Farmer-turned-entrepreneur makes a mark

Manmeet Singh Gill

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 19

A farmer-turned-entrepreneur from Tarsikka village, near here, has made a mark for himself as he ventured into the business of processing and selling organic turmeric produced at his farm.

Talking about the idea of processing crops, Sultan Singh said: “I always felt that traders take most of the profit and farmers are left with nothing. To make direct contact with consumers, I started processing turmeric and selling it under my own brand name.”

The only problem, Sultan has with this system is that he has to sell his produce throughout the year. “Most farmers would be happy to get the money in one go. But the dividends I get for this extra efforts are worth the pain,” he said.

At present, Sultan is cultivating turmeric on four acres, aloe vera on half acre and mustard on three acres.

As his father Jabbar Singh was a schoolteacher and Sultan too works as a physical education teacher besides being a farmer, he has used the brand name of ‘master’.

“We have also set up an aloe vera juice plant recently. It is high in demand as we sell only organic produce,” he said.

Sultan said after him, one of his friends, Kulwant Singh, had also started producing organic mustard.

“Nowadays, people are more health conscious. They are ready to pay extra for safe foods. We have a big demand for organic foods and the government should encourage farmers who are taking such initiative,” said Sultan, adding that officials at the Krishi Vighyan Kednra, Nag Kalan, were constantly in touch with them and guiding them about packaging, processing and marketing aspects.