26 august 2026 : After driving a taxi for over 25 years in Dubai, 48-year-old Gurjinder Singh returned to his native Dharamgarh Chhana village of Sangrur in Punjab in June, 2023.
“In Dubai, I longed to meet my family and two daughters. My daughters were growing up and I couldn’t be with them. I also realised my savings from taxi driving will never be enough. So after 25 years of staying outside, I finally decided to return to my village and be with my family. My father had around 5 acres decades ago which he had sold off years ago. After returning I started thinking of a regular source of income,” Gurjinder said.
He then reconnected with his friend Jaswinder Singh, 52, from Dirba village of Sangrur and started contemplating what to do next. Jaswinder retired as Havildar from the Indian Army and did odd jobs in the private sector.
In March this year, the duo took 4 acres on lease in Dirba village and started making vermicompost using cattle dung after taking training from ‘Speed Contract farming’, a private company.
Jaswinder said, “We got to know about this company from a common friend. They trained us and we later signed a contract for 5 years with them of making vermicompost on our land taken on lease. They set up the vermicompost beds, and take care of the entire expenditure. We will just take care of those beds. In addition to this, we are getting rental income based on the number of beds we will be adding. We together invested Rs 10 lakh and now we have 650 beds of vermicompost ready.”
He added that cattle dung is arranged from a nearby gaushala and earthworms given by the company authorities are added to it. “The earthworms keep multiplying and so we keep adding the beds. In 4 acres, around 1,000 beds can be set up and income from per bed per month is Rs 100. Apart from this, the company pays us Rs 90,000 per month based on our Rs 10 lakh investment,” Gurjinder said, adding that with this they will be able to recover the investment within a year.
He added that they are also planning to do fruit plantations wherever there is space beside the vermicompost beds.
Jaswinder added that the training helped them a lot. “What we are doing is very interesting. Not only are we earning money but the land is also becoming very fertile as vermicompost is being prepared in the fields. Excessive use of fertilisers and pesticides are making our land poisonous, it’s high time that we start going back to the basics,” he said.
Gurjot Singh, distributor of speed contract farming when contacted said,” many farmers are joining hands with us. This way, they are making there land fertile, learning technique of growing vermi compost and also earning a regular income out of it. The way Punjab’s land is becoming poisonous by use of excessive pesticides, such projects will be helpful in making it fertile yet again.”