Pomegranate pioneer: How a Punjab farmer found success, big money in Maharashtra fruit

Indian Express

13-07-2025

It all started as an experiment when Karamjeet Singh (50), of Chano village in Fatehgarh Sahib, planted a pomegranate trees on a piece of his farm land. As the plants bore fruit, and yielded him good money, the farmer increased the area under the fruit to 2 acres. He is currently working on a plan to double this area. Reason: He is now earning between Rs 5 lakh to Rs 11 lakh per acre annually, depending on the crop yield.
A graduate who manages his family's agricultural and transport business, Karamjeet was inspired by pomegranate orchards in Maharashtra. 'We frequently travel to Maharashtra as part of our transport business. I noticed that pomegranate is one of the major crops there and farmers were making good money. It gave us the idea to experiment on our own land in 2020, starting with just one bigha (around five kanals),' he says.
Karamjeet says that now pomegranate is being promoted by the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU). He emphasizes that the success of a pomegranate orchard lies in proper initial planting.
'Farmers must dig a pit 3.5-feet deep and 3 ft wide, fill it with a mix of soil, cow dung, and vermicompost, and carefully plant a 2–3 inch sapling. The roots are extremely sensitive, and improper planting can lead to fruit cracking after four years, which ruins the crop,' he warns.
Sowing of pomegranate begins in January and continues through February. Once the plant turns a year old, flowering starts around February–March, leading to fruiting, and the harvest takes place in August, around 5–6 months later.
Though the plants start flowering in the first year, Karamjeet advises farmers not to allow fruiting during this period. 'It is essential to let the plant mature so that the fruit quality improves in later years,' he says, adding that farmers should ideally start harvesting from the second year.
The orchard is relatively low-maintenance. 'The initial cost is around Rs 70,000 to Rs 80,000 per acre, which includes plant purchase, pit preparation, labour, and setting up a drip irrigation system. After that, the annual expenditure is just Rs 20,000–25,000 per acre, which covers pruning, fertilisers like 25-kg each of Calcium Nitrate and DAP, organic manure, and labour for harvesting,' he explains.
However, pruning is a critical and technical task. 'It needs to be done twice a year, so we hire skilled labour from Maharashtra. Other than that, maintaining the orchard is quite easy,' he says, adding that the crop is not much affected by diseases, thanks to its thick and sour skin.
Each fruit weighs between 250 to 500 grams and has strong market demand. 'We sell it in the local wholesale market,' he says.
Now, his two-acre orchard has around 1,000 plants, spaced 3 to 4 meters apart, of the Bhagwa Red variety. 'Each well-maintained plant can yield 15–20 kg of fruit, which means 7,500 to 10,000 kg per acre,' says Karamjeet.
At wholesale rates of Rs 70–110 per kg, this translates to earnings of Rs 5–8 lakh per acre if the yield is 15 kg per plant, and Rs 7–11 lakh per acre if it reaches 20 kg per plant.
'In the worst-case scenario, even if market prices drop or yields are lower, a farmer can still easily earn a minimum of Rs 3 lakh per acre, which is far more than what wheat and paddy offer —together, they barely bring in Rs 80,000 to Rs 1 lakh per acre per year,' he adds.
Unlike water-guzzling paddy, pomegranate requires very little irrigation — just twice a year, typically in April and May. 'Experts actually advise minimal watering, but we water once during April and once in May during dry spells and the peak summer heat,' says Karamjeet.
He explains, 'For small plants, we use drip irrigation, while for mature plants, we apply flood irrigation twice a year. Even then, water usage is less than 10% of what paddy consumes.'
Now recognised as a pioneer in commercial pomegranate farming in the district, Karamjeet frequently hosts farmers who visit his fields. 'Some have already started growing pomegranates on a small scale. I tell them— this is patience farming. The real returns start showing in 4–5 years,' he says.
While he continues to grow wheat and paddy on the rest of his land, Karamjeet strongly believes that diversification is the future. 'In pomegranate farming, it takes 5–6 years to see the full potential. We've seen that now, and are expanding the area under cultivation. Even if a farmer allocates a small portion of land to orchards, vegetables, or pulses, his income can multiply—just like ours did. Plus, it also reduces pressure on groundwater by diverting area from paddy and wheat,' he says.
He adds, 'I'm now doubling the area under pomegranate using the high-density plantation method, where plants are grown just one metre apart. It's a different technique but highly efficient.'
By turning a Maharashtra-grown crop into a Punjab success story, Karamjeet Singh is offering not just a new model of farming, but also a much-needed economic lifeline for farmers trying to break free from the low-profit wheat-paddy cycle, says Dr. Jagdeep Singh, Assistant Director, Horticulture, Fatehgarh Sahib.
Karamjeet believes that Punjab's land is highly fertile, and with the right technical know-how, 'one can grow anything here.'