Narasimhappa Muttuluri gets very excited when he starts talking about pomegranates. There are pomegranates in the Arabian legends of the desert. Pomegranates in the folktales and songs from Kandahar in Afghanistan. There is, says Muttuluri, no less poetry in the ones he grows in Naramsimpalli in Andhra Pradesh.

Narasimhappa Muttuluri, who lives in Narsimpalli village in Tadimarri mandal of Anantapur district was selected for the rural development award ‘Grama Pragathi Puraskaram’

The 64-year-old farmer is aiming to get a crop of 150 tonnes of pomegranates from his 18 acres of farmland, when he grows the fruit in 2016. This in Anantpur, the area which gets the second lowest amount of rainfall after Jaisalmer in India. In his village, about two hours from Bangalore on the road to Hyderabad, Muttuluri, a former chief commissioner of income tax, raises some of the best quality pomegranates in the country without using an ounce of chemical fertilizer. His first crop in 2012 brought him 70 tonnes of fruit, and he was able to sell at Rs. 50 a kilogram. Last year the prices went up to Rs. 55 a kilo.

‘This is high value crop. Imagine if we could cultivate such a crop in many drought-ridden areas — wouldn’t that be magical? What could fight poverty among farmers and suicides better?’ says Muttuluri.

The five acre nursery for pomegranate plants ensures quality seedling for planting

Muttuluri also has a five acre nursery for pomegranate plants. Together, selling fruit and plants, he hopes to have an income of Rs. 1 crore this year. Of his 50 acres, what remains after pomegranate cultivation, he uses to grow millet and groundnuts.

Such is the demand for his pomegranates, rich in anti-oxidants and Vitamin C and used to fight everything from prostate cancer to diabetes, that many customer now directly call him to buy his fruit.

‘When a buyer in a big city starts to talk directly to a farmer, that’s when the revolution begins,’ smiles Muttuluri.