Una: A progressive farmer from Gondpur village in Haroli block, in Himachal Pradesh, named Pawan Kumar, has been earning Rs 12-14 lakh annually by the cultivation of vegetables. He is now a role model for other farmers of the region. He got a revelation in his life when the Agriculture Department asked him the significance of crop diversification. He got the tips that growing several crops on the same land is healthy for soil fertility, and it increases farmers’ income as well.
He got vegetable seeds, spray pumps, and other tools through the Agriculture Department at subsidized rates. This initiative helped him to reduce his farming costs and inspired him to grow more and more vegetables on his land. He had taken some land on lease after seeing the bumper growth and earnings in vegetable harvesting.
Currently, he has been growing cucumber, cowpea, bitter gourd, pumpkin, bottle gourd, and ridge gourd, and the demand for such vegetables is high in the market. He has been harvesting around 10 quintals of cucumber, 8-10 quintals of pumpkin, 2 quintals of cowpea, and 1 quintal of ridge gourd per season. Therefore, his agriculture business has been booming with an annual turnover of Rs 12-14 lakh.
Pawan Kumar’s success has made it clear that crop diversification has played a key role in boosting farmers’ livelihoods. He has transformed his life with the adoption of new techniques in agriculture and experts’ guidance. His life has changed from struggling farmer to agricultural entrepreneur. Pawan’s success story has motivated a huge number of farmers in the region to embrace horticulture farming for a better and secure future.
