Organic Revitalized - Integrated Farming Added

Many thanks for your support. Out of the funds you donated, Pagri is investing in new activity that will set up three farms as demonstration and teaching centers. This will initiate new activity on Organic Farming, Organic Horticulture (fruit trees), and free ranging Desi Chicken eggs. The monsoon season till the end of August is a good time for added planting of some crops, so this will be done on all three farms. All farms will have Pagri posters as well as signs indicating the type of activity at that farm.

The project leader Balwinder’s farm of about 4 Kanal (half acre) size will become an organic farming teaching center. Balwinder will be planting various crops and each planting will be a teaching opportunity or the right and wrong ways to do organic farming – these will be mainly farmers that live near him.

We are converting farmer Gurlal’s farm to a full-scale organic farming and horticulture demonstration and teaching center, with the addition of a marketing stand. Unfortunately, in the past, the use of heavy tractors and machinery has created a Hard Pan (or subsurface compacted layer) that needs to be broken through is the planted fruit trees are to prosper. So, we have hired machinery to dig the four foot (4 ft) deep holes to go below the hard pan. We will let you know the number and varieties of fruit trees planted – this should happen in July as soon as the fruit tree saplings are available. This will be a teaching opportunity to teach nearby farmers about organic horticulture, with Balwinder doing the teaching with the assistance of Gurlal.

A Covered Marketed Stand will be set up as Gurlal’s farm is at the intersection of a major road and a link road. This marketing stand will be used to sell all the organic produce from Gurlal’s and nearby farms. This stand will be used to sell nursery plants, seeds of Desi varieties of crops (consumers do not like the green revolution varieties of wheat - the rotis taste bad), and small-scale processed products.

Self-Certification: Pagri will implement and enforce a strict discipline and self-certify produce that it sells as Organic. On the Gurlal farm passing by customers will be able to see first-hand what he is doing. Arrangements will be made to test the crops sold to make sure that the crops are free of pesticide and herbicide residues. Non-organic crops will also be sold, but these will be labeled or sold accordingly. The motto will be “We will deliver better than promised”!

We are converting Baldev’s farm to a full scale “Free Ranging Desi Chicken Eggs” demonstration and teaching center under the leadership and supervision of Balwinder. Baldev has two acres and already has expert level experience of growing chickens. We are helping him buy 500 baby chickens of the RIR (Rhode Island Red) variety and helping him with the materials needed to build a “Khudda” or structure to protect the baby chickens. Baldev will build the structure with his own labor – that’s his contribution to the cost. When this is set up, this will be used as a teaching event by Baldev. Experts from the local KVK (Krishi Vikas Kendra) in Fardikot and from PAU (Punjab Agricultural University) will also be invited to teach, as needed.
These chickens will grow to the egg laying stage by November. Baldev will help other farmers initiate their own free ranging desi baby chickens and fertilized eggs if they want to so the hatching themselves.

Free Ranging Desi Chicken Eggs sell at a premium and the marketing aspect will advertise these as such, and full control and self-certification will be done to ensure that the chickens are actually free-ranging, which means that after the first month when the baby chickens need starter feed, the chickens will only by eating fresh produce from the farm and roaming around and eating insects and green materials from the farm. A brand name will be selected and Baldev’s chicken eggs  and those of other farmers will be sold under that brand name.

We will be posting photos, videos and reports of these activities as they are developing.