「台灣芭樂改變了我的人生。」這是 Kapil 先生說的話，他最近轉職從事農業。自 2019 年 11 月 13 日開始，Kapil 先生因為新冠疫情而被迫辭去原來收銀員的工作，開始在他自己的農場務農。他是一個哈里亞納邦城市索尼帕特（Sonipat）附近村莊──Shahjadpur 的居民，前一份工作讓他必須搬到離家遙遠的印度西部。如今他返回家鄉成為一個真正的企業家，相信你讀完本文也會有同感。

不種傳統作物，嘗試台灣芭樂！

當地農民通常會種植稻米或小麥，這也是他們的主要作物。這類作物需要大量的水，但水在漫長的夏季很難取得。這裡的夏季從 3 月初開始一直延續到 6 月底，根據我的經驗，從 4 月底到 6 月初這段期間，溫度通常會達到攝氏 47-49 度。

Kapil 先生的好奇心與實驗精神，讓他想嘗試不同的務農方式。他聯繫了旁遮普的生技公司，取得台灣芭樂樹的種籽樣品。據他所說，一棵樹要價 160 盧比（折合台幣約 60 元）。他訂了 550 顆樹，規劃用一英畝（4046.85 平方公尺）的地來實現他的夢想計畫。生技公司替他送來這些樹苗，保證兩年的現場培訓，並留心這些樹苗的成長過程。

Kapil 先生有各種品種的台灣芭樂，包括粉色、紅色、白色、草莓、蘋果與梨子等。他驕傲地說在他的農場，草莓和蘋果品種的需求量最高，他的親戚朋友都得提前預訂才能獲得這些「異國芭樂」。

他接著分享，他的第一次收成是在種樹 8 個月內，並讓他賺了 55,000 盧比（折合台幣約 20,853 元），下一次收成則為他帶來超過 10 萬盧比的收益（折合台幣約 37,915 元）。從那時開始，他就不打算回去做以前的工作。

百分百有機、自足的承諾

一開始 Kapil 先生就確保他的農場是有機的，沒有合成肥料。他的願景就是要達成「百分百有機和自給自足。」他也信守對自己的承諾，在農場使用太陽能發電，替兩台冰箱、一台冷藏箱，和其他必要設備供電。他也使用混合栽培法，種植金盞花替芭樂樹阻擋果實蠅。

Kapil 先生還創新地種植了桃子、醋栗、檸檬和薄荷。近期他甚至開始養蜂，並計劃擴張。不同作物為他帶來很多優勢，比如種花吸引了各式昆蟲與蜜蜂，讓他能透過販售蜂蜜和蜂蠟獲得額外收入。

由於他富有遠見的心，讓他不斷拋出驚喜。平時 Kapil 先生使用丟棄的甘蔗皮作為肥料。由於他所在的地區十分炎熱，自然地，人們偏愛冷飲。過去當地的習慣是在甘蔗裡加冰塊，Kapil 推陳出新，利用過去用來存放冰淇淋的冰箱存放他現切的甘蔗，顧客能夠獲得新鮮現榨的甘蔗汁解渴。再一次地，我得強調冰箱是利用太陽能發電在運作。

「謝謝，台灣」

為了打造他的農場，獲得有機肥料和其他所需機器，Kapil 先生申請了政府的財務補助。他種植的台灣芭樂讓他成了村裡的名人，且因把台灣芭樂和有機農法引介到當地，而受到許多本地報紙的報導。他也很高興因為提供種植台灣芭樂的農民諮詢，而獲得了數個政府獎項。

他請我透過這篇文章轉吿台灣人，他很感謝台灣間接給予他的一切，這一切改變了他的人生。他只想說聲，「謝謝，台灣。」

備註：本文經作者授權翻譯、編輯，欲閱讀英文原文請參考下文：Taiwanese guavas changed my life。

Taiwanese guavas changed my life

“Taiwanese guavas changed my life". These were the words of Mr Kapil, who has recently turned his profession to farming. Since 13 November 2019, Mr Kapil shifted his gears from being a cash officer to working on his own farm. Mr. Kapil had to quit his job during the COVID-19 pandemic. He is a resident of Shahjadpur, a village near the Sonipat city of the state of Haryana. Upon asked to move to a state in the west of India far away from his village. He has come back later and become a true entrepreneur, you will agree to me on this by the time you reach this article’s end. His curious mind tried to look for different approaches to farming. The usual practice for the local farmers was to grow wheat or rice, which is the staple in the region. Such crops require a large quantity of water, which is hard to access in the long summer season. The summer here begins from early March to late June. In my experience, the temperature here begins to touch 47-49 degrees centigrade from late April till early June.

The experimental mind of Mr. Kapil made him reach out to a Biotech company in the state of Punjab for the supply of Taiwanese Guava tree samplings. As per him, such a plant cost him about 160 INR/tree (60.61 NTD at the current August 2022 price). Having one acre of land for his dream project, Mr. Kapil ordered 550 trees for his farm. The biotech company got them delivered with the assurance of 2 years of on-site training and marking the progress of his trees.

Mr. Kapil has a great varieties of Taiwanese guava. They are Pink, Red, White, Strawberry, Apple, and Pear. He proudly said that the strawberry and apple varieties are always in high demand from his farm. His relatives and friends must book in advance to get such exotic guavas.

Mr. Kapil shared that his first harvest of Taiwanese guavas occurred within 8months of planting the trees; it gave him a business of about 55,000 INR (20,853.77 NTD). The next crop led him to get more than 100,000 INR (37,915.95 NTD). Since then, he has not considered returning to do his previous job.

From the beginning, Mr. Kapil had ensured that his farm would be organic, involving no synthetic fertilizers. His vision, as he shared, is “to be 100% organic and self-sustaining". True to his words, Mr. Kapil runs his farm’s electricity through a solar-powered connection. Through the solar, he has run two refrigerators, one cooler, and other essential equipment on his farm. He has also used a mix-crop cultivation style where marigold flowers have been growing to ward off the fruit flies that come for the guava fruits.

Innovatively, Mr. Kapil has been growing peaches, gooseberries, lemon, and mint also in his farm. He is also recently trying his hands with beekeeping on the farm and planning to expand on it. Growing a variety of plants gives him multiple advantages. Such as flowers attract bees and other insects to the farm. And it helps him to get some additional income by selling the honey and the honey wax.

For the manure, Mr. Kapil uses the leftover sugarcane husk once it gets used up for its sweet juice. Again, Mr. Kapil never stops giving surprises due to his visionary mind. As the area where he is located is hot in nature, naturally, people prefer to have something cold. The usual trend is to add ice cubes to the sugarcane juice for the drink. It is where Mr. Kapil thought differently and instead used a refrigerator customarily used to keep ice cream to store his freshly cut sugarcane from his farm. Again, I want to stress that the fridge runs on solar energy. The customers get a nice cold, freshly squeezed sugarcane juice to quench their thirst in the hot weather.

To set up his farm, get organic manure and some machinery, Mr. Kapil has applied for financial support from the government. Due to the Taiwanese guavas, he grew, Mr. Kapil is a local celebrity in his village. He has been featured in various local newspapers due to his introduction of the Taiwanese guavas and organic farming approach. He is also thrilled to have received multiple awards from the government for consulting for other farmers to set up their own farm growing Taiwanese guavas.

He has requested me to humbly share this with Taiwanese that, he is thankful for what Taiwan got him indirectly and it has changed his life. He would like say, “Thank you, Taiwan”.

執行編輯：曾聖軒
核稿編輯：林欣蘋