Agriculture

A retd. engineer from Bengaluru, Nataraja Upadhya has created a thriving urban jungle on his terrace with 300 varieties of trees that host 50 types of butterflies and about a dozen birds. Here's how he did it

John Varghese from Thrissur in Kerala began experimenting with aquaponics in 2019 on his terrace, and today, his garden has a wide variety of plants including tomato, brinjal and lettuce, as well as a banana tree.

Sudhanshu Kumar from Bihar has a fully automated farm with a wireless broadband connection, and incorporates scientific farming methods to grow a vast variety of fruit trees, including mangoes, lychees, jamuns, and dragonfruits. He earns around Rs 80 lakh a year

Ruchita Jagzap is an architect who shuffles between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. She is also an urban designer by profession and the mother to a 4-year-old and shares the joys of gardening during the lockdown and the experience of planting over 101 saplings in her society.

Raj Seelam from Hyderabad founded Sresta Natural Bioproducts to encourage farmers to grow organic food, which he sells under the brand 24 Mantra to help customers lead more sustainable lives

Mumbai-based Emgee Greens society claims to be garbage free for over two years. They've even recycle old cupboards and sinks into farming beds for their organic plants that supplements the residents' vegetable needs.

Mukesh and Chandramouli Pandey from Uttar Pradesh formed the Navchetna Agro Centre Producer Company Limited to convert cattle waste across 21 villages into vermicompost, which they export to countries including Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Nepal

Sewaram, a farmer from Uttar Pradesh, started growing strawberries alongside his usual sugarcane farming by dividing his 1-acre land, and now earns upto Rs 20,000 a month

Shankar Jaat from Salera village in Rajasthan grew the '1057 variety' of tomato using drip and mulching techniques increase both his harvest and income. He was trained by the Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation (BAIF) Research Foundation

Anirudh Chaoji from Nagpur used rainwater harvesting, crop rotation, and solar systems to revive the ecosystem of his ancestral land, while also resolving the man-animal conflict in near Umred Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary and Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve.