Sukhchain S Gill, is a first generation businessman, born in Multan Pakistan, who grew up in a farming family and always had a dream of owning a farm. So, in 2007 he sold a piece of property to purchase 14 acres of land in village Hansali, in the District Fatehgarh Sahib (Punjab), around 38 kilometres from Chandigarh, ultimately turning this dream of his into a reality.
Soon he started the Hansali Organic Farm & Farm Stay to integrate working with nature rather than against it. He began to develop the infrastructure from the ground up, beginning with a small setup of basic buildings, implements, tractors, and so on. However, his life soon took a big turn.
His son, Pavail Gill, recalls, “As we were just getting settled in the farming activity, my mother was diagnosed with cancer in 2008, and she passed away in 2009. That was a big moment in our life, where we felt that the toxins in our food chain are responsible for such diseases like cancer, so we thought of getting into organic farming.”
One step at a time
King Charles III came to the farm in 2010, as he was interested in seeing an organic farmer in Punjab, and the Farmstay was probably the only one pioneering in this field back then.
Moreover, when the Gills first began organic farming, they did not dive in headfirst, but rather started with one acre and kept adding an acre each year, while also attempting to market their produce. Once they had 3-4 acres certified as organic, they swiftly incorporated the remainder of the property and became 100% organic. During the World Organic Congress in Delhi in 2017, they were also one of the top ten national finalists for the ‘Dharti Mitr’ award for the most outstanding organic farm in India.
“Today, we are certified organic by Punjab Agro for the past more than 10 years,” says Pavail.
With two renovated rooms and a leap of faith they began agri tourism four years ago; two more rooms were added last year as a result of positive feedbacks. The farmstay is certified by Punjab Tourism.
Parvail explains further, “The farm stay provided us a good opportunity to convert some of the visiting guests into our customers, who would see our way of natural farming & then would want to buy our farm produce too. So eco-tourism connected well with our farm and became a tool to further promote our organic farming.”
Moreover, to encourage local craftsmen and provide some means of promoting local arts and crafts, they added local handicrafts such as phulkaris and pakkhis to a little souvenir corner in their farm.
The power of social media
It was marketing that posed a challenge for the Gills. Initially, they tried the conventional marketing methods of newspaper flyers, exhibitions, sampling in local gyms, hotels & restaurants etc, but soon realised that it was not working. It was social media that came to their rescue.
“We noticed that whenever we posted any information about our farm on social media, it would draw a lot of attention. So slowly we started posting more and more on social media and soon we had 5000 friends on our Facebook page. Then we discovered we must make a Facebook page and a group. Today we have around 11,000 plus followers on our page. Later we went on to Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest etc too,” reveals Pavail.
As time passed, the Gills attempted to sell their produce to high-end grocery stores, hotels, and other establishments in Chandigarh, but quickly realised that they were just one of many farmers who went to sell their produce to them, and that these stores or restaurants wanted to maximise their profits rather than give them a fair price for their products. So they embarked on a mission to establish their own dedicated consumer base via social media.
As their customer base increased, they extended their product portfolio to fulfil the various needs of their customers. So, every year, they added a new element to the farm, such as a dairy farm, a multi fruit organic orchard, a vegetable garden, and so on.
Later, they even added wheat flour, basmati rice, organic A1 & A2 cow milk and so on. After these, they began processing and marketing farm-grown items like panjeeri, sarson ka saag, makki di roti, gur di kheer, vegetarian and non-vegetarian pickles, and so on.
“We also built up our own delivery setup and today we reach around 140 homes every single day with organic milk & all farm grown products,” Pavail adds.
The man behind the dream
Pavail manages social media, infrastructure, and farm stays, while his wife Kiran Gill handles all sales, but Sukchain is and has always been the driving force behind the business. He still does all of the organic farming (what to grow, when to grow, and how much to grow) at the age of 83.
Every day, he realises his aim of presenting a small model farm to the many disillusioned youth of Punjab that farming, if done with dedication and the support of technology and marketing, and by adding value such as organic, can be a promising occupation as well.
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