Abhijeet Lohani of Lohani Trading, Jharkhand has released his video on FTB. His brand is based out of Gumla in Jharkhand, which he said is one of the most backward districts in Jharkhand. He said in a recent "Mann ki Baat", Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned Gumla, with respect to lemongrass cultivation. The Prime Minister mentioned how women organizations grow lemongrass and produce oil out of them, which is sold at good prices all across India.
Then Abhijeet started to tell us about his business. He is director of a seeds selling firm. He said you can contact him through whatsapp and other methods if you are interested in purchase of seeds. You will be able to get seeds for different varieties of vegetables and that too from multiple brands.
He then asked us to look behind him at the packets of seeds, in the background you will see some of the seeds that they provide. He said the locally most popular seeds are that of tomatoes and chillies. He said some of the seeds that they sell for tomato cultivation will grow into plants even at temperature of 25 to 35 degrees and these are extremely popular.
The seeds of the major brands that are in great demand are - JK and Syngenta, for instance JK Desi, JK Nandini and Syngenta 3150 tomatoes. Even government is promoting and encouraging farming through its numerous schemes. Watermelon farming is also being promoted across the state and last year this fruit was grown over 8 acre of land portions and seeds for these were bought from other states. He said you can connect with Lohani traders even through Facebook.
On how he got into this business, this work is their family business and he is continuing with the tradition. He is 23 years of age and a B.Com graduate by education. He may be young to lead a organization but he is handling very well.
As a brand, they have been assisting the farmers for years and they manufacture bags for the farmers. These bags are of good quality and low in cost. He gave an example of the use of these bags. The paddy farmers harvest in September, October, November when the storage can be a problem due to moisture in the environment. They manufacture these big "borees" (bags) which have capacity of storing up to 300 Kg, 700 Kg, 1 tonne, 1.5 tonne and 2 tonnes of paddy. Although these are plastic bags, he acknowledged but these are made from reused plastic bags. They are following the policy of Reuse, Reduce, Recycle to help in preserving the environment as much as they can.
The brands of seeds as listed earlier include VNR, Nunhems, Namdhari, Nuziveedu, JK, Syngenta, Advanta, Dhaanya, US Agriseeds, Golden seeds, Seminis, Ankur among others. They store seeds in the store according to their popularity, as farmers prefer working with some brands and seeds over others. They also provide Humic Organic Manure.
He has said that organic farming is becoming increasingly popular and more and more farmers want to buy items with organic label. Abhijeet recently went to Ranchi, a city not far from Gumla. He said that the organic products of the cricketer MS Dhoni's farm are very popular in Ranchi, because they are grown organically. He believes organic farming is very useful and you can order from their store different types of organic insecticides and pesticides. If you want you can order any vermicompost, biocompost and other organic manures from them. He said organic items are better than chemical or inorganic fertilizers or pesticides as these chemicals enter our food chain which can be dangerous to human health.
Organic has caught on in Gumla, women organizations and FPOs are adapting and suggesting organic methods. He continues that the new 10,000 FPOs programme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been very inspiring and helpful for the farming community. Also other schemes like subsidies on farm machinery and farm equipments have been very beneficial for the farmers.
He believes organic farming is the way to go forward with. And finally he suggests the farmers not to depend on Urea. He said the use of Urea and chemical fertilizer may increase the productivity in the short term but these are harmful for use over long terms, as they affect soil fertility and our health. He said every effort should be made to reduce dependency on chemicals in farming. He said for any consultation or business activities you can Whatsapp him on 07856808661. He thanked Krishi Jagran for giving him the platform, as we always do for young persons and small, medium sized businesses, for sharing information with farmers. Please click here to see the video yourself.