Biocarve’s High Quality Seeds Help You Relish the True Joys of Gardening, Watching Your New Plants Grow from Seeds

• Q. Tell us about yourself and your background.
• I retired as Professor and Head of Plant Breeding from Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana in 2013. I worked on seed production for the university and development of rice cultivars throughout my career. I was interested in flower crops and started working on these in 1993 along with my younger brother. So kind of a modest start - started in a very small way, shipping only 25 kg of seeds in 1993. For the next 2 years, however, we could not supply any seeds because of the inbuilt problems of this business. We were not sure how to produce, so we were learning how to produce - learning how to grow the crops, what is the season, whether to grow on flat soil or on beds, what is the irrigation schedule we should follow, how should we harvest mature seeds, what are the diseases and insect pests, etc. We spent about three years doing R&D and learning about these problems and in 1996 we started doing exports.

• Q. Is this how Biocarve Seeds started?
• We initially started as Plantsman’s Seeds in 1993 with my younger brother but in 2007 he separated his business. Then I started Biocarve Seeds in 2008 with my younger son who joined me after doing B. Com and MBA. He had started working with us in the previous company but due to differences we could not continue. So we had to decide what to do. One way was to just leave it and do something else. The other way was to start a company and again produce seeds. So we chose to produce seeds, and in 2008 we started with this company, Biocarve Seeds.

• Q. Please can you explain how technology can improve seed quality for our readers who may be gardening enthusiasts?
• Technology always helps for better production and quality control, so technology is the key to success. We are working with 150 different varieties of crops and each has a different production technology, it has different protection technology - how to protect from diseases and insects - we had to learn everything. If we do not know or use the right technology, then what we produce will not be of quality. So to have a quality product we have to use right technology. What we are using here ensures that very high-quality seeds are produced. We are exporting something like 30-34 container loads to different countries every year. If the quality is not good and we are not taking care of the quality then the seed may get rejected in the country of import like USA or Europe and that will be a huge loss. So we have to apply needed technology so that whatever we ship has the highest quality, has the highest germination, has the required moisture condition and it does not carry any obnoxious weed seeds. Also, the seeds which we send abroad have very good flowering quality. For example, when we export Petunia Red Chief seeds it should have all the reds and if we have Petunia Alderman it should have all blues. So, in that case, we have to take help from technology that whatever we are producing is pure seeds, it is good quality seeds and it matches with whatever they have asked.

• Q. Why should someone buy seeds from Biocarve Seeds? Do you also provide guidance and training for planting and care?
• The first thing in flower growing is that whatever seeds you buy they should germinate. Most of the seeds you buy from the market have low germination. So these are the first quality parameters, if the seeds germinate 50% of the work is done. So whatever seeds you buy from us it is sure that they will germinate because no seeds go out of our premises if having good germination. So the seeds are tested for germination, and every 90 days all seeds are tested again. So whatever seeds go out, they have good germination. Secondly, the flower enthusiasts are happy if they get a flower that looks different than the normal flower of the same species.We supply world class varieties with world known names.
  
  For example, marigold, everybody knows - if instead of yellow marigold or orange marigold somebody gets a red marigold they will be very happy to see that. If he buys a white marigold, he will be happy to see that. So in that sense, the novice gardeners learn about growing the seeds.
  
  What we do is that in each seed packet, what we call ‘KGP (Kitchen Garden Packing)’, we put an instruction sheet on how to grow the seeds because seeds are very small. In petunia, there are 16,000 seeds per gram and in one packet there are hardly 100 or 200 seeds. They may not be able to even see these seeds very well. So we have to teach and so we give a write up. Though it is in English and some people might have problems reading it. But there are pictorial instructions also on how to grow the seeds. So following instructions they can germinate the seeds very well. When the germination is good, they can transplant it into the pots and they can really get a good flower when the seedling is 2-3 inch or four leaf tall.
  
  Also, on our website we have various blog posts where we teach everybody how to grow and germinate the seeds, what are the problems faced while growing, how to set up a good garden, what are the requirements of a garden so all those things are there on the website. So looking at biocarve.com one can get to know how to grow the seeds into flower plants.

• Q. How did you go from supplying seeds to the agricultural and horticulture industries to selling to gardening enthusiasts?
• We started selling online in India online 5-6 years ago where we now get around 100 to 200 orders a day. India is a very small market as far as flower seeds are concerned as compared to our export quantities. We are exporting something like 1,800 quintals of seeds. Whereas in India the total sale may not be more than 600-700 kg per annum. So that is a small quantity which we sell in India as compared to what we export.
  
  When we started it was not a good market but now it has improved. Now things are changing because of a few things - one is that people are sitting at home due to COVID for the last two years and they need something to do, so they start growing flowers. The second reason is a lot of flower exhibitions are being held in the country. When people see flower exhibitions and others winning awards, they think ‘why should I not grow such a flower which should win prizes’.
  
  More people are now getting interested in growing flowers and they want something which is unique. As compared to a few years ago, there wasn’t so much interest. I know people who at one time knew only about rose and marigold. We are now selling 150 varieties, which means about 60 flower crops. Things have changed with time, everybody now wants to have at least a few pots at home whether it is a terrace garden or a balcony or somewhere else. Online sales of flowering plants have also started. It is very good for us and it's very good for the seed industry also.

• Q. What are you trying to achieve through Biocarve Seeds?
• Well in Biocarve Seeds what we are doing is we are producing in about 80-90 acres of our own farm and we have around 180 farmers, who are doing contract farming. We are replacing wheat - instead of wheat, we are growing flower seed crops. Wheat gives something like ₹ 40,000.00 per acre (the gross return), and out of this about ₹ 8,000.00 is the expenditure and the farmer is left with around ₹ 32,000.00. Whereas flower crops give something like ₹ 1,00,000.00 - ₹ 1,50,000.00 per acre per season. Out of this the expenditure is about ₹ 30,000.00. So he gets around ₹ 70,000.00 - ₹ 1,20,000.00, which is about 3 to 4 times that of the wheat crop.
  
  So what we are trying to do is to diversify agriculture though the area is less. This year we had contract farming at 634 acres and another 90 acres at our farm - so about 700 acres this year. The wheat crop in Punjab is about 36 lakhs hectares, so we are not replacing much but whichever farmer is doing production with us is really earning a lot of money. Some have been with us since 1996 and they have really become rich because they are earning 4 times more than what they were with wheat. Our idea is this - one, that we should provide quality seeds to the local farmers or gardeners who are doing farming at their home, and second, is to replace wheat and diversify the crop production with a very high return crop. We have been able to replace crops with 180 farmers but there are limitations because the farmers want the payment immediately when they bring the crop in. There is no support from any other agency or government in this venture, otherwise we can increase area and benefit more farmers it but the increase means a lot more money to give to the farmers, which is not possible at high rate of bank interest.

Where Can You Find Them?

• Q. How do you ensure quality?
• Quality starts from the very beginning like from the sowing. So whatever seeds we are sowing they come from our buyers. We bring into the country through the import process and those seeds. So he knows what that seeds are, first thing.
  
  Second, if there are some off-types in that crop we visit farmers at least once every month. We are producing in Punjab, Haryana, Karnataka, and Rajasthan. So wherever our crop is we visit them every month and ensure there is no off-type. So all off-types are removed.
  
  The third is when the seeds come for grading or cleaning, we have to make sure that all the machines which we are using for cleaning are air cleaned. Every machine is fitted with air cleaners. We blow the seeds out from everywhere so that there is no mixture at all. And after that when the seeds are ready then we draw samples for purity. Purity means out of 100 seeds at least 99 seeds should be of that crop. And then there should be no obnoxious weed seed, there should be no diseased seeds and whatever 1% is left that may be some sand or chaff that’s all. So that is the quality we maintain. Once that quality is maintained then its germination is tested. Most of the seeds which we send out have 85% germination or more.
  
  The fourth is moisture content. The moisture content of the seeds which we pack and export should not be more than 9%. So we ensure all these things. These are all quality parameters and once these are met, then there is no problem at any level. We are known in the world for our quality, we compete with China, Tanzania, Denmark and with many other countries. People know our quality so they directly come to us.

• Q. Do you also provide training?
• Yes, we do, but for the last 2 years that's not happening because of the COVID norms, otherwise we used to get about 40 students from different places. At one time 10 students were allowed for one month. Students are taught how to grow the crop, then how to rougue crops, how to grade the seeds, then how to test germination purity and seed moisture. So all these things we teach to the final year students of BSc (Agriculture).

• Q. Do you grow flowers yourself and which ones are you partial to?
• I like it if you go for a flower which is long lasting then petunia is the one. Sow these flowers in the month of November and this keeps on flowering up to the end of May. And the flower that I start from the month of January and they are flowering for 5 months, so that's a very good flower. So far as other flowers like pansies, antirrhinum, calendulas, daisies - for me those flowers produce good seeds, because we have to export seeds. We like those flowers more, like pansies produce very good seeds, daisies produce very good seeds, even petunias are very good.

• Q. What are your own interests? How did you spend time during the lockdown?
• I do gardening at 90 acres as I told you. I read a lot - I never sleep without reading a book, I listen to old Hindi songs. I am 69 years old so I need energy to run. I get this energy from books. We have a group of friends who keep on bartering books. And also flower seed is my business - bread and butter - and also I live in flowers. We are very happy doing flower cultivation.