How 5 Farmers Transformed Turmeric, Jackfruit, Chikoo, Banana & Jamun into Big Business

Every harvest season, Indian farmers face the same challenge: what to do with the excess produce that doesn’t fetch a fair price in the market?

While much of it risks going to waste, some enterprising farmers are turning this surplus into opportunity. By adopting small-scale, low-cost processing techniques, they are not only reducing post-harvest losses but also creating new income streams right at the farm gate.

Here are five such farmers who are showing how simple processing can transform the economics of agriculture:

1) Kanchan Verma

A BA graduate from Madhya Pradesh, Kanchan Verma turned to farming after marriage. Initially cultivating vegetables, wheat, and maize, she began turmeric farming in 2020, which proved highly profitable.

After harvesting, she processes the rhizomes into turmeric powder through washing, boiling, drying, peeling, and grinding. The 15-day process reduces 100 quintals to just 20 but fetches far better returns.

She now earns around Rs 3 lakh per acre annually against input costs of only Rs 50,000. Selling directly from her farm in one-kilo packets at Rs 150 per kg, she meets strong local demand with her organic produce.

2) Rani Sunny

At 57, Rani Sunny from Idukki turned jackfruit into a business opportunity by creating a wide range of value-added products. From a small room near her house, she developed dried jackfruit, jackfruit powder, frozen tender jackfruit, pulp, and even seed-based items.

These versatile products are further used to make supplements, cutlets, and burger patties. With her venture, Eden Jackfruit Products, she has turned innovation into a profitable enterprise.

Today, Rani earns up to Rs 8 lakh annually, proving how value addition and creativity can transform a humble fruit into a thriving business model.

3) Ninad, Achyut, and Latika Patil

In Maharashtra, the Patil family — Ninad, Achyut, and Latika — run Gold Orchards, where they use solar drying machines to process chikoo into innovative products.

Unlike traditional sun drying, which takes three to four days, solar dryers complete the process in just one day while extending shelf life from three to nine months.

The fruits retain 90 per cent of their nutrients, remain soft and candy-like, and are easier to store and transport. This innovation increased efficiency and enabled farmers to scale production from 50 kg to 250 kg annually.

As a result, Gold Orchards has seen sales grow by 40 percent every year.

4) Ashok and Kusum Gade

In Jalgaon, Maharashtra, Ashok and his wife Kusum turned bananas into a thriving business by creating value-added products. Faced with unstable markets, they experimented and innovated banana biscuits using banana, ghee, and sugar.

Alongside this, they produce chips, jam, candies, papad, sev, and laddus. Completely shifting away from selling raw bananas, they now sell 200–350 kg of biscuits weekly, earning Rs 50 lakh annually through their venture, Sankalp Enterprises.

5) Rajesh Oza

In October 2021, Rajesh Oza launchedTribalveda in Bera, aiming to reduce farmers’ losses from quick-spoiling jamun. Initially, convincing them was difficult, but his transparent approach — procuring produce, securing fair prices, and returning profits — built trust.

Soon, tribal women joined him in processing jamun into value-added products through cleaning, grading, sorting, storing, and packaging. This initiative enabled them to earn three times more than before.

Today, his start-up has grown into a brand with Rs 2 crore in revenue, empowering the local community while creating sustainable livelihoods.