Narender Singh was boycotted by his family as he wanted to live his dreams. He now earns in lakhs as a fruit farmer and has even won awards for his exceptional work.
Narender Singh of Haryana had a secure and well-paying career, but over 30 years ago he left his stable life to pursue his passion: pomiculture, and now he is earning in lakhs, assisting thousands of farmers, and has even been recognised for his remarkable work in the field of farming.
Narender’s father was a farmer and was overjoyed that his son had a stable profession; yet, Narender was unhappy with his life and desired to pursue his true passion: organic fruit growing.
Narender decided to start his nursery at his hometown of Uchana village in Karnal, Haryana. When his mother found out about his plans, she was furious and threw him out of the house for leaving a life of stability for one of such uncertainty. Narender established his nursery in 1990 with no other help, investing his own Rs 15,000 that he had accumulated while working in Haryana. He planted fruits such as apple, blackberry, pears, peach, sapota, guava, mango, and lychee, among others, as well as wheat and rice.
Narender is credited with becoming the first person to grow almonds in a hot city like Haryana (1996) and naming it Rana Ghorbandi Badam. He was also dubbed the “Apple Man of Haryana” because he was able to cultivate apples in the scorching heat.
Narender’s apple and almond plants are unique and exclusively available at his nursery. This gets him a lot of orders for them. The fruit farmer now earns Rs 3 lakh per month, which rises to Rs 10 lakh in February, March, and during the monsoon season.
While his business was going well early on, Narender’s family only discovered how high he was soaring four years after they kicked him out, and seeing their son’s prosperity, they embraced him with open arms. While the fruit nursery was his love, Narender also dabbled in beekeeping, crop cultivation, and vermicomposting.
As he gained experience in beekeeping, he began to mentor other farmers and even earned the Karnal ICAR-NDRI (National Dairy Research Institute) Best Bee-keeper in Haryana State award, but he no longer pursues it. He also received the Progressive Farmer Award from All India Radio (AIR) at Rohtak.
Narender also expresses his desire to assist farmers and began instructing those in Haryana, teaching them how to cultivate apples and almonds, and after he was successful, he moved on to Rajasthan, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh and did the same. Thousands of farmers have benefited from Narender’s advice, and he admits that at least 30 farmers phone him every day for advice and assistance.
Realizing how many people he could help if he had the correct platform, Narender created the ‘Rana Gold Apple’ YouTube channel, which has thousands of subscribers interested in learning more about pomiculture. Narender further states that organic farming is the way of the future, advising other farmers to do the same because it saves the environment, preserves the soil in the long term, and benefits those who consume it because it is far healthier than fruit cultivated with artificial pesticides and fertilisers.
