Former Auto Mechanic Grows 22 Mango Varieties on One Tree! Earns Rs 50 Lakh/Year

 Having worked close to a decade for several Pune-based automobile majors, and now running a plant nursery that fetches him up to Rs 50 lakhs annually, Kakasaheb Sawant has come a long way

“When I

planted mangoes a decade ago, people laughed at me because they thought mangoes could only be grown in the Konkan, famous for its Hapus (Alphonso),” informs Sawant (43), dressed in a full-sleeved white shirt and dark trousers.

Sawant’s family, which includes his two primary school teacher brothers, own 20 acres of land in Antral village in Jat Taluka of Sangli district, Maharashtra. This is also a drought-prone region.

The village is home to over 280 families and is 15 km from the Jat town. Gifted with fertile black soil, the taluka comprises 125 villages and receives close to 570mm of rainfall. Their farming activities are at the mercy of nature’s vagaries, which locals term ‘hangami sheti’.

Farmers here either grow grapes or pomegranates and consider mangoes a ‘novelty’ and ‘exotic’. The preferred crops are bajra (pearl millet), maize, jowar (sorghum), wheat and pulses.

“Earlier, I worked as a faculty member for a technical institute at Sangli. When I was transferred, I decided to return to my village and take care of the family’s farmlands,” says Sawant, an automobile mechanic holding an Industrial Training Institute diploma.

He adds, “I have not regretted my decision as I earn much more today. I am also helping green the taluka through the fruit trees and wild plants that farmers and establishments like schools, panchayat offices, etc, source from my nursery.”

A Nursery Filled With ‘Exotic’ Fruit

Sawant established his mango orchard in 2010 and five years later, he saw a business opportunity in starting a nursery — Shri Banshankari Rop Vatika. To irrigate the trees he has laid two pipelines, both 4km long, to source water from the Mhaisal Irrigation Scheme of the Krishna river. Additionally, with a subsidy provided by the State’s Agriculture Department he has built a holding pond.

Currently, Sawant’s 15-member family resides in Banali, known for its deity Shri Banshankari and is 5 km from Antral. “In another two months we plan to move to our bungalow house in Antral which is under construction,” he says.

The family’s farm plots are equally divided into mango and non-mango orchards. The Kesar variety occupies 10 acres while the rest of the 10-acre plot has chikoos, pomegranates, custard apples, guava, tamarind, among other trees.

Sawant’s nursery has a shade-net and is spread across one acre while the mother plants, from where the saplings are grafted, stand on another 10 acres. These mother plants of the Kesar variety are the source for the scions to be grafted for the Raiwal mango variety’s rootstocks.