Originally reported and written in July 2022, this story has been republished as part of our archival content.

While pursuing a Bachelors in Business Administration (BBA) from England’s Bath University, an important part of Harshit Godha’s day was eating avocado.

As a fitness enthusiast, he made it a point to include the super food in his diet on a frequent basis. “Whenever I’d come back to India for summer vacations, I would notice that you don’t get good quality avocados here, especially in Bhopal,” he tells The Better India.

Back in the UK, he chanced upon the avocado packaging, which informed him that these were sourced from Israel. “It struck me that if Israel can grow avocados in such hot climate, we can do it in India too.” So in 2017, during the last semester of his BBA, Harshit had made up his mind to take up agriculture.

The result is a lush 5-acre farm where he grows about 1,800 avocados plants, as well as a nursery where he grows an additional 4,000 saplings. With these plants, he intends to create an orchard, and will sell the fruits three years from now. Meanwhile, he adds, the saplings in his nursery will be exported across India by next year.

The student gets a crash course

When Harshit entered the field of agriculture, he was on a mission to learn everything about avocado farming in Israel.

He started by sending cold emails to the Israeli avocado industry, asking if he could visit and learn from them. Soon, one farmer, Benny Weiss from Kibbutz Maagan, invited him to his farm. Today, Benny is still Harshit’s mentor.

During one of his summer breaks, Harshit visited Israel for a month on a tourist visa. Although this meant he couldn’t work, every morning between 5 am and 10 am he went to the farm, and took rigorous notes about the things they were doing. These included the varieties of avocado they planted, how the........

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