P D Subbaiah

Meet Mr. Subbaya, a distinguished orange farmer hailing from Madikeri, renowned for cultivating the famous Coorg oranges. Through partnerships with Kerala vendors, he has successfully expanded the export of his premium oranges. His outstanding contributions to orange cultivation earned him the prestigious State-level Orange King award. Operating on a 13-acre plot, he plants 100 orange trees per acre within an innovative intercropping system. Each acre of his orchard yields an impressive annual income of two and a half lakhs. Raised on a coffee estate, Subbaya has cleverly diversified his income by incorporating pepper vines alongside his orange trees. This multi-cropping approach enables him to generate three distinct income streams from the same land. Coorg oranges, characterized by their small size and exquisite flavor, faced a daunting challenge decades ago when a virus threatened their existence. While many farmers abandoned orange cultivation, Subbaya persevered, rescuing and nu