Agriculture is a diversified field and farmers can reap good profit out of it even in less land, all they need to be aware of is the modern way of farming and the right way to do it. This is the story of Bharpur Singh an ordinary farmer from Kheri Mallan village of Patiala, who always wanted to do something different than the cultivation of wheat and paddy.

Mr. Singh after completing his studies (school) decided to help his father- Sardar Ranjeet Singh in farming, but he was never satisfied with the trend that other farmers were following (wheat-paddy cycle). Although he helped his father in the fields, but his mind and soul wanted to do something different.

In 1999, he visited Gurdwara Rara Sahib with his family and bought some flower seeds of Chrysanthemum and that was the time when he entered in the field of floriculture. In the beginning, he started growing Chrysanthemum on a small piece of land and slowly with the time he found this venture profitable, so he increased the flower farming area.

With the time, as his sons grew up they also started taking interest in his father floriculture business. Now both the sons of Bharpur Singh is equally engaged in the floriculture.

Floriculture
Currently, they are growing four types of flowers in their farm- Chrysanthemum, Marigold, Jafri and Gladiolus. They use all the modern implements on their land. Floriculture is spread in 10 acres and sometimes they also take land on lease for farming other crops.

Seed Preparation
Other than farming they have also started preparing seeds of Jafri and Chrysanthemum flowers by themselves, and they import Gladiolus seeds direct from Holland, and Marigold seeds from Kolkata. Seed preparation helps them make a good profit, sometimes they also provide seeds to their friends and relatives just to promote floriculture.

Investment & Profit from Floriculture
Rupees 2 lakhs is the investment cost for Gladiolus in 1 acre and in return he gets Rupees 4 – 5 lakhs from one acre of Gladiolus, which means almost 50% profit or more.

Marketing
They are not dependent on the third person for the marketing. They market their produce themselves in the mandi of Patiala, Nabha, Samana, Sangrur, Bathinda, and Ludhiana. Their brand name is Nirman Flower Farm. Several camps related to agriculture are also organized by horticulture department at their farm in which many progressive farmers participate and training is provided to the regular farmers about floriculture.

Sardar Bharpur Singh gives most of the credit of his successful farming venture to Dr. Sandeep Singh Grewal (Horticulture Department, Patiala), Dr. Kulwinder Singh and Dr. Ranjeet Singh (PAU) because without their help and advice he would not be able to reach this stage in his life.

He gives a message to the farmers that they should not opt agriculture as to compete with other farmers but they should do it for themselves and with full interest then only they will be able to earn profits as desired.

Starting from a small level and achieving this much success in life, Bharpur Singh sets an example as a role model for the farmers who are looking towards adopting floriculture.

Message
“My message to farmers is that they should seriously think about the benefits of diversification. The vicious circle of wheat and paddy farming has left farmers in a bad shape and under lots of debts. The fertility of the soil is decreasing and farmers are being forced to use more and more chemicals to increase production. Diversification is the only way by which farmers can achieve success and gain more profits and raise their standard of living. Moreover, farmers should not opt agriculture as to compete with other farmers but they should do it for themselves and with full interest then only they will be able to earn profits as desired.”