Breaking away from the wheat-paddy cycle and cultivating vegetables, a farmer named Bhupinder Singh son of Sardara Singh from village Bhupnagar, Tehsil Kharar, District SAS Nagar, has become a role model for several farmers of the area. He is now earning more than Rs 8 lakh by cultivating vegetables on 4 acres of his ancestral land along with some land that he has taken on lease.It was in the year 2004, that Bhupinder Singh started the cultivation of potatoes, onions, garlic etc. Since then, he has been working hard and is now a well known farmer of the area. In the year 2005, he started purchasing potato seed from Government Seed Farm, Mattewara and by adopting innovative techniques of farming, started growing three different crops (potatoes, onions and jantar) a year. Impressed by his way of farming, other farmers of the area also started adopting his techniques. Along with the cultivation of garlic, he also earned big profits from the farming of coriander (dhaniya).
Now, Bhupinder Singh is cultivating 150 quintals of potatoes annually. By adopting bed technique for the farming of onions and garlic, he has increased the production of onion to 175 quintals and garlic to 25 quintals. He also prepared his own potato seed and even distributed it amongst other farmers of the area, along with onion seeds. He has always preferred using compost and natural/organic fertilisers.Bhupinder always stays in contact with the Horticulture Department and keeps on taking tips on new techniques. During the year 2016, he was awarded for successful cultivation of vegetables at a Kisan Mela organised by Krishi Vigyan Kendra at village Pallanpur (Mohali). Besides, he was also awarded by the Agriculture Department at a District level camp organised at Mohali for not burning paddy straw.He has also set up his own marketing mechanism for selling his produce, besides he is selling his produce directly in the market. He also took part in several trainings and workshops organised by Guru Angad Dev Veterinary & Animal Sciences University in 2016, a workshop organised by Indian Institute of Crop Processing Technology in Tamil Nadu in 2011.