63-year-old Prem Chandra Sharma, popularly known as ‘Anaarwaale Sharma Ji’ locally for introducing Bhagua — a Maharashtrian variety of pomegranate in Uttarakhand has been named for the prestigious Padma Shri award for bringing ‘diversification’ in farming.

Sharma hails from a tribal village — Hataal-Sainj — in Tyuni tehsil of Chakrata block of Dehradun. His experiment with farming started back in the early 2000s when he realised that traditional crops are not a profitable venture anymore. Therefore, he turned his fields, producing maize, millet, and paddy, into fruit orchards. Today, Sharma, who has studied only till Class V is reaping — literally — the fruits of his venture and doing quite well.

“Our village is in a valley and my father had planted a pomegranate tree in our field. It bore a lot of fruits but all were worm-infested. The tree made me realise that this land is suitable for pomegranate cultivation. Later, I got that tree free from insects. From that one tree, I planted 500 saplings of Kandhari pomegranate by grafting technique. They all turned into fruit-bearing trees,” Sharma reminisced.

Later, he attended government-aided programmes for progressive farmers in Solapur, Maharashtra where he learnt about the Solapuri pomegranate which has high market demand. Once back in Chakrata, he uprooted all the trees in his orchard and grew 2,000 Maharashtrian pomegranates. Soon, his Solapuri pomegranate turned into a bumper crop. He now makes a decent profit of Rs 15 lakh annually.

Meenakshi Joshi, district horticulture officer, Dehradun, said, “He got this award due to his intensive works in diversifying horticulture. From manufacturing’ organic products to experimenting with latest techniques like drip farming; his innovative steps won him laurels. He has also proved that migration is not the solution for unemployment. An individual has to be creative with the limited resources available.”

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