Back to the farm

When most young people from Punjab's agricultural families prefer white-collar jobs, a hotel management graduate from Switzerland, Amarinder Singh Chopra, has opted for organic farming at his ancestral land in Ropar.

Amarinder started organic farming under the brand name "Basali Bio Agrow" in an area of 50 acres two years ago. Now he is cultivating kinnow and aromatic rose and is contemplating producing guava, amla, and pear (pathar nakh).

"My stay in Europe gave me an opportunity to know that organic food is in fashion. One advantage was that the land I got was free," Amarinder said. The only thing that makes organic farming costlier than conventional farming is conversion charges (it costs Rs 1 lakh to convert 100 acres of land into an organic farm).

Amarinder believes in long-term gains and hence he is selling his produce at prices prevalent for the conventionally grown fruits and vegetables. According to him, the market response is very good and so he is diversifying into more fruits.

The company has a rose oil extraction plant that extracts about 6 litres of rose oil in a year (one litre of rose oil fetches Rs 3 lakh). "We sell in the domestic market only, but have got serious enquiries for rose oil from the United Arab Emirates, Germany, and the US," Amarinder said.

Amarinder also has a dairy farm with 120 cattle. Approximately 800 litres of milk is sold to Verka (the Punjab government's milk-procuring agency). Amarinder said he was getting Rs 8.25 per litre of milk from Verka and was planning to increase prices.

Under agro forestry, Basali Bio Agrow plants about 70,000 trees of different varieties (ker, kikar,dek, sheesham, and bamboo) in Ropar every year.