Along the Belagavi–Sirsi highway near Haliyal in Uttara Kannada, red earth gives rise to a forest of mango saplings. Grafted stems rise in neat rows, stretching for kilometres — a quiet, green procession across the land.

The air carries the faint tang of moist soil and the rhythm of hands at work: farmers bending over tender shoots, tying, trimming, and nurturing them toward survival.

In villages like Havagi, Tergaon, and Antrolli, nursery yards hum with this craft.

“We use dried cow dung to fertilise the soil,” says 63-year-old Shanta Bhopal Karketi, her palms stained with earth. “The sapling must be strong from the beginning — only then will the orchard thrive.”

What began as a modest initiative in Tergaon has now spread across neighbouring villages, lining the highway for over four kilometres. Today, this stretch hosts more than 200 nurseries, each tended by families and ranging from half an acre to ten acres.

From small beginnings to a thriving ecosystem

Among the many nurseries are familiar local names — Jai Gurudev, Lakkaragoudra, R K Nursery, Guru, Krishna, Mailarlingeshwar, Samrudh, and Padmamba.

Each bag of soil holds more than a sapling. It carries the promise of orchards in distant lands, livelihoods for farming families, and a legacy passed down through generations.

Every year, nearly 50 lakh saplings leave these villages, loaded onto trucks bound for mango-growing regions across India — from Ratnagiri’s coastal slopes to Tamil Nadu’s plains, Pune’s peri-urban farms, and Andhra Pradesh’s emerging orchards.

What begins as a fragile shoot in Uttara Kannada’s........

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