Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh

A retired colonel from the Indian Army, Harishchandra Singh, made news when he was recently mentioned by prime minister Narendra Modi in his radio programme, Mann Ki Baat. Singh has set a precedent for the farmers of Uttar Pradesh by cultivating chia seeds in his two-hectare farm at Amseruwa village, Siddhaur block, in district Barabanki, about 27 kilometres (km) north-east of state capital Lucknow.   

“The prime minister’s praise for my farming efforts has boosted my morale and increased my responsibility too,” an exultant Singh told Gaon Connection. Besides chia seeds, Singh also cultivates two varieties of dragon fruit, and red and green apples. Chia seeds are the tiny black seeds of the chia plant (Salvia hispanica) and considered a superfood. Eating chia seeds is supposed to improve cardiovascular risk factors such as lowering cholesterol, triglycerides and blood pressure.

“Cultivating chia seeds, considered to be a superfood, costs as little as twenty to thirty thousand rupees an acre,” Singh pointed out to Gaon Connection. According to him a kilo of seed sown in an acre (0.4 hectare) of land can yield one quintal (100 kgs) of produce. “The online market price of chia seeds is about fifteen hundred to two thousand rupees a kilo,” he added.

The prime minister in his programme mentioned how cultivation of produce such as the chia seeds grown by Singh, would fulfil the spirit of the Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) campaign. 

“During my time in the army, I saw a lot of apple cultivation in Jammu and Kashmir,” said Singh who has planted three varieties of apples in his farm —Anna, Dorsett Golden and HRMN. He also grows plums and black wheat.  

Originally from Ambedkar Nagar, Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh, Singh retired as a colonel in 2015 and is presently posted as a Sainik welfare officer at Sultanpur.

“I read about chia seeds on the internet and learnt about its properties and benefits. I sowed about half an acre with the seeds I bought online,” said Singh, who is at the moment selling the seeds only online. “But, if there is a market for it,  it will prove to be a milestone in the direction of becoming self-reliant,” added the farmer who said he was always interested in farming, but had to wait till he retired from the armed forces before he could pursue his love.

Chia seeds are sown in October and the crop is ready to harvest in about a month, as compared to wheat which is sown around the same time, but takes four months before it is ready to be harvested.

Read the story in Hindi.