MAY WAS EXCITING and emotional for A. Limba Reddy and Kendre Balaji. While the rest of the world was reeling under the impact of Covid-19, these farmers, from different parts of Telangana, were eager for a 'bite of history'. Even as temperatures soared to over 40 degrees Celsius, both would visit their orchards daily to tend to fruit trees that were a misfit in the Deccan plateau. They had succeeded in cultivating apples, originally from snow-capped mountains in Central Asia, in tropical south India. “The fruit was very sweet,” said Reddy, his success perhaps enhancing the taste.
Reddy, 67, hails from Nizamabad district in southern Telangana. His five-acre orchard has around 500 apple trees. After he tasted the first apple, he wanted to delay the harvest as he felt that the crop was not mature. But as word spread about the crop, visitors flooded the orchard. Recently, a minister came calling, with a huge crowd and the media in tow. Despite Reddy's reservations that the apples were not ready, the visitors plucked, ate and appreciated them. “Now, I don't have any left,” said Reddy, with a laugh.
Reddy, an MSc in physics, took to farming around three decades ago, after stints as an entrepreneur and at a private firm. He said that he used to grow mango and guava, and wanted more varieties of fruit. “I watched a lot of YouTube videos and once stumbled across an apple variety that can be grown in a warm climate,” said Reddy. This was in November 2018. Reddy contacted farmer Hariman Sharma of Himachal Pradesh, who had developed the HRNM-99 variety.
“I placed an order for 500 saplings,” said Reddy. “He said that he can only deliver 200. I insisted that I wanted 500. He could sense my commitment and agreed.” In December, he received the plants by courier and planted them within a week. His friends and relatives wrote it off as a futile attempt.
Last summer, the trees bore apples the size of strawberries. This year, they got bigger and better. Did he do anything particular? “They need water like any other crop,” he said. “Since I have been preparing manure for other fruit trees, I used it for apple trees as well. It is not difficult to grow them.” His apples will hit the markets next year. “I was told that I can earn up to Rs10 lakh on each acre of apple trees,” he said. “I will be happy even if I get Rs5 lakh per acre every season.”
Balaji, 38, hails from Komaram Bheem district. He had a different reason to grow apples. “In 2013, I visited a doctor. I saw an old lady with her husband there,” he said. “The doctor told the lady that she had low haemoglobin and needed to eat fruits. He recommended apples and immediately asked the husband to buy fruit. While the patient waited, her husband came back with an apple. The old man could not afford more as each apple cost around Rs20. I decided that day that I will grow apples to make the fruit affordable to the poor people of my region.”
With the image of the poor old couple etched in his mind, Balaji began his quest. “I could not find anyone in south India who grew apples,” he said. “It took me more than a year of research before the next step. A friend in the Army, posted in Himachal Pradesh, send me apple plants. I planted them in a two-acre field.”
In 2015, after reading newspaper reports about him, scientists from Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, visited his farm and recommended the HRNM-99 variety. They supplied 150 sapling; he added 250 more later. Some of the older saplings did not survive; he now has 400 apple trees. The farm is located in a hilly terrain. So how does he ensure the good health of his crops? “On either side of the apple trees, I planted mango, pomegranate and sweet lime so that they protect the apple trees from harsh sunlight and heat,” said Balaji. “Marigolds have been also planted strategically so as to provide them with nutrients and also double as manure.”
Balaji's efforts were recognised by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on June 2—Telangana formation day—when he tasted an apple from his orchard. “He said it was very tasty,” said Balaji. The next year is going to be the most crucial for him as he intends to market his produce. “My aim is to sell in Telangana markets,” he said.
Both farmers said that scientists and agriculture experts have tasted the fruits and certified them to be of high quality and with more nutrients than the ones grown in northern India.
As a result, a number of Telangana farmers have lined up to follow in their footsteps. Vissa Kiran Reddy of Rhythu Swarajya Vedika, an NGO that works on farmers' issues, said that growing apples was a “crazy idea and is not an option for local farmers”. He added that the successful cases were an exception rather than the norm. “The climate and soil condition in this region are not suitable for apples,” he said. “This fruit cannot be grown even in the lower reaches in north India.”
But pragmatic views do not seem to matter much to dreamers like Balaji. As he already has the tag of Telangana's first apple farmer, he now has another wish: “I want apples grown in our state to be named after me; after all, I created history.”