User:Trisha Bhukmaria/sandbox

==== HAMIR SINGH PARMAR- ORGANIC FARMER IN SURENDRANAGAR, GUJARAT' ====

INTRODUCTION
Hamir Singh Parmar is a 69 year old well-established farmer who was born on 20 November in the year 1951 who has won many awards and recognitions. Hamir Singh Parmar is originally from a village named Gautamgarh from the district SurendraNagar in the state of Gujarat.

EDUCATION
He completed his fifth grade from Gautamgarh itself then he completed his SSC (School Secondary Certification) from a city named Joravarnagar which is near SurendraNagar. Then for college, he studied in the field of Arts (Political Science) and graduated with second class.

OCCUPATION
He became the surpurch of Gautam Garh and then he established ration shops in three villages namely Diksar, Gautamgarh and Danawara. After which he tried his best to get his dream job, but he was not able to. He wanted to work in GPSC (Gujarat Public Service Commision) for which he passed the written test and made his way into class 2. But he failed in the second exam which was an oral exam. So, he started to do business based on contracts. And then he got a service in Gujarat State Cooperative Cotton Federation which is a government organization which buys cotton from farmers.

FAMILY
He has a family of 4 children; 3 are boys and 1 is a girl. In order to educate them and give them a good future, he made his own house in SurendraNagar. His elder son is engaged in Mobile, printing and Xerox business ,his second son has established his own oil mill, his third son has his own sticker manufacturer business and his daughter, who is eldest of all, is living her happily married life with an advocate. Hamir Singh Parmar has a younger brother, and they both used to live together. But when all of their children were well-settled and were living a happily married life, they both happily agreed on living separately and divided the land of 22 acres equally.

FARMING
26 Years from this, he established his own lemon farm. He started organic from the year 2008 and it's been 12 years, he’s continuing it. He got inspired from BR Wale Abitabh Singh who used to run a company. He was searching and buying for some organic products in Limdi tehsil and Chuda Tehsil. So, he met Abitabh Singh once, who suggested he start organic farming. And that was the start of organic farming for him and since then, he never stopped.

MANAGING THE FARM
He lives 20km away from the farm, so he goes there daily either in the morning hours or in the afternoon and returns by evening by his own car. There is a family living there for 21 years now who works in the farm and takes proper care of it. The family stays there 24hrs in a house which is right outside the farm. The husband, wife and eldest son of the family work on the farm for him and manages it. And if any day they need more men to work on the farm, they arrange it from outside. He has also put wiring all around his farm, which will prevent the birds and other unwanted animals to damage his farm.

CHALLENGES
•	First and basic problem was selling the products. Since he does not use chemicals in his farm, the produce of the farm is a little low. And during those times, unlike now, people were not aware of the benefits of eating organic food. So, there were less people buying it. Government established a lot of organizations which give certifications for organic Farming. So he applied for it and he got it. Because of which the government website had his name displayed on its website, which showed everything about his way of farming. So, the people who wanted to buy organic products directly contacted him which therefore solved the problem of selling the product.

•	Second problem was, at that point of them he was not well aware what are the substitutes of various chemical inputs used in the farm. There are many items available in the market now-a-days for organic farming but it was not available that time. •	Climate changes too affects the farming cycle they follow. Especially the unfortunate heavy rains that lead to damaging all the vegetables due to which they have to plant that again. But he does not incur any loss because of that. •	He also faced a problem related to Sendriya Khad(Manure). Markets sell khads at a very expensive rate. So, he tried making sendriya khad on his own.

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MANAGING THE EXPENSES
•	He makes 1000 Sacks of sendriya khad. Out of which he uses 300 for himself and sells off 700 sacks of it which makes the price to pay for the manure null.

•	Then in order to make the medicines for organic farming, he uses 15 L cow urine,2.5kg neem leaves 1 Litre sour Chas. They keep this for 15 days and this gives them 400ml of the medicine. So, the price to pay for the medicine also equals to null.

•	He has set up a drip irrigation method to get water from his well, he uses less water. So, he gives the remaining water to the different farmers through drip, who pays for the same. So, he uses this income to pay for the electricity. Hence, his electricity expenses also amount to zero.

•	They first purchased Desi seeds for vegetables from Junagadh University and Anand University. But later then, they make their own seeds from them, so they stopped purchasing from there. So basically, his expenses for the seeds are also zero now.

•	He also sells his products at the rate decided by him. None of the customers asks him or bargains with him. This is because his organic products are purely organic and chemical free, and they smell good and taste good.

•	He has a mini Tractor which he uses to plough the farm. So, he uses the tractor 5-6 times in his land which costs him 2800 rupees. And since the other farmer does not have his own tractor, he borrows it from him, and pays him the amount. So, this way, his fuel charges also equals to 0.

•	During the rainy season, they are not able to get proper rates for lemons. So, they started making lemon pickles. So, this cured the problem of climate related issues. And brought in more income by selling the pickles as well.

HE PRODUCES 12000 KG-16000 KG OF LEMONS. His net income is 550000 Rupees, that is after deducting all the necessary expenses.

INITIATIVES AND INVENTIONS
The first invention was of a fridge which he himself has setup in his farm which is not actually a technological fridge which we keep in our houses. He has used some items to make it. He stores all the vegetables and lemons in it. And the lemons can be stored for a maximum 22 days.He organizes a seminar on his own expenses for the farmers who want more data and information on organic farming. He explains how to start this,  get certificates on organic farming, how to make medicines and khad for the farm. So they could get guidance on how to make their way into organic farming. He also visits other farmer's farm, when they call him for more a tour of their farm and more suggestions. They are establishing their own company that is FPO (Farmers Producers Company) which is a government organisation. They are also setting up an organic hadd which will help the farmers in Surendranagar to sell their organic and chemical free products to the customers .This will help the farmers to get a proper market for their produce.

AWARDS
Awards he has received are –

1. Tehsil Best Farmer Award

2. Zila Best Farmer Award

3. Rajya Best Farmer Award

4. Sardar Patel Krushi Sanshodhan Puruskar

And many other recognitions.