2024-10-07 18:21:37
New Delhi: If you are asked in which state in the country apple is cultivated, then you will take the name of Kashmir or Himachal Pradesh. If you are told that apple is also cultivated in Rajasthan, you will be shocked. You will wonder how an apple growing in cold regions can grow on the hot soil of Rajasthan. But it is 100 percent true. And Santosh Devi Khedar has made this true.
Santosh Devi cultivates fruits in Sikar, Rajasthan. There are 100 apple trees in his farm. The special thing is that they do organic farming. Each tree yields 80 kg of apples annually. Apart from farming, Santosh Devi also does nursery business. Santosh Devi does a business of about Rs 40 lakh annually from fruit farming and nursery.
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Cultivation in 50 degree temperature
Santosh Devi lives in Beri village of Sikar, Rajasthan. He started apple cultivation in the year 2015. During that time, he had planted 100 apple plants in a part of his 1.25 acre farm. Apple cultivation here was a big challenge because apple cultivation is done in cold regions. The temperature in his village reaches close to 45 degrees during the summer season.
Santosh Devi tells that she grows a special variety of Kheb. These are HRMNN 99 variety apples. These are apples which grow in high temperatures. She says that these apples were developed by a farmer from Himachal Pradesh. Also, it was supported by Ahmedabad-based National Innovation Foundation (NIF).
trusted myself
Santosh Devi was confident that she would be able to cultivate apples in such heat in Sikar. He also had experience in organic farming. With the help of experience and trust, he turned almost impossible tasks into possible ones. She says that when the soil is prepared organically and chemicals are not used, then anything can be cultivated easily.
Cultivation of other fruits also
Santosh Devi also has 220 pomegranate plants. About 60 kg of pomegranates are obtained from each plant annually. Apart from this, she also grows organic seasonal fruits, kinnow, lemon and sapota. She sells pomegranate at the rate of Rs 200 per kilogram. She also earns well from plant nurseries.
Santosh tells that she sells fruit plants through a nursery. These include saffron mango, sapota, seasonal, apple, guava, pomegranate and lemon. She earns approximately Rs 25 lakh annually from the nursery. Nursery is the biggest source of income. The remaining income comes from the sale of fruits.
What is the total earning?
Santosh says that she sells apples at the rate of Rs 150 to 200 per kg. She says buyers come to her Shekhawati agriculture farm and nursery to buy organic apples. She says that the taste of these apples is sweeter than other varieties of apples. She earns around Rs 40 lakh annually from fruit sales and nursery.