Nagaland, India, Has Transformed a Once-forested Hillside Into a Thriving Organic Fruit Orchard, Starting From a Single Sapling

His journey into fruit farming began with a visit to a friend's horticultural research center, where he was introduced to kiwifruit and dates and given two date palm saplings. One of the two saplings died, but the other survived and grew. The farmer multiplied the surviving tree to cultivate new date palms, and today he regards this original tree as the "mother tree" that forms the foundation of his orchard's production.

The land, initially an uncultivated forested slope, was arranged into three terraces where he first grew rice for about two years before converting it into a fruit orchard. The shift brought a significant boost to his income. While rice production earned him roughly 20,000–30,000 rupees annually, fruit production raised his yearly earnings to 300,000–400,000 rupees.

In a good year, sales of dates, kiwifruit, and saplings brought in a total of 1.1 million rupees. The farmer practices chemical-free agriculture, using a natural mixture of tobacco and ash to combat pests and nourishing his trees with compost made from fallen leaves and soil. He also mixes weeds back into the ground rather than discarding them, turning them into organic matter.

After working the orchard for years alongside his wife, the aging farmer purchased another more accessible plot of land and planted about 100 date palms there. He aims to continue the production that began with a single sapling years ago and leave behind an agricultural legacy for future generations.