Recently, a month-long Strawberry Festival started in Jhansi. “Everyone is surprised to see Strawberries growing in Bundelkhand. Gurleen Chawla, a law student, has successfully done strawberry cultivation at her home terrace and then in her field to instil the confidence that this is possible in Jhansi“, these words were spoken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi about Gurleen Chawla on his 20th episode of ‘Man ki Baat’ https://pmonradio.nic.in/ part 2.0.
If you challenge yourself to do something, then nothing is difficult, Gurleen Chawla “the strawberry girl” has proved this.
The weather of Jhansi does not allow strawberries to be grown in fields. The land of Jhansi is not very fertile, and the weather here is so hot that the leaves of soft plants like strawberries burn off in an instant. In such a situation, the cultivation of strawberries is a challenging task. But Gurleen undertook the challenge and was able to prove herself by completing it.
Gurleen Chawla’s Law studies and farming!
Strawberry cultivation that started from the terrace is being now done on 1.5 acres out of 4 acres of land, which is owned by Harjeet Singh Chawla, Gurleen’s father. First, Gurleen started with planting 10 seedlings of strawberries in her small terrace garden. And after seeing the results, she and her father decided to expand this by planting 20,000 seedlings on a 1.5-acre land.
“The strawberries were small in size but very juicy and tasty when grown on the terrace. But in the later stage of 1.5-acre produce, the berries became bigger and tastier“, Gurleen said.
Alao read:
Gurleen is now known as ‘Strawberry girl’.
This farming has not only provided Gurleen with a name and fame at the local level but also at the national level. By making the Prime Minister talk about her, Gurleen has proved that it is possible to grow ‘gold’ even from the barren land.
Gurleen Chawla proved that it is not necessary that only a person from a farming background can grow strawberries or other cash crops. She has proved that even if one doesn’t belong to a farming background, there is immense potential in this sector, and one can excel greatly.
Gurleen, who had studied at Pune Law College, was to go to America for further studies. Meanwhile, due to Corona, there was a lockdown, and she had to come back to Bundelkhand. Gurleen Chawla loves strawberries but did not have an influx at home and it was not easy to find one. So, she discussed this with her father and started sowing strawberries on her small terrace garden.
This hearsay about Gurleen slowly reached the administration and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath. With this, the Chief Minister started encouraging the farmers of Bundelkhand for this strawberry cultivation. Currently, Gurleen Chawla is a pioneer in this field, but many more farmers are thinking about getting into this cultivation. To get Strawberry access to the market, Gurleen has organized the Strawberry Festival from January 16th 2021, with the help of the Uttar Pradesh administration.
The ‘strawberry girl’ Gurleen and her father used the drip irrigation system to a great extent for the seedlings that were planted in the one and a half-acre field, which prevented water wastage in parched areas like Bundelkhand. Due to the good yield of strawberries, its demand has increased, and the sales are getting better day by day.
To sell her strawberry produce online outside Jhansi, Gurleen Chawla has created a website, which goes by the name www.jhansiorganics.com
Besides producing strawberries, Gurleen has planned to use the remaining three acres of land for growing organic bell pepper, cabbage, tomatoes, cauliflower, and other seasonal vegetables to increase her income.
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