Harshit Godha, an urban farmer in Bhopal, was able to grow avocados in the extreme Bhopal heat!

Typically, avocados require temperatures between 20 to 30 degrees Celsius to grow well as it is a tropical to subtropical fruit that struggles with the hot and frosty winds of North India.

So how did Harshit manage it? Raised in Bhopal, farming was never on the cards for Harshit. Always interested in marketing, he went to the UK to study business.

“Avocados were very easily available to us and high in nutrition. I used to love eating them and consumed them almost every day in the UK. One day, I just flipped the box and saw the packing which said it was made in Israel,” he says. “Upon research, I found out that Israel has successfully grown various varieties under controlled conditions and has even made new hybrid varieties. The country has been exporting the fruit for decades now,” he adds.

Anticipating a rise in demand for the fruit in India, he decided to hop on the wagon sooner than others. “I decided to cut short an internship I was doing at the time and go to Israel. I found a farmer who was gracious enough to help me learn the entire process. I stayed with him, and he taught me the ins and outs of avocado farming,” he says.

After completing his training, he came back to Bhopal wanting to try his hand at farming.

“I brought my farmer friends over in 2018. My mentor and the nursery owner conducted soil tests and assessed the climate conditions in Bhopal. They also visited other farms growing citrus and mango. After evaluating the area, they suggested that a garden could thrive here,” he says.

In 2021, he got his first shipment of avocado plants from Israel, which he planted in his orchards. Harshit was able to grow this batch of avocados in a polyhouse nursery the same year.

Harshit also uses Israeli technology to irrigate his plants. He explains, “We employ advanced techniques that allow us to control water distribution precisely to the root zone of each plant. Instead of using flood irrigation, which wastes a significant amount of water, we ensure that each plant receives the exact amount of water and fertiliser it needs every day.”

Harshit currently sells avocado plants all over India, earning him a profit of Rs 1 crore.