Army colonel transforms Manali orchard to chemical-free apple farming

After 30 years commanding soldiers, Colonel Divya Thakur came home to Manali with a different mission: revive his family's aging orchard by growing apples the way they used to, without chemicals.

The trees had spent decades absorbing pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. When Thakur took over, he made a deliberate choice to reverse that damage. He started with the soil itself, enriching it with jeevamrit—a mixture of cow dung, jaggery, soil and microbes that restores nutrients and rebuilds the microbial life the chemicals had killed. It's the kind of patient, systematic thinking that translates well from the barracks to the fields.

Water management came next. Manali sits in the fragile Himalayan ecosystem, where every drop counts. Thakur installed drip irrigation and rainwater harvesting systems, cutting water waste while keeping the orchard thriving through dry seasons. The precision appealed to his military mind: do more with less, and do it deliberately.

For pest control, he abandoned the spray bottle entirely. Instead, he uses neem oil, encourages beneficial insects, and relies on natural microbes to protect the trees. No shortcuts. No synthetic shields. Just the orchard defending itself the way it evolved to do.

Thakur didn't stop at his own farm. He underwent formal training in organic apple cultivation and now teaches neighboring farmers the methods he's learned. His first full organic harvest yielded 11 tonnes of certified apples—fruit that made it to markets across India. The trees are healthier. The soil is alive again. And he's shown other growers in the region that you don't need chemicals to get results; you need patience and understanding.

For Thakur, the shift from military service to farming wasn't really a shift at all. It was the same discipline applied to different ground: long-term thinking, protection of resources, and the kind of care that pays dividends across generations.