Young Tech Professionals In Telangana Turn To Honey, Avocado And Oil Palm Farming

Kamareddy: The younger generation is often believed to be chasing high-paying corporate jobs and business ventures, but the picture in Telangana is being painted differently. Here, a growing tribe of software engineers, traders and entrepreneurs are turning to layers of the earth, leaving behind lucrative careers in their quest for modern farming processes and techniques. While some are choosing honey and avocado, many others are picking up oil palm and cocoa over paddy, maize or cotton, earning huge profits and inspiring dozens of others to experiment with alternative crops.

Ramakrishna Reddy is one such software engineer from Hyderabad who sums up the mood of the forward thinking yet rooted techies. His journey began with curiosity and he pursued it as a hobby but today he is a driver of rural enterprise.

“I started honey production three years ago. I now manage 50 bee boxes and produce 60-100 kg of honey every month. I sell it at Rs 600 per kg,” said Ramakrishna, from Gunakal village of Nizamsagar mandal.

He plans to scale up to 200 bee boxes and is among the new-generation farmers proving that technology and agriculture can grow side by side.

In Issannapalli, Ragi Rajender, a precast entrepreneur from Nizamabad, is cultivating a crop that was once unthinkable for most farmers in the region - avocado.

“I moved around places like Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh for a year to understand avocado cultivation and spent nearly Rs 1 lakh just to gain knowledge,” he said. Four months ago, he began planting avocados on 2.5 acres, investing Rs 3 lakh. The plants will start yielding in two years.

Rajender has also planted Taiwan lemon and developed a mahogany garden, a tree variety whose wood is used to make guitars. For him, farming is not just business but an experiment in future-friendly agriculture.

In Errapahad village of Tadwai mandal, Anil Reddy is setting another precedent. “Three years ago, I wanted to do oil palm cultivation and I did. It was the first in the district. The crop will be ready for harvest in a few months,” he shared.

He is now preparing to introduce cocoa as an intercrop, sourcing 400 saplings from Eluru since they are not available locally.

With every step, farmers like Anil are diversifying the region’s crop landscape and showing that agriculture can be both profitable and innovative provided one has the zeal to experiment and determination to make farming ventures successful.

These young professionals, balancing laptops and land records, meetings and mulching are also rewriting a farmer's narrative. Their determination, research-driven approach and willingness to take risks are inspiring many first-time farmers across Kamareddy and Nizamabad. They are also proving that with planning, alternative crops and passion, agriculture can be both sustainable and rewarding.

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