KOCHI: Sixty cents of land with more than 600 fruits from all over the world. For Dr Hari Muraleedharan, the man behind the fruit wonderland Green Grama farm, his dream project which started off as a challenge has turned into an obsession. Dr Hari’s is an incredible journey that began from the research labs of Murugappa Chettiar Research Center in Chennai to flourish into a successful fruit farm; nurtured out of a weed overgrown plot of land.

“I had developed over 18 technologies during my stint at the research center. But after my mother fell ill, I resigned the job and came back home. Then, I decided to step into farming. But, the question of what to grow eluded me,” he said. It was during this time, he began making a chart of fruits. He set out to identify and chronicle various types of fruits. “My list of fruits started to grow and reached 400 in a matter of days. This piqued my curiosity and I began searching for more on social media and other platforms,” he said.

When he talked to experts regarding the cultivation of fruit trees, especially the expatriate varieties, many discouraged him. But this only made his resolve stronger. “I began sourcing saplings from tropical countries that have similar climatic conditions to ours. Whenever I hear about an exotic fruit, I search its source and procure it,” he said. Today, Hari acquires saplings from Thailand, Malaysia, African countries and other tropical nations.

Hari is now growing 40 new varieties and for one of his latest seed variety, he’s waiting to get patent. “The new variety of fruit is called Sweet 17 and has been developed after a research of seven and a half years. This is a variety of cherry that has been developed from the endemic ones found in the country,” he said. However, the new variety is sweet and tastes like plum, he added. 

“I don’t sell fruits, but those who visit my farm get to taste them,” he said. The farm sells saplings that cost between ` 300 to ` 18 lakhs. Besides growing fruit trees, Hari has also developed a bio-mix called Jeevamrutham. “The fertiliser is made up of 26 compounds which all herbal in nature and help plants grow fast,” Dr Hari Muraleedharan said.