Tripura Entrepreneur, Defying the Odds, Sets up Apple Orchard in own Backyard

By: Mrinal Banik

A farmer hailing from the Northeast Indian state of Tripura has achieved that which is considered "impossible" by many of his peers. Mithun Sarkar, a youth from Tripura’s Bamutia, is now an owner of his own apple orchard and to your utter surprise, he has grown this in his own field at Taltala village.

Apple is mainly known for being grown in colder temperature such as Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir. In Tripura markets, apples brought in from such regions have a huge demand. However, with homegrown apples now, there will be a tough competition soon.

According to Mithun, his orchard is ready to bear ripe fruits within a few months. He said that it was his effort and relentless endeavour that has brought this success for him.

Speaking to this reporter, Mithun said, “The relation between me and apples began in 2006 when I planted an apple tree in my house. My parents had uprooted the tree during some restoration work. However, I began exploring about this crop from 2018. Initially I failed miserably. In the following year, I planted a sapling once again after being well-versed in the subject through some online farming techniques.”

ALSO READ: How Assam’s Downtown Group is Helping Needy People & Journalists amid Lockdown

The Tripura lad, who is excited enough to see his trees shining with guava-shaped apples also said, “I am very much happy to see my crops reaching the prior of ready-harvest stage and I will surely share my work with others to reap similar benefits.” Notably, Mithun’s orchard is now two years old and it seems that in the next few months the apple-red ripe fruits will be hanging from his trees.

Gopal Malla, the Horticulture department head of Mohanpur sub-division in Tripura, who personally took interest in the project and sanctioned Rs 70,000 under the State’s Innovative Project scheme of the horticulture department said that they were just waiting for the day to examine the taste of the apples.

“The day, Mithun’s fruits will pass the taste examination, we will surely take up this fruit as a profit-making scheme for the farmers. Already, he has been extended support from the department under ATMA and innovative project scheme” he said.

On being asked on the future progress, he said, “The biggest challenge was to make these plants grow which had been already passed. Now, we were in the quest of the end-product. If the fruits hit the taste buds the way we were expecting, we will launch the crop in almost every block of Mohanpur sub-division at least with ten farmers in each block.” He also informed that before taking over it officially, each of the farmers would be trained well off regarding the crop.

But, there is a different aspect too. According to senior scientific officers of the Horticulture department, there is some work left to be done. “The primary aspects—growth of tree, blossom of flowers and arrival of fruits have shown satisfactory results. But, before the fruit is subjected to taste test, it is not possible to come to a conclusion. In other words, if it fails to match to the desired taste, its commercialization will not possible”, Malla added.

Mithun’s attempts have been appreciated by local leaders. MLA Krishnadhan Das, who visited his orchard hailed his courage and bold move to grow apples in the State. He also urged others to be fearless enough to work on unexplored endeavours.

Meanwhile, Horticulture superintendent Bimal Das said, some youths of Bisramganja area have also started working on apple cultivation and soon the department will extend support to them.

It may be mentioned here that Hariman Sharma, a progressive farmer hailing from Paniala village of Bilaspur district, has also developed an apple variety that can be grown in plain, tropical and subtropical areas. This apple variety does not require chilling hours for flowering and fruit setting.

Support Inside Northeast (InsideNE), an independent media platform that focuses on Citizen-centric stories from Northeast India that are surprising, inspiring, cinematic and emotionally relevant.