United Colours Of Punjab

Farmers’ Produce Promotional Society (FAPRO) wouldn’t have been born had turmeric not caught the fancy of a handful of middle-aged agri-technocrats and farmers. Set up at the fag end of 2001 with 174 members and no processing plant, this society now has 300 members (85 per cent of them small farmers) growing turmeric on 600 acres.

You can’t miss the celebratory mood as you step into the red-bricked Kisan Bhavan at Hoshiarpur, a district known for its large tracts of kandi (sandy and infertile) area. FAPRO is celebrating its maiden grant of Rs 40 lakh from the government for setting up a turmeric processing plant under the Rashtriya Sam Vikas Yojana.

‘‘It’s a shot in the arm for the turmeric growers,’’ smiles Dr Kulbir Singh Deol, chief agriculture officer, showing you the Planning Commission noting at the bottom of a file, saying if successful, this experiment will be replicated all over the country.

Dr C L Vashishth, technical director and one of the executive members of FAPRO, says the grant is also a recognition of their dogged efforts over the last four years.

It was in 2000 that the agriculture department thought of introducing turmeric. The agriculture officials approached Punjab Agro for help in marketing but it refused to play ball. It was then that they decided to set up a cooperative. ‘‘We went from door to door to convince farmers to enroll with us and buy a share of Rs 1,000,’’ recalls Gurbachan Chand Singh Saini, the portly former sarpanch of Bhunga village and general secretary of FAPRO.

Their pitch was simple: ‘‘Grow turmeric, we will sell you seeds for Rs 6 a kg as compared to the market price of Rs 25, and then, we will buy it from you.’’

Today they admit it was quite an audacious promise, given that they didn’t have a processing machine. ‘‘We were going by simple demand and supply,’’ explains Randhawa. ‘‘Until now, Punjab used to get all its turmeric from Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. We reckoned that if we grew it here, we could market it at cheaper rates.’’ Having spent a couple of years in England, he was confident of exporting it as well.

High on hope, four of its government members tried to get it a helping hand from the Ministry of Food and Processing but to no avail. ‘‘After four rounds to Delhi, and one meeting with a tout, we knew nothing would come out of it,’’ shrugs Vashishth.

Ever since, the co-op has been running on its own steam until the recent grant. Processing they picked up from Brig R S Dhillon, a retired gunner from Sanaura village, who set up his own mechanised unit, the first-of-its kind in India, after Agri Tech Management Agency (ATMA) got him to grow turmeric but refused to buy it. Today Randhawa has also set up one in his backyard and the new plant too will be fabricated on the same lines.

Marketing wasn’t a problem after a few ads in Doordarshan and print media. Today the cheerful sunlight yellow packs of ‘Shuddh Haldi’ by FAPRO — designed by the Brigadier — are synonymous with quality in the market.