An Andhra Pradesh farmer, who quit his job during the Covid-19 pandemic, is now making hundreds of thousands, courtesy of an exotic fruit that sells for Rs 500 to Rs 600 per kg. He earns around Rs 30 lakh in revenue from gac fruit, which he grows on just five acres of land.
B Seshu Babu left his social welfare job in Hyderabad in 2020 and returned to his village, Ramireddipalli, in NTR district. He joined his family farm, where his father grew chillies, but later decided to try something different after climate change began affecting the crop.
“When climate change started affecting chilli cultivation adversely, I started thinking about trying other crops,” he told 30Stades.
Gac is an exotic fruit originally grown in Southeast Asia. It is becoming popular in India because it contains nutrients and antioxidants. It is often called a “superfruit” because of its high nutritional value.
Gac contains lycopene, an antioxidant also found in tomatoes, and beta-carotene, which the body converts into vitamin A.
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While searching online, Seshu Babu came across gac and found that a nursery in Andhra Pradesh was selling saplings imported from Vietnam. Since no one in his area was growing the fruit, he decided to give it a try.
In March 2023, Seshu planted 100 saplings on a quarter-acre plot. Each plant cost him around Rs 700. Within four months, the plants started bearing fruit. “The first harvest produced around 2,100 kg from 100 plants, which I sold for Rs 800 per kg,” he said.
A fully grown gac fruit can weigh between 750 grams and over 1 kg.
The first harvest brought in more than Rs 16 lakh in sales. Seshu then planned to expand his farm. He now grows around 300 gac plants on 75 cents of land.
Seshu says each female plant produces around 30 kg of fruit. His farm has about 210 female plants which gives him a harvest of more than 6,000 kg. He sells the fruit for Rs 500 to Rs 600 per kg. He has 90 male plants.
“For high fruit yield, we perform manual hand pollination, which is what makes this fruit so expensive,” Seshu said.
He revealed that an acre can accommodate around 400 to 450 plants, depending on the spacing. However, the support structure alone costs around Rs 4 lakh per acre. Seshu received a subsidy of Rs 1 lakh from the horticulture department to help with the cost.
He said that even if farmers harvest just five tonnes of gac fruit per acre and sell it for Rs 150 per kg, they can earn around Rs 7.5 lakh in revenue per acre before deducting costs.
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“Instead of depending on a wholesale mandi, I sell gac directly to consumers and buyers both online and offline. I also supply to customers in Hyderabad, including Lulu Mall. Middlemen are not involved,” he said.
Gac also has different uses depending on how ripe it is. The fruit starts out green and turns yellow, orange and then red. While the green and yellow fruits can be cooked as vegetables or added to curries, the ripe red fruit is sold as an exotic fruit.
Seshu follows organic farming methods and prepares his own farm inputs, including an organic biofertiliser called Ghana Jeevamrutham.
“I also make formulations using lemon and egg; fish and jaggery; and buttermilk. I apply them at different intervals. I follow a schedule of natural sprays and inputs instead of relying on chemicals,” he added.
He also grows other crops, such as dragon fruit, guava, papaya, lemon, apple ber and spine gourd, instead of depending on gac alone.
