Life is organic for Sikar’s award-winning ‘Gobiwale’
BEYOND CHEMICALS, PESTICIDES
good work.
His 21-year-old grandson Prashant Pareek says he (Pareek) has spent his life in training farmers in reducing the cost of cultivation and making organic fertilisers and pesticides using cow dung and neem leaves. Prashant, a postgraduate student of commerce at a nearby college, says his grandfather doesn’t want any member of his family to do jobs. “He wants all of us to work for farmers in whatever way we can.”
Two of Pareek’s six grandchildren are in an agriculture college. The Pareek household lives in a 16-room concrete house and does farming on two hectares of land in Ajitgarh, one hectare each in Kanwat, 24km away, and In Ajitgarh markets in Sikar district, Pareek is famous for growing oversized cauliflower. Khandela, 40km away. The family – Pareek’s sons and daughters-in-law are trained by him in organic farming – grows pomegranate, lemon and fruits and seasonal vegetables in the space between fruit trees.
“We are very happy that he is being given a Padma award,” says Suman, one of the daughters-in-law, who is a postgraduate in Arts.
The family says Pareek is not getting a new dress f or t he awards ceremony. “I will wear what I wear daily: dhoti, kurta and a safa (turban),” he says. He is planning to take his family and friends to the awards ceremony in Delhi expected to take place in March last week or April first week.
Former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee
Former Governor Baliram Bhagat
Former chief minister Vasundhara Raje
Chief minister Ashok Gehlot Bollywood actor Sanjay Khan
“But that will depend upon how many people I am allowed to take with me,” he adds.
Pareek says it is a myth that organic farming is expensive. “It is cheaper than farming with chemical fertilizers and it also fetches you better price for the produce,” he says.
“Dung of one buffalo collected over six months is sufficient for an acre of land for one crop. For one hectare, organic farming is at least ~10,000 cheaper than chemical farming.”
Pareek says he gets ~3-4/kg more than normal vegetables in the mandi where he takes his produce every morning. “People can make out the difference because of the colour and size of my vegetables,” he says.