Genabhai Dargabhai Patel Biography 
Genabhai Dargabhai Patel is a handicapped farmer from Sarkari Goliya village of Banaskantha district of Gujarat, whose efforts to grow pomegranates helped him to earn the national civilian honour of Padma Shri in 2017. When a new section, “Unsung Heroes” was introduced to this award in 2017, he became one among 15 such unsung heroes whose efforts were honoured that year under this category. He developed new techniques in farming and transformed drought-hit Banaskantha district into one of the largest producers of pomegranate. Today around 60K people are directly or indirectly benefitted with his efforts. When routine farming earns Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 per acre land, his plantation gives 10 lakh profit.
Genabhai Dargabhai Patel was born into a poor farmer’s family in Gujarat. He is the youngest among four brothers and one sister. As he was born physically challenged, he was not supposed to help his father in farm, while his brothers did. His father also wanted him to study. He was sent to a hostel 30 km away from his village at an early age, and he sought the help of a tricycle for transportation. He studied till class 12 and returned back to village, as his illiterate parents were clueless what to do next.
He started accompanying his father and brothers to firm, and also helped them by driving tractor. He mastered the driving techniques after a lot of efforts. Soon, Genabhai became the best tractor driver in his village. His father was into traditional farming which witnessed a lot of water wastage, and they had to work hard round the year. He started looking for a crop which requires just one time plantation and gives returns for long, as his village was a drought-hit area. He researched with different fruits, beginning with mangoes and finally settled with pomegranate. Pomegranate flowers grow all year round and do not require constant attention, and hence he chose it.
In 2004, Genabhai brought 18,000 saplings from Maharashtra and planted in his farm with the help of his brothers. It was for the first time someone try pomegranate in that area, and for the same reason many thought he was mad. But he was pretty confident of the choice of his fruit, and his brothers and nephews also trusted him. By 2007, all his plants bear fruit and noticing his success a few farmers also planted pomegranate. He also started proper channels through which his crop was marketed, and the farmers started getting good profits.
Published: February 15, 2019
Updated: February 15, 2019
