Ramkaran Tiwari, owner of Shivam farms in Etawah, southern Uttar Pradesh was interviewed by Krishi Jagran journalist Vivek Rai recently on Farmer The Brand Live. He spoke at length about his farming business and new farming techniques that he is using to produce 3,500 to 4,000 Quintals of potatoes over his 30 acres farmland in Etawah every year, since 2015.
Shivam farms produces over ten varieties of potatoes including kufri lima, kufri sangam, kufri bahar, kufri khyati, kufri sukhyati, kufri neelkanth among others. He specifically mentioned how government initiatives led by ICAR helped in improving his farm output and productivity. He went to CPRI (Central Potato Research Institute), Shimla for training which was recommended by Uttar Pradesh, Department of Agriculture. He learnt the seed plot technique, theory which he implemented practically since 2015. He initially built a small tissue culture lab and now ICAR suggested potato seeds and training has allowed his farm to produce not only good output in terms of quantity but also in terms of quality which keep his customers satisfied.
Ramkaran Tiwari, mentioned that nowadays he doesn't even need to go to mandi to sell his potatoes. He just announces his produce on social media and customers come to buy and collect potatoes from his farms themselves. He gets good response in terms of price, even though there are fluctuations. He also mentioned earlier potatoes were being imported by UP from Punjab and Haryana, but now potatoes are being exported by UP to Punjab and Haryana. He is expecting his produce to be exported to foreign countries in next few years. He invests 20-25 lakhs every year in Shivam farms and earns almost 1 crore per year in terms of profit.
Ramkaran Tiwari suggests other farmers to make their Brands and try and produce and sell their products effectively. His son is a BTECH Engineer who assists him in managing his farms. He said that his farm not only supports his own family but also those of his workers and other people associated with the Brand and its business. He also said that initially when he took up farming he used to worry about the weather and irrigation but now he has his own net-houses.
Potatoes are low on fat, high on calories and rich in vitamins and are used to make dishes for different types of cuisines and therefore there is a high chance of potatoes being exported to other countries. Potatoes are perfect alternatives for people who cannot digest grains. Potatoes provide more food in less time and on less farming land than any other alternative food crop. Potato farming in India today is a very profitable and extremely viable business. Potatoes are easy to farm and with good training and advice, right seeds, and adequate tools farmers can easily setup a Brand for themselves. Ramkaran Tiwari's example can be followed by farmers all across the country.