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 most of its personal electrical energy, having provisions for rainwater harvesting, and extra.
Rising up close to a farm, Amanpreet Singh had a eager curiosity in agriculture and dairy farming. Nonetheless, he didn’t know the way precisely he may construct a profession in it, and pursued an engineering diploma as per his household’s needs.
After finishing electrical and electronics engineering at Rajasthan Technical College in 2012, Amanpreet determined to pursue his ardour. He had 50-acre farmland in his hometown Kota, and wished to start out a enterprise to utilise the land for dairy farming.
To start out with, he accomplished a dairy science course from the Nationwide Dairy Analysis Institute (NDRI) in 2014; labored in corporations like Mom Dairy, Amul and Nestle; and pursued a dairy automation course from Tel Aviv College in Israel in 2015.
“On the finish of 2015, I returned residence. With the technical assist from a milk firm 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, sweets, and many others. At this time, in addition they promote cow dung desserts and manure, alongside coaching different farmers in doing in order properly.
What’s notable about Amanpreet’s farm is that also they are capable of cowl 70% of their electrical energy wants on their very own. We sat down with the 32-year-old to grasp how.
Making probably the most out of waste
Amanpreet realised early on that they couldn’t simply depend on milk and must increase to value-added merchandise. “The primary concern confronted by dairy farmers is the entire reliance on milk for revenue. A cow produces milk after 9 months of being pregnant. She isn’t a machine. If she has an upset abdomen, the milk won’t be good. We have to take all this into consideration.”
In the meantime, one other level that got here to his discover was the surplus waste generated by their livestock. So alongside promoting value-added merchandise, they began promoting cow dung desserts and manure on Amazon. “We had listed cow dung and vermicompost manure in 2018 on Amazon. We noticed a pickup in gross sales solely in 2020 after the lockdown was introduced. As individuals began gardening at residence, sellers like us noticed an uptick in gross sales.”
As their gross sales picked up, Amanpreet additionally began coaching farmers on the best way to promote cow dung desserts and manure.
“These farmers had been dependent solely on milk and weren’t given a very good value for it. So we began coaching them on the best way to use the excreta from cows, make correct manure, and promote it. We skilled over 55 farmers, principally ladies,” provides Amanpreet.
“We assist farmers get a each day revenue by promoting cow dung desserts and manure. Feminine farmers are capable of get Rs 200-300 per day sitting at residence,” he provides.
70% of electrical energy is generated on the farm
As they joined palms with extra farmers and their livestock elevated to 250, they’d sufficient cow dung to make biogas and work in direction of being self-sufficient for his or her electrical energy wants. Amanpreet constructed two 40 kW biogas crops.
Cow dung and urine are collected and despatched to the digester of the biogas crops. They’re then transformed into electrical energy, which covers virtually 70% of their wants and helps them save greater than Rs 2 lakh per thirty days on electrical energy payments, claims Amanpreet.
“We’re capable of generate 80 kW energy by means of our crops. We solely want to purchase 30% of the electrical energy from the state authorities. We’ve been doing this for seven years. The slurry can also be collected and used within the fields as natural manure.”
In addition they have services for rainwater harvesting, in addition to a 60 kW solar energy plant.
Dreaming of an natural co-operative
The hero product of their farm, says Amanpreet, is the Bilona ghee. “For me, no different ghee comes near the one my grandmother makes. I wished to try to 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 business.”
In addition they opened a retailer in 2018, and Amanpreet says their merchandise are exported to areas like South Africa, Dubai, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. With this, they clock a income of Rs 6 crore a 12 months.
However he notes that it has been tough to get a talented workforce. “Folks don’t have fun farmers. If an engineer goes right into a subject like advertising and marketing, he’s celebrated. Nonetheless, if he needs to do farming, society doesn’t have fun him. It took me 4 months to persuade my household. We should always not take meals science and farmers without any consideration. It’s necessary to grasp diet and skim the labels in the event you don’t need to pay hefty payments for medicines,” he provides.
He hopes to type a cooperative for natural manufacturers like theirs.
“Similar to there’s a Gujarat Milk Advertising Federation (Amul), I need to make an natural pure meals cooperative to offer diet for the nation,” he says.
Edited by Divya Sethu
