Srinagar (Uttarakhand) : During his visit to his native village, a hotel businessman in Uttarakhand became very alarmed at seeing most of the young residents leaving it in search of jobs elsewhere. Then, Mahipal Singh Panwar decided to change the situation in his village. Later, he shifted his family there, not only attracted people towards reverse migration but also introduced about 5,500 farmers of nearby villages to modern farming methods and cultivation of medicinal plants.
Mahipal Singh Panwar, who is a resident of Dharpaiyakoti village of Kirtinagar development block of Tehri district, has now become a source of inspiration for unemployed youth and farmers. He changed traditional farming in his village and started cultivating herbs. Today, Mahipal Singh Panwar is not only generating revenue of more than one crore rupees from herbal farming, but has also made the farmers of nearby villages prosperous.
Earlier, Mahipal Singh had a hotel business in Mussoorie and that was doing very well. But one day when he suddenly came to his village, he was shocked to see the conditions there. Most of the youth of the village had migrated. The agricultural land in the village was lying barren. It was from here that the idea of attracting the residents back to the village came to his mind. For this, he left his hotel business and chose modern farming methods in place of traditional ones.
Mahipal Singh Panwar said that in the year 2016, he started the cultivation of rosemary, dandelion, oregano, thyme, kiwi and apple in his native village Dharpaiyakoti. However, even his family members did not consider his decision right. But gradually, when modern farming and crops started generating good income, the family members as well as the people around appreciated this step.
Today Mahipal is cultivating medicinal crops on 150 acres of land. His turnover has also reached Rs 1.25 crore. Nearby farmers are also being advised to grow medicinal crops. If Mahipal is to be believed, today he has formed a group of about 5,500 farmers, who are earning lakhs of rupees from medicinal crops.
Shailendra Panwar, a resident of the same village, said that after seeing Mahipal Singh, the villagers are also learning modern farming, due to which they are also getting benefits. Mahipal Panwar's wife Asha Panwar said that initially she found it very strange for her husband to do farming. Because he was running a good business in Mussoorie. But when his efforts started bearing fruit and other people along with us also benefited from it, she felt very happy.
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