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Vikrant Kale at his farm in Ahmednagar (now Ahilyanagar) in Maharashtra
After completing his engineering in IT from Walchand Institute Of Technology, Solapur in 2012, Vikrant Kale decided to pursue a course in landscaping as it would combine his love for technology with the outdoors. “I studied landscape architecture at Fergusson College, Pune and began working,” says Vikrant.
He worked on landscaping projects at ISL Football Ground, Pune, Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Dehradun and others before calling it quits in 2016. “My family in Ahmednagar (now Ahilyanagar) near Shirdi wanted me to come back and help with our nursery business,” says Vikrant.
So he returned to work in the fields but decided to use his IT engineering knowledge on the ground. His family was growing traditional fruits like pomegranates.
"I began to find out about the latest farming technology and exotic fruits and flower plants that could be grown in Maharashtra. Apple was one of them besides white jamun, avocados and other exotic fruits,” the agripreneur says.
How apple grows in Maharashtra
It is well known that apples thrive well in cool regions with temperatures between 21 and 24 degrees Celsius during the growing season. They also need well-distributed rainfall and winter rest.
Vikrant credits two factors for apple farming in the hot region of Ahmednagar – the availability of new apple varieties which can be grown in warmer regions and climate change.
“In 2019, just before the COVID lockdown, I purchased apple stems of the Anna variety for grafting from a nursery in Solan, Himachal Pradesh,” he says.
The Anna apple is a cross between the Golden Delicious and Red Hadassiya varieties. It's a low-chill apple that can grow in warm climates. “I procured 800 stems at Rs150 per piece and grafted them on desi apple rootstock,” he says.
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He prepared the land by digging pits with a plant-to-plant gap of 9 ft and a row-to-row gap of 13 ft. Vikrant applied cow dung manure to improve soil fertility. He uses neem khali and other products to promote plant growth.
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“I planted 800 saplings over two acres. The height of Anna apple tree is low at around 10 ft to 12 ft and requires pruning once a year in June-July after harvesting,” he explains.
The plants started giving fruits after three years. The first-year yield is around 7kg to 8kg per plant and goes up to around 15 to 20kg in the fifth year, says Vikrant. With high demand, wholesalers come to Vikrant’s farm to buy apples at around Rs100 to Rs120 per kg. “We don’t go anywhere for marketing,” he says.
He also prepares saplings of apples at his Sanket Nursery and sells them at Rs130 a piece. “We started selling saplings only after trying the apples at our farm,” he adds.
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Growing exotic white jamun
Vikrant also grows the Thai white jamun variety over one acre of his farmland. “I saw this variety at a friend’s farm in Kerala in 2019 and bought the saplings at Rs300 per plant. The wholesale rate now has come down and we sell white jamun saplings in our nursery at Rs150 for a one-year-old plant,” Vikrant explains.
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He has planted over 200 plants in one acre though even 225 plants can be accommodated. The plant-to-plant gap is 12 ft and the row-to-row gap is 15 ft.
“While in the traditional purple jamun, fruiting takes four years, it starts in three years in white jamun, yielding 5 to 7 kg per plant that time,” he says.
After five years, one can harvest 20 to 25 kg of white jamun per plant. “Last year, I harvested around 14 kg per plant and sold it at Rs180 to Rs240 per kg, averaging around Rs200 per kg. The revenue per acre was around Rs5.5 lakh. After deducting labour and manure costs of Rs80,000 per year, the profit is over Rs4.5 lakh per acre annually,” he explains.
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A bigger source of income, however, from white jamun is the sale of their saplings through the nursery. “The market for white jamun is growing and in the last one year, I have sold around 15,000 to 20,000 saplings at Rs150 per piece,” he says.
The sale of white jamun saplings through the nursery brought an income of Rs22.5 lakh last year, taking the total revenue from white jamuns (including fruit sales) to Rs27.5 lakh.
“White jamun enters the market in April-May, around 1.5 to two months before black jamun. I make packs of sizes 200 gm, 500 gm and one kg and sell them in Shirdi and Vashi markets,” he says.
Unlike black jamuns, these white ones are sweet like grapes and do not leave any astringent taste in the mouth. “Also, while flowers of black jamun fall off when there is a lot of flowering, in white jamun, they don’t drop down. The plant height is 12 feet and has to be pruned annually in June-July after harvesting,” he adds.
(Rashmi Pratap is a Mumbai-based journalist specialising in financial, business and socio-economic reporting).
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