Kota engineer Amanpreet Singh runs Gau Organics, a dairy farm that exports merchandise internationally and runs on a number of sustainable fashions — for one, producing maximum of its personal electrical energy, having provisions for rainwater harvesting, and extra.
Rising up close to a farm, Amanpreet Singh had a prepared hobby in agriculture and dairy farming. On the other hand, he didn’t know the way precisely he may just construct a occupation in it, and pursued an engineering level as in keeping with his circle of relatives’s needs.
After finishing electric and electronics engineering at Rajasthan Technical College in 2012, Amanpreet made up our minds to pursue his hobby. He had 50-acre farmland in his native land Kota, and sought after to begin a industry to utilise the land for dairy farming.
Initially, he finished a dairy science route from the Nationwide Dairy Analysis Institute (NDRI) in 2014; labored in corporations like Mom Dairy, Amul and Nestle; and pursued a dairy automation route from Tel Aviv College in Israel in 2015.
“On the finish of 2015, I returned house. With the technical assist from a milk corporate from Israel, we established a dairy farm on our land. We began with milk subscriptions,” says Amanpreet to The Higher India.
He began Gau Organics in 2016 along with his brothers Uttam Jyot and Gaganpreet. They purchased 27 cows and began with milk subscriptions, later shifting to value-added merchandise like ghee, butter, natural jaggery, honey, chocolates, and many others. These days, additionally they promote cow dung truffles and manure, along coaching different farmers in doing in order neatly.
What’s notable about Amanpreet’s farm is that also they are ready to hide 70% in their electrical energy wishes on their very own. We sat down with the 32-year-old to know the way.
Making probably the most out of waste
Amanpreet realised early on that they couldn’t simply depend on milk and must extend to value-added merchandise. “The primary factor confronted through dairy farmers is the entire reliance on milk for source of revenue. A cow produces milk after 9 months of being pregnant. She isn’t a system. If she has an disillusioned abdomen, the milk might not be just right. We wish to take all this into consideration.”
In the meantime, some other level that got here to his understand was once the surplus waste generated through their farm animals. So along promoting value-added merchandise, they began promoting cow dung truffles and manure on Amazon. “We had indexed cow dung and vermicompost manure in 2018 on Amazon. We noticed a pickup in gross sales simplest in 2020 after the lockdown was once introduced. As folks began gardening at house, dealers like us noticed an uptick in gross sales.”
As their gross sales picked up, Amanpreet additionally began coaching farmers on methods to promote cow dung truffles and manure.
“Those farmers had been dependent simplest on milk and weren’t given a just right value for it. So we began coaching them on methods to use the excreta from cows, make right kind manure, and promote it. We skilled over 55 farmers, most commonly girls,” provides Amanpreet.
“We assist farmers get a day-to-day source of revenue through promoting cow dung truffles and manure. Feminine farmers are ready to get Rs 200-300 in keeping with day sitting at house,” he provides.
70% of electrical energy is generated at the farm
As they joined fingers with extra farmers and their farm animals higher to 250, that they had sufficient cow dung to make biogas and paintings in opposition to being self-sufficient for his or her electrical energy wishes. Amanpreet constructed two 40 kW biogas crops.
Cow dung and urine are accumulated and despatched to the digester of the biogas crops. They’re then transformed into electrical energy, which covers nearly 70% in their wishes and is helping them save greater than Rs 2 lakh monthly on electrical energy expenses, claims Amanpreet.
“We’re ready to generate 80 kW energy thru our crops. We simplest wish to purchase 30% of the electrical energy from the state govt. We’ve been doing this for seven years. The slurry may be accumulated and used within the fields as natural manure.”
Additionally they have amenities for rainwater harvesting, in addition to a 60 kW solar energy plant.
Dreaming of an natural co-operative
The hero product in their farm, says Amanpreet, is the Bilona ghee. “For me, no different ghee comes with reference to the only my grandmother makes. I sought after to take a look at and recreate this recipe on a big scale. So I took the recipe from my nani (maternal grandmother). It took me greater than a 12 months to make it industrial.”
Additionally they opened a shop in 2018, and Amanpreet says their merchandise are exported to areas like South Africa, Dubai, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. With this, they clock a earnings of Rs 6 crore a 12 months.
However he notes that it’s been tricky to get a talented personnel. “Folks don’t have fun farmers. If an engineer is going right into a box like advertising, he’s celebrated. On the other hand, if he needs to do farming, society doesn’t have fun him. It took me 4 months to persuade my circle of relatives. We will have to no longer take meals science and farmers without any consideration. It’s necessary to grasp diet and skim the labels when you don’t need to pay hefty expenses for drugs,” he provides.
He hopes to shape a cooperative for natural manufacturers like theirs.
“Similar to there’s a Gujarat Milk Advertising and marketing Federation (Amul), I need to make an natural herbal meals cooperative to supply diet for the rustic,” he says.
Edited through Divya Sethu