Retired government officer leads way to organic farming, direct marketing of produce

A retired agriculture officer has proved how the diversification from the traditional crop circle and direct marketing of crops to the consumer can yield higher and long-term dividends for the farmers.

As a business cliché ‘thinking out of the box’ goes, Sukhdev Singh, resident of Chamiyari village, near Amritsar, is not only growing organic turmeric, garlic, sugarcane, etc. but also makes jaggery (gur) and various kinds of jaggery sweets and is marketing them on his own.

“These days almost everyone has the minimum required digital skills in this tech-savvy world and with little efforts, one can make his own set of clients by directly approaching the consumers using various platforms of social media,” said Sukhdev Singh who cultivates organic sugarcane, garlic, turmeric, and other crops in ten acres of his farm.

Laying stress on discontinuing the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers he said organic farming was the future. “Maybe after ten or twenty years we have to shun using the pesticides so why not today to save the human lives and climate,” he said.

Giving example he said turmeric was used for its medicinal properties and was believed to help in the cure of cancer but these days the turmeric itself had become one of the reasons for causing cancer since it contained a high quantity of pesticides and other hazardous chemicals.

He said he had always been suggesting the farmers switch over to organic farming and market the product directly to consumers and there wouldn’t be any need to send their children abroad. “By doing so we will be saving our Punjab and Hindustan,” he said.

He said a general misconception among farmers about the organic farming was that it was not profitable as it didn’t’ give enough yield.” But it is wrong, I get more yield, and expenses incurred on cultivation are far less than growing nonorganic crops” he said.

 He said he prepares jaggery from the sugarcane grown organically by him and sells them directly to the consumer. “Three years ago I began growing organic sugarcane on half an acre and two years later I brought another two to three acres under organic sugarcane growing but now I grow in ten acres of land,” he said adding that he also made several kinds of sweets using jaggery which was high in demand.

When asked about the marketing of his produce, Sukhdev Singh said that marketing had never been a problem as he directly sells products to the consumer and had given the job to at least ten persons in this small startup in which his wife and son helps him. He said many farmers had also begun doing organic farming.

Expressing concern over soil and underwater contamination, he said with the use of urea and other chemical fertilizers the soil and the underground water was contaminated with a various chemical which was another reason for switching over to organic farming.

Sukhdev’s wife Darshan Kaur said she helps her husband in his business. “I mostly look after the packaging part and inspect the labour and other small works”. Like her husband, Kaur also expressed concern over diseases caused due to pesticides and other chemicals.