Magan Kamariya from Morbi village in Gujarat was a traditional vegetable farmer with a 15-acre land. On it, he would grow groundnut, cotton, cumin and other vegetables, but conventional farming failed to reap many profits. In fact, it barely helped his six-member family survive.
“Earlier, income had been very unsteady, we were earning only about Rs 14,000 an acre. Yearly profits never exceeded Rs 5 lakh. Less income made it difficult to meet expenses for education and daily needs of the family,” he recalls.
Unsatisfied with meagre earnings, he decided to quit and invest in another business. But in 2015, his son Chirag introduced him to a Thai variety of guava, which has since changed the game for this family. This new variety, supplemented with organic farming and adopting scientific techniques, has helped Magan grow around 1.5 kilos worth of guava, and earned him around Rs 20 lakh a year so far.
Adopting a new approach
Magan bought the Thai variety from a local nursery, and…