I’m Gurraj Singh Virk and I’m a resident of Surgapuri village (District Faridkot). In my family we are 7 members (my wife, 3 daughters and 2 sons) including me. In the beginning I started farming cotton in 1990, but soon after that I quit the idea of continuing cotton farming because of increasing debt and cotton plant diseases. Then I started sugarcane farming and after that I also gave chance to paddy farming, but I faced failure in that too. But then also I never gave up and in 1983 with the support of Horticulture Department, Faridkot and Punjab Agriculture University, I started Kinnow Farming.
During these years I lost two most important persons in my life- my father and my mother; my whole family was in great shock. But at that time, I never surrendered my feelings and always came up as a strong father and husband to my family, so that, they can recover soon and I continued my farming and experimentations on farming implements.
After some time my kinnow orchards started bearing fruits and it was a time of celebration for me and my family. Good Days were returned. I never misused the money and always utilized them in a better way. I expanded my orchards and got installed a deep tube well so that I can start paddy farming again. I also planted grapes in 2.5 acres of land and grapes orchard gave me a good revenue. But soon after that there was a termite attack on the grapes orchard and I have to uproot the whole orchard to prevent the further loss to other orchards and expanded my kinnow farm.
I always wanted to implement modern farming technique for efficient farming. I implemented drip irrigation system, mulching technique and high density farming as well. To make my work easier I also designed a spray pump for effectively spraying organic pesticides and a machine to cut and give proper shape to the trees. Other than this I also designed a machine for cleaning and grading the kinnows, which cleans 2 ton of kinnows in one hour and the total expenditure in cleaning two tons of kinnow only costs Rs. 125. In future I want to continue and expand my work and also inspire other farmers towards horticulture.
Kinnow (21 acres), Wheat & Paddy (20 acres), Lemon, Grape Fruit, Mousambi, Malta Red, Nagpuri Orange, Orange, Plum, Pomegranate, Grapes, Guava.
Drip Irrigation, Tube well.
7 famous articles for kinnow farming and a book is written by him.
Tractor, Trolley, Harrow, Disc, Spray Pump, Grading Machine, Tree Cutting Machine and other latest implements.
Horticulture includes the farming fruits, seeds, medicinal plants, vegetables, nuts, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, flowers, and non-food crops such as grass and ornamental trees and plants. Agri. Horticultural Society of India serves as a heaven for horticulture enthusiasts, so explore what you can start in the field of horticulture.
Farmers should never lose their hope and self-confidence because of small losses and other difficulties and they should never give up. Farmers should also think other than conventional framing ways. There are still many fields in farming in which farmer can reap higher profit. Horticulture is the same field like this in which farmer can make profits in lakhs very easily. But in the beginning, they should keep patience. I’m making a huge profit from horticulture and for the future also I want that farmers should adopt horticulture along with other traditional farming methods.