India's Custard Apple Farmers Triple Yields in Droughts

Ashoka Shivareddy's family abandoned their farm in 2005 because chasing water cost more than their crops were worth. Now he's back on that same drought-prone land, harvesting 25 tonnes of fruit a year without digging a single expensive well.

The secret is custard apples, a knobbly fruit with sweet, creamy flesh that grows wild across southern India. Unlike traditional crops that demand constant irrigation, custard apple trees can survive months without water in areas that get less than three feet of rain annually.

Shivareddy became a software engineer after his family moved to the city, but farming never left his mind. In 2018, he returned to Kolar with a scientific approach: find crops that thrive on rainfall alone and resist pests naturally.

He planted custard apple trees closer together than typical farms and selected three varieties with different strengths. The gamble paid off with harvests that grow bigger each year and demand from both Indian and international markets.

Scientists have supercharged the fruit's potential. Dr. Sakthivel T and his team at the Indian Institute of Horticulture Research developed a hybrid called Arka Sahan that lasts a week at room temperature instead of spoiling in three days. Traditional varieties gave farmers only 30% usable pulp, but the new hybrid delivers 70% without requiring more land.

Farmer Navnath Malhari Kaspate spent 15 years cross-pollinating seeds he collected across India. His NMK-01 variety now produces 10 tonnes per acre and ships to the Gulf, Europe, and the United States. Temperature control during transport is tricky since even brief heat exposure shortens shelf life, but new packaging and overnight shipping solve most problems.

The Ripple Effect

The custard apple boom is bringing farmers back to land their families abandoned. Powder and frozen pulp forms are opening new markets in ice cream shops and bakeries worldwide, creating steady income that doesn't depend on monsoons.

Shivareddy plans to process his unsold fruit into pulp, eliminating waste while adding value. Researchers are developing techniques to keep extracted pulp from turning brown, which will expand its use in processed foods.

What started as wild trees growing along roadsides now offers hope to farming communities where water scarcity once meant certain failure. Demand keeps rising as more people discover the fruit that tastes like dessert and grows like a weed.