People
He Rules The Roost Like A Maharaja: Argentina's Simmarpal Singh
IANS
A Sikh-Argentine who started a peanut farm only a few years ago, has now grown by leaps and bounds and become the "uncrowned king" of rice, soya and corn plantations in South America.
Simmarpal Singh's company Olam, based in Singapore, is one of the major rice traders of the world.
Simmarpal now has an area of 20,000 hectares of peanut farms. He grows soya and corn in 10,000 hectares, and has leased 1,700 hectares of land in Concordia in Entre Rios province for rice cultivation.
Argentines do not follow the Punjabi practice of ploughing the land nor the method of developing a nursery first and then transplanting the rice plants. The farmers here use the "no-till" method, also called "direct seeding".
The seeds are directly planted in the land with seeding machines. Fertilizer containing nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous is also added in the same hole where rice is put. Before planting, glyphosate herbicide is sprayed to kill the weeds. Spraying is done from an aircraft.
The rice fields are then watered with a water pump that works almost non-stop for 90 days till the rice seeds ripen. There is a water pump for every 70 hectares and there is a man to take care of the watering for every 140 hectares.
Argentina's rice yield per hectare is seven tonnes, which is almost double that of India. Argentina produces about 1.5 million tonnes of rice of which one million is exported.
Simmarpal Singh has impressed everyone with his Sikh work ethic and also with the pleasant Latino way in which he manages his Argentine employees.
He has cultivated commendable rapport with the Argentines in the same efficient way with which he cultivates the land. The Argentines admire this young Sardar's dynamism and adore his turban, thinking that he is a Maharaja, says a fan.
November 10, 2011
Conversation about this article
1: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), November 10, 2011, 4:12 PM.
My goodness! So smart and super successful, he is the epitome of what a Sikh should be and with a bit of extra 'cash flow' you can do anything and everything as a Sikh ... like visit Darbar Sahib twice a week from anywhere on Earth!
2: Kanwarjeet Singh (U.S.A.), November 10, 2011, 9:40 PM.
Now this is called a handsome Sardar! - all of us so-called Sikhs in U.S. / Canada / India / U.K. so desperately keen to 'fit-in' could learn a thing or two from this specimen of manhood!
3: Harinder (United Kingdom), November 15, 2011, 7:09 AM.
This is the kind of role models we need to breed - not the kind that wants to blend in with cowards! It's the kind we need as jathedars to lead the panth!
4: Harpreet Singh (Amritsar, Punjab), December 02, 2011, 3:52 AM.
Great work by a hard working Sardar.