
export," he adds.
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