In a state where overseas migration has become a defining aspiration for many rural families, 30-year-old farmer Gurpreet Singh Sidhu chose to remain in Punjab and invest in agriculture, a decision he says has delivered financial stability and long-term asset growth.

Sidhu, a resident of Mansa district in Punjab, invested nearly Rs 22 lakh in 2022 to purchase 1.25 acres of farmland near Mansa city instead of using the money to move abroad. Four years later, he estimates the land is worth more than Rs 1 crore, while his horticulture-based farming operation generates daily income of roughly Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000.

“Had I gone abroad then, even after years of hard work I would probably not have earned more than Rs 50–60 lakh by now, and there would still be no guarantee of getting permanent residency,” Sidhu said.The decision runs counter to a broader trend across Punjab, where many families sell or mortgage agricultural land to finance migration to countries such as Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and Italy in search of employment opportunities and long-term residency.

Sidhu’s family originally owned 2.75 acres of farmland. Through additional purchases and leased land, the family now cultivates around six acres, including four acres owned outright. Rather than following Punjab’s conventional wheat-and-paddy cropping cycle, the family shifted entirely to vegetable and horticulture farming.

The transition began after repeated attempts by Sidhu to secure government employment failed. After graduation, he spent several years preparing for competitive examinations, including recruitment tests for Punjab Police, but said the available jobs offered limited income potential.“No job was offering me more than Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 a month,” he said.

At the time, the family was also facing financial pressure after suffering losses in its brick kiln business. Traditional farming on a small landholding was generating limited returns, prompting Sidhu to begin working full-time with his father, Jasveer Singh, and great-uncle Angrej Singh in 2017.

The family initially experimented with vegetable cultivation on one acre before expanding operations after seeing higher returns through direct retail sales.“We decided to sell our produce ourselves, and that decision proved transformative,” Sidhu said.By bypassing wholesale markets and intermediaries, the family found that retail sales to consumers produced substantially higher margins for several crops compared with mandi prices.

Encouraged by the results, they gradually expanded vegetable cultivation across their holdings.Today, the farming model relies on crop diversification, staggered sowing schedules and continuous harvesting cycles designed to maintain year-round production.The family cultivates between 15 and 16 vegetable varieties annually, including cauliflower, bitter gourd, bottle gourd, pumpkin and cluster beans.

Each acre is divided into multiple sections to allow different crops to be grown simultaneously at varying stages of maturity.“The moment one section becomes vacant, we sow another crop there, and by the time that becomes ready, harvesting from another section is already underway,” Sidhu said.

“So there is never a time when we do not have vegetables available for sale.”Depending on crop type, vegetables become ready for harvesting within 45 to 80 days, with produce collected every alternate day or several times each week.The family manages most farming operations independently, including nursery preparation, crop planning and rotation cycles.

According to Sidhu, cultivation costs range from roughly Rs 20,000 to Rs 60,000 per acre depending on the crop, while monthly returns after expenses can reach Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.2 lakh or more, depending on prevailing market prices.Each morning, freshly harvested vegetables are transported directly to a roadside retail point in Mansa city, where family members sell the produce themselves.

Sidhu acknowledged that direct selling initially carried social stigma.“In the beginning, it was difficult for me to sit on the roadside and sell vegetables because there was fear of people’s taunts,” he said.He said perceptions changed after he compared the work to the kinds of jobs many migrants undertake abroad.

“Had I been in any foreign country, I would have done any kind of work there too,” he said. “Here, I am doing my own work. I own the land, I grow the crop, so why can’t I sell my own produce at my own rates?”The operation now provides year-round employment for four to five workers in addition to supporting the family’s income, according to Sidhu.

His father said the decision to invest in agriculture rather than migration altered the family’s long-term prospects.“My son’s decision is not just about farming — it is about vision and the courage to choose a different path,” Jasveer Singh said.

Sidhu said some friends who once planned to migrate overseas now contact him to say remaining in agriculture may have been the stronger financial decision.Agricultural economists and policymakers in Punjab have increasingly highlighted horticulture diversification and direct farm marketing as potential alternatives to the state’s long-standing dependence on water-intensive wheat and rice cultivation.

Rising input costs, falling groundwater levels and stagnating farm incomes have intensified pressure on small and medium farmers across the state.

Sidhu said his experience demonstrated that smaller landholdings could still become economically viable if farmers focused on crop diversity, direct sales and continuous production instead of relying solely on traditional procurement systems.