Mohali: Parkash Singh Badal opens facility, praises two progressive farmers

The chief minister said the chamber, on the pattern of industrial organisations like Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), PHD Chamber of Commerce, Associated Chambers of Commerce of India (ASSOCHAM) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), would provide an affirmative say on behalf of the farmers in the policies and programmes related to agricultural and allied activities.

Two farmers who came to attend the inauguration were the star attraction of the event as the chief minister cited the examples of both of them and lauded their efforts. While one became one of the leading progressive farmers in growing and exporting kinnow, the other came to limelight for adopting beekeeping.

The CM introduced Abohar resident Surinder Kumar and Doraha resident Gobinder Singh to the audience. Badal said both the farmers have shown the way to the others by adopting crop diversification and other allied occupations.

A kinno grower, Surinder Kumar, said he used to sell kinnow in the village near Abohar in 1997 on his bicycle, but now he has 400 employees. He said he also exports kinnow to USA and some European countries.

“Now I have specialised trucks that are fitted with freezers. We now export kinoow to many states in India and abroad and the turnover has now reached around Rs 3 crore a year,” said Surinder.

Gobinder, who studied up to senior secondary level, said he started beekeeping in 2003 after taking training at Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) and got success in the business. He added that he took a loan of Rs 2.8 lakh from bank and started his business and now he was exporting honey and bee-wax to USA.

“This year, I exported the bee-waz of Rs 1.5 crore to USA. It has become a profitable business for me. I also formed a society that has 310 members, from whom I used to collect honey and then do marketing on behalf of the society,” said Gobinder.

Badal said the chamber is a non-political forum and academicians and experts from different fields of agriculture and allied services have been nominated to the organisation. Chairman of Punjab Farmers’ Commission Dr G S Kalkat has been nominated as the patron and progressive farmer Kulwant Singh as the president of the chamber.

The chief minister said the chamber would engage the services of renowned agriculture experts for seeking their advice on matters related to the agriculture sector.

Though the chamber building has been inaugurated, most of its portion is yet to be completed. The construction of the chamber was started in May this year after the foundation stone was laid in April by the chief minister.

Mandi Board officials said the remaining portion of the chamber will soon be completed.

At present, a conference hall has been completed and the space for some officers is also ready, said the officials.