At 70, Hooghly Farmer, Develops Disease-Resistant Papaya, Earns more than 20 lakhs per year
Develops Disease-Resistant Papaya
Hooghly, West Bengal – At 70 years old, Krishna Chandra Halder, a farmer from Uttar Simlapal village in Hooghly district, has achieved a remarkable agricultural breakthrough by developing a disease-resistant, high-yielding papaya variety through traditional cross-breeding techniques.
Halder, a school dropout who has farmed his family’s land since 1976, was frustrated with the low yield and frequent disease attacks on native papaya plants. Determined to find a solution, he began experimenting with hand-pollination, crossing the popular hybrid variety Red Lady 786 with local papaya plants.
After years of trial and error, his efforts bore fruit in the form of a resilient new papaya strain that thrives in local conditions.
Also Read: Papaya Tree Diseases: Identification, Causes, and Effective Management
Today, Halder cultivates approximately 1,875 of these papaya plants across 3.5 bighas of land, producing an impressive about 75,000 kilograms of fruit annually. The fruits, weighing between 500–750 grams each, have bright orange, sweet pulp and are highly sought after in Kolkata markets for their quality and year-round availability. Halder earns an estimated ₹22.5 lakh per year from papaya sales alone.
Beyond personal success, Halder is now training neighboring farmers in his techniques, helping them adopt this robust papaya variety to increase their incomes. He credits guidance from experts at Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya for improving his cultivation practices.
Halder’s journey highlights how innovation and perseverance at the grassroots level can strengthen food security and transform rural livelihoods.
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