Pritam Singh Rajput is an Organic farmer, owner of Rajput watermelon farms, from Sirali in Harda district of Madhya Pradesh. He has been a water melon farmer for last 10 years. Through experience he has learnt and something he advises all his fellow farmers is to leave traditional farming and modernize their farms to maximize their profits.
The fruit of watermelon can be harvested after about 2 months of growth and lots of money is to be made here. Ideal time to grow watermelons is from 15th January till 31st March or 5th April. So you must plan to grow the fruit during this period and it is extremely popular in summers. There is a huge demand for high quality watermelons.
For those farmers interested in cultivating watermelons he shows us his farm and talks about the drip irrigation and mulching on his farm. Government provides financial support to the farmers for these modern equipment, materials and for their training. Farmers should make maximum use of these facilities and opportunities provided by the government. You can grow 250-300 quintals of watermelon per acre of your farm and they are sold at Rs 10-12 or Rs 15 per Kg, depending on quality and demand in market. There are huge financial benefits in growing watermelons for the farmers.
This fruit grows very well in summers and you should not feel any risk of failure of the crops. Those farmers interested in contacting me for advise, training and business can connect with me through social media, he said.
After completing his education he returned to his village to find traditional methods being followed which caused these farmers more harm than good. He decided to do something different that will get him more earnings. I started thinking what crops to grow for this purpose, something that will grow in short periods and in high quantities. After discussions and suggestions finally he shortlisted watermelons and has been farming them for last 10 years.
He grows a variety of colourful watermelons, seeds for which he gets from a Taiwanese company called Known-You Seed Co. Ltd. Their different seeds grow a range of watermelons. If your product is new and somewhat different, there are more chances of it selling at higher than average rates. His good quality watermelons are in great demand in shopping malls, luxury hotels, and VIP markets.
There are a variety of watermelons he grows like the common variety with green covering and red flesh. Apart from it yellow covering and red flesh and yellow flesh watermelon seeds are also available. These colourful watermelons fetch higher value than standard watermelons.
He has tie-up with Reliance and wherever they need watermelons to be supplied across India, he does. There are two big cities close by, Indore and Bhopal, and they have good markets which have requirement for quality watermelons.
On asking how other farmers can build a brand like him, he replied that farming is considered a lost cause by some farmers and they need to modernize their equipments, materials and methods to succeed. They need to improve the way they work, learn new methods. He repeats his suggestion to the farmers to modernize to make any profit. We need to ditch traditional farming and there are no risks and nothing to fear for the farmers trying to modernize. There is money to be made in farming. Please click here to see Pratam talk in this group video.