Exotic fruits

From quitting his corporate job to growing exotic crops, engineer-turned-farmer Vikrant Kale defied odds by cultivating apples in Maharashtra’s 44°C heat.

Meet Noorjahan & Kohitur — rare Indian mangoes once served to royals and now pre-booked months in advance for their rich taste and heritage.

After working in the corporate world, Vikrant Kale turned to his farming roots in Maharashtra. Interestingly, he transformed apple farming by cultivating up to 16,000 kg of apples annually in Maharashtra’s scorching 44°C heat.

Biju Narayanan, a mechanical engineer from Kannur, Kerala, transformed his family's unprofitable rubber farm into a thriving agro-business by adopting high-density and multi-level cropping techniques. His innovative approach has led to earnings of up to Rs 15 lakh per acre from exotic fruits like rambutan and mangosteen.

Anshul Mishra, a computer science graduate, returned to his roots in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, to transform barren ancestral land into a thriving dragon fruit farm. Combining fresh fruit sales with a lucrative nursery business, he now generates impressive profits.

Anushka Jaiswal, an economics graduate from Lucknow found her passion in farming. The 28-year-old grows exotic vegetables like red and yellow bell peppers, kale, bokchoy, lettuce and more.

Kerala-based Beena Tom uses her cooking skills to make a variety of dishes from flowers and fruits available in her backyard – from coconut, arecanut, mangoes, guavas, to butterfly peas. Her passion led her to establish a thriving enterprise ‘Bees of Beena’, where she sells homemade jams, pickles, squash, juices, chips, and honey.

Started in the apartment where she works as a domestic help, Assam's Priya Chhetri runs a small business to sell exotic fruits and nuts, with help from her employer.

Biju Narayanan of Kannur, Kerala, grows exotic fruits like rambutan, mangosteen, and pepper. Employing high-density farming and multi-level cropping, he now earns up to Rs 15 lakh per acre.

In 2021, corporate lawyer Keya Salot set up Farm2Fam to cultivate exotic berries in Maharashtra. Salot quit her job to grow fruits like raspberries and blueberries with the aim of reducing dependency on imported goods and focusing more on utilising resources locally available.