Hiren Kumar Bose

Shamkant Thange and his family have helped revive the local 'Tikhliya' mango variety by saving grafts from the branches of one tree. His 2-acre orchard now grows 200 mango trees.

Rajesh Shah loves Alphonso mangoes, and it is this love that stopped him from felling old trees planted by his grandfather. Instead, he used the 'girdling' technique that is quite popular with mango farmers in Gujarat.

While the process ultra high-density planting (UHDP) has been practised for years in Israel and South Africa, it is only recently being followed by a handful of enterprising farmers like 62-year-old Parmanand Gavane in Maharashtra.

Mukund Thakar, a floriculturist, in Pune's Maval district launched the Pawna Phul Utpadak Sangh, helping farmers diversify their produce and earn in lakhs. Their Valentine's Day consignment is their biggest yet with 7 lakh roses reaching as far as Jammu and Kashmir and Guwahati.

Popatrao Funde and his wife, Anuradha, are teachers at two Zila Parishad schools in Maharashtra. But that hasn't stopped them from reaching out to the needy.

Vikas Arote planted 3 kg of black rice on his farm in Akola, and the result was a crop that acquires a bluish-purple hue when cooked, owing to the agro-ecological conditions of the taluka. This unique variety of black rice has now been named Neela Bhat, which the Maharashtra government now plans to promote across Akola.

In an effort to popularise the cultivation of the fruit in Maharashtra, Desai has raised a nursery as well.

“I feel blessed that I have been worthy of my village. My savings have been wiped out, but I am confident that once my crops begin fruiting, I will be able to clear off my debts,” says Prof Kamate.

“When I introduced Sonchafa among Mogra sellers, they had neither heard of, nor seen such a flower; and so for weeks, I offered it to them for free as an incentive,” says D’Britto.

Having developed a nursery of the SS variety, Kshirsagar has sold saplings to more than 500 farmers. He believes that it is presently grown on 30,000 acres in Nashik district alone.