Drop a crop, then reap the profits

Since his family owns a great deal of land, the decision to let 20 acres lie fallow for an experiment was not too difficult. ‘‘When I sowed paddy again, I simply used green manure in these 20 acres so that I could make up the nitrogen loss. I sowed two popular varieties of wheat: PBW343 and PBW274. But as the saying goes, it’s not the seeds that are important, it’s the process.’’

Gill’s environment-friendly, chemical-free techniques may have had the land smiling, but it was nothing compared to the grins that wreathed his face when the crop matured. Even as neighbouring farmers complained of shrivelled grain — the fallout of high March temperatures — Gill’s crop stood upright and beautiful.

‘‘The roots of this crop goes down deeper than is usual in regular methods of cultivation,’’ says the farmer.

Gill’s brothers Charan and Yadvinder, too, vouch for the gehu. ‘‘The colour of the grain is sharbati, just as in traditional wheat. The atta, too, is sweeter and the rotis stay fresh longer. We are treating the current year’s crop as an experiment, and plan to use the same methods next year on 42 acres of land,’’ says Charan Gill.

‘‘Despite using no chemicals, we got 20 quintals to the acre, at par with the yield of those who use chemicals, which add to the input cost anyway.’’

But no celebrations are on the cards just yet. ‘‘We know the benefits of this wheat first hand, but we need to get it certified, and then market it appropriately. So this year, we are focusing on selling our produce at Rs 1,000 per quintal on demand,’’ says Charan.

Interestingly, the Gills are not the only ones to have rediscovered this method of cultivation. ‘‘Farmers commonly use this technique to grow wheat for their personal consumption. I believe there’s a farmer in Nabha who follows the same method,” says Charan.