Kashmiri garlic: Crop that took Mohali’s marginal farmer from 1.5 acres to 4 acres

Additionally, every bulb yields seven to eight small round pieces at the root of the bulb locally called gathhi (7-8 mm in size), which are highly prized by pharmaceutical companies. It’s used to treat joint pain, knee pain and other ailments.

Farmer Atinder Singh at his garlic fields showing both garlic crop, bulb and Gathhi and several garlic products. (Express Photo)

Atinder says, “This gathhi is only procured from the Kashmiri garlic variety, not others.” Even if the market rate is low, which rarely happens in case of garlic, a farmer can easily fetch Rs 11 lakh per acre from Kashmiri garlic in seven months. “If sometimes the price is low, we can always store and sell it at the right time.”

At present, Atinder’s family produce and sell certified seed under their brand ‘Gurnur Organics’, operating through Gurnur Outlet and Gurnur Trading. They mainly sell their garlic crops as seeds directly to farmers across India with a one-year guarantee. While the gathhi has a large number of buyers abroad, including Dubai and the US. “Whatever little remains after grading goes to the mandi,” he says.

According to Atinder, the rate of seed ranges from Rs 50 to Rs 500 per kg. He says, if the average rate is Rs 150 per kg, then the income from the main garlic crop would be around Rs 11 lakh per acre.

The rate of small gathhi starts at Rs 400 per kg and goes up to Rs 1,200 per kg. The gathhi gives from Rs 4 lakh to Rs 12 lakh per acre after expenses. Thus, from one acre, one can sell even up to Rs 23 lakh worth of Kashmiri garlic bulbs and gathhi if the quality is excellent.

“In comparison, wheat and paddy farmers earn just Rs 80,000 to Rs 90,000 per acre in the entire year from both crops combined,” he says.

He also says garlic cultivation is labour-intensive. The approximate cost per acre is around Rs 60,000-70,000 at the time of harvesting. He says if a farmer prepares his own seed in his field, it will save him a significant amount as seed cost is usually high. The Saini Majra farmer also uses mulching which saves him nearly Rs 25,000 per acre. Otherwise, manual labour would be required to remove weeds.

He has also tried a new variety of garlic, Super Shankar (a Haryana-state variety), the yield of which is also very high — between 70 and 80 quintals per acre. Also, the seed rates of the super Shankar variety ranges from Rs 100 to 250 per kg. “I tried this variety and the results are great. Sometimes farmers demand other varieties of garlic because Kashmiri garlic… requires a little more hard work.”

The 36-year-old says the seed requirement per acre for Kashmiri garlic is 12 quintals because of its large clove size, while for Super Shanker it is about 4 quintals.

Atinder’s father initially owned just 1.5 acres of land and cultivated garlic on it. Atinder joined him when he was a teenager, after he completed his matriculation. Gradually, they bought additional 2.5 acres of land with money through garlic farming in the past decade and over time their expertise in seed became their biggest strength.

At present, Atinder grows garlic on 2.5 acres of land and on 1.5 acres he cultivates indigenous vegetables to preserve desi seeds. From 2.5 acres, he gets around 180 to 185 quintals of dry garlic, out of which nearly 160 quintals are sold as seeds annually.

In official agricultural classification, a marginal farmer owns less than one hectare (2.47 acres) of land, while a small farmer owns less than two hectares (4.94 acres). Atinder’s family once fell into the marginal category with only 1.5 acres. Today, with four acres in their name — acquired solely through earnings from garlic farming — they have transitioned into the small farmer category and are steadily moving toward becoming mid-level farmers.

“This land, this house, vehicles, my three sisters’ marriages, dignity, financial stability — everything came from garlic,” Atinder says.