Knowledge | Posted by Si Thu Aung
In the serene countryside of Kadaba in Karnataka’s Mangaluru, amidst lush green fields and swaying coconut palms, lies a farm painted in the vibrant colours of exotic fruits. The red and green rambutans, accompanied by the dark purple mangosteens, often beckon passers-by with a story of resilience and success.
Together, they generate nearly Rs 1 crore in annual revenue for 42-year-old Lohith Shetty.
Born into a farming family, Lohith’s story is one of rags to riches. He saw his father and uncles toil on their 21-acre farm, growing rubber, coconuts, areca nuts and cashews.
Despite having bigger aspirations as a child, financial challenges led him to discontinue his education after Class 10, prompting him to focus on finding ways to supplement his family’s income. After having tried his hand at different businesses, including a small shop and a restaurant, Lohith’s journey to becoming a millionaire would begin when he travelled to Dharmasthala to work on a farm.
Exotic fruits, new beginnings Still struggling to make ends meet for his family, Lohith took up a job at a stone quarry.
While he was working there, he would get a work reference from a friend — a reference that would change his life.
Over the next decade, Lohith’s job at a farm in Dharmasthala, about an hour’s drive away from his hometown, would give him access to the know-how of cultivating exotic fruits like rambutan, dragon fruit, and mangosteen.
This would become his front-row ticket to understanding progressive agricultural practices and novel methods to make farming a profitable venture.
(Rambutans ready for sale at Lohith’s farm)
“I worked for 10 years in an estate that grew rambutan and mangosteen. I got an idea about how these fruits are grown, where they come from, the ideal conditions for their growth and more,” Lohith tells The Better India.
After returning home in 2016 with his newfound knowledge, refined through years of hard work, Lohith decided to transform his expertise into a profitable enterprise.
Along with him, he had brought back a bunch of rambutan, mangosteen and dragon fruit seeds and cuttings. He began by leasing 20 acres of land. With the 21 acres his family already owned, he now had 41 acres to work with.
The next step was to source more plants, which he did from a nursery in Kerala.
In the next eight years, Lohith steadily capitalised on his advantage of being one of the first growers of exotic fruits in his region.
His ventures help him earn over Rs 1 crore every year.
(Lohith at his farm)
Lohith grows rambutan on 12 acres of land, has 500 dragon fruit plants and uses mangosteen as an intercrop in his existing areca nut plantation. He sells the rambutan for Rs 180 to Rs 300 per kg, mangosteen for Rs 350 to Rs 750 per kg, and dragonfruit for Rs 100 to Rs 150 per kg.
(A rambutan feast at the farm!)
Ref: How a Class 10 Dropout Became a Millionaire by Cultivating Rambutan & Dragonfruit (thebetterindia) Photo Credit-thebetterindia
