Barnala farmers go organic, grow 40 crops in 4 acres & haven’t come a cropper

“We suffered losses in the first two years, but eventually our hard work paid off. Today we grow more than 40 crops in a year in this 4 acres of land in an organic way and we never go to mandi to sell our produce, buyers come on our doorstep,” Harwinder Singh told The Indian Express.

The key mantra of Jawandha brothers to get profit in farming is – “Process the thing you grow in your field and then sell it, by growing just two crops a year. By selling it in mandi, we can’t make farming profitable. We need to think smart.”

Harwinder Singh added, “We grow sugarcane, but we sell jaggery and jaggery powder to customers after preparing it; we grow turmeric, chillies, saunf, coriander, etc., but we sell turmeric powder, red chilli powder, dhania seeds/powder, ajwain, saunf (ready to eat), etc., to customers. We grow 3-4 types of pulses and even these too are packed and sold. We get most of our customers through word-of-mouth recommendations.”

Jawandha brothers also grow seasonal vegetables, dragon fruit, guava, figs, plums, papaya, etc, in their fields. Customers buy vegetables, fruits, masale, wheat, rice, etc., from the family. Mustard too is cultivated in their farmland, and mustard oil is sold to customers, said Harwinder Singh.

The family has set up a ‘Kisan hut’ outside the Jawandha natural farms wherein they sell all the processed food. The hut has been set up under the Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) scheme of the central government.

Harwinder Singh said, “Through our WhatsApp group, many customers are connected with us and we keep sending our farming videos in the group, that is, what we sow and how we process the product eventually, etc. We grow wheat’s old varieties organically and they are sold in the range of Rs 40-45 a kg within the farm. If we sell wheat flour, its price is around Rs 60-70 a kg. We grow kabuli chana and black grams too. Now, we are thinking of making besan and a few other byproducts of besan as well.”

Harwinder Singh said that Barnala has a Natural Farmers Association. It has around 25 farmers as its members, who are now demanding an ATMA Kisan hut for farmers in the city area “to sell our products. That process is about to get completed and hence we will be able to sell our products in the city area”.

Several farmers of other districts had often frequented Jawandha natural farms in the past to replicate their model in their districts, said officials from the department of agriculture in Barnala.