When the world paused during the Covid-19 lockdown, Shreedatt Mahabaleshwar Ghaisas of Madkai, Ponda, Goa, did not sit idle. He turned to YouTube, discovered vertical farming, and planted the seed of an idea that has now grown into a lush, three-tier harvest. In a space where traditional farming would accommodate barely 350 vines, Shreedatt has packed an astonishing 3,000 black pepper plants into a mere 700-square-metre shade house. And they are truly thriving beyond expectation.
The numbers alone are staggering. Conventionally, 3,000 vines would have swallowed 6,000 square metres of land. Yet, Shreedatt's vertical design, built with 770 custom-made concrete pots, tells a different story. The pots, open from below for drainage, are stacked five high in columns. Four plants sit in each pot, yielding 20 vines per column. Enclosed in a 50 per cent shade net and protected from monkeys by sturdy fencing, this concrete-and-pepper jungle is a masterpiece of space-saving ingenuity.
But the real magic lies under the soil and inside the stem. Shreedatt brought red earth from his field, sterilised it completely, and filled every pot with it. “Because of this sterilized soil, I have not seen a single case of wilt on my farm,” he reveals. He then made a game-changing grafting choice: wild thippali (Piper longum) as the mother plant. Belonging to the same family, this hardy rootstock is naturally resistant to waterlogging and wilt, gifting every black pepper vine a robust, 15-year lifespan. The graft union, he cautions, demands proper maintenance; neglect it, and the plant shall snap.
Life inside the shade house is near-effortless. Automated foggers mist the entire structure for 15 minutes every morning and evening, eliminating physical watering completely. Cow dung forms the bulk of plant nutrition, while a twice-monthly foliar spray of micronutrients keeps leaves deep green. If any plant shows persistent yellowing, it is promptly discarded. Sticky traps tackle soft-bodied pests, and mulching sheets cover the whole floor, slashing the need for weeding. Looking ahead, Shreedatt plans to introduce bee hives for even better pollination.
What leaves every visitor in awe is the farm’s unbroken rhythm. Flowering to harvest takes eight months. The moment mature green spikes are handpicked and sun-dried, the next flowering cycle begins within four to five days. It is a continuous, third consecutive yield that the family harvests themselves, selling the prized pepper directly to Bagaytdars and retailers. Shreedatt, entirely self-invested, expects the plants to collectively touch a two-tonne output over the next two seasons, with each vine crossing the one-kilogram mark.
The venture has now grown beyond pepper. Shreedatt sells grafted bush pepper seedlings from his Madkai farm, spreading the idea to other farmers as well. “I saw vertical farming on YouTube during the lockdown. If I can do this on a tiny piece of land, anyone can,” he says simply. In a time when land is shrinking and climate stress is rising, Shreedatt's pepper haven proves that with the right rootstock, sterile soil, and a vertical vision, a small farmer can literally rise to the top, one concrete pot at a time.
