Solapur Farms Through the Lens of Energetic Mumbai Marathon

Last year, Pooja Siddharam Birajdar was helping some farmers as part of her volunteering with the Agro Forest initiative at the Tata Mumbai Marathon. However, she couldn’t get the same benefits as the other farmers and, hence, this year, she has been able to transfer her father-in-law's land into her name and applied to be the beneficiary of the initiative. As a result, she is now planting mangoes, lemons and Karvand trees along with her family. 

“In our remaining land, we are planting jowar, wheat, and harbara”, the volunteer-turned farmer says. Previously, through traditional farming, she would earn Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 25,000, which is now between Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 1.5 lakh. 

For the last 22 years, Tata Mumbai Marathon’s energetic running schedules and participants have kept up the energy of the city alive, but for the last two years, the farmers from Solapur have also been an instrumental part of this energetic spirit, all while overlooking their land. 

An agro forest initiative based on agri-hortic plantation principles has been identifying mid-size or low-income farmers with at least 3 acres of land, of which one acre is allocated to the project being handled by Procam International, a sports events company, along with the United Way Mumbai, an NGO and an official philanthropy partner of the marathon. 

From priests and volunteers to farmers

Aiming to move the farmers away from resource-intensive, traditional agricultural practices that require high water and fertiliser use, the groups involved in the work are providing farmers with high-yield saplings (such as Mango, Lemon, Guava, and Karvand) to ensure sustained revenue and environmental conservation.

In this three-year cycle, the Solapur farmers were provided with saplings, fencing, drip irrigation and technical support, all of which have begun to show the results. 

"My crops are growing much healthier and stronger than before. During tough times, my son and I used to bring tanker loads of water to ensure the plants got sufficient hydration. They (referring to the initiative) provided fencing, keeping animals like boars away from the fields,” Vaishali Lavkush Birajdar says, adding that she has started spotting birds and animals visiting the farm. 

MallayaBasaya Swami, who was a woodcutter, shares that the United Way Mumbai team guided her on the crops. “We are planting mangoes, lemons and guavas. The crops are growing healthier; we are sure to get better yields this time,” she says.

The work is simple: to blend short-term crops with long-term horticulture such as fruit-bearing trees, including mango, guava, karvand and lemon, creating a multi-layered agroforestry system that balances immediate income with sustained livelihoods, restores soil health, enhances biodiversity, deters pests, and secures farmer livelihoods through sustained harvests.

Solapur is a significant agricultural district in Maharashtra, which is usually known for crops like sugarcane, sunflower, wheat, pomegranate, and grapes—highlighting a large farming population, with Maharashtra consisting of around 4.5 million farmers (as of 2025 projections).

Being a drought-prone area, however, Solapur poses a lot of challenges in farming. It always hindered Revnayya Durdundayya Hiremath, who was a priest. "I used to be a full-time priest, but I always wanted to try farming. However, Solapur, being a drought-prone area, made it a constant challenge," he says. 

Last year, he was offered crop support. "I planted mango, lemon, and karvand trees, along with wheat as an intercrop for extra revenue. During tough times, I watered each plant by hand, carrying water in vessels with extra effort. Now, I have really grown to love farming," he says.

What Vilas Patil, another farmer from Solapur, loves is the fact that he has been able to install a solar panel on his own. While he was involved in traditional farming for several years, after being encouraged to plant trees on his limited land, he has been able to begin Agri horticulture. "Finally, a more stable future for my family," he says.

He has now also independently installed solar panels to resolve his farm’s electricity issues. "It now allows me to properly manage my crops and trees and ensures reliable power for irrigation," he says, adding, "As someone who works in a factory, this setup has made everything
much more efficient."

How is Mumbai running for the farmers

As the two years have begun to yield results, Ajay Govale, the Vice President (Climate and Community& Resiliency) from United Way Mumbai, says that they will analyse the complete cycle and move to a new geography after the third year. “For the current year, the initiative is focused on showing a proof of concept to the world, the runner community, and philanthropists,” he says ahead of the Marathon.

Through the registration phase, the runners participants get the options to upgrade to a recyclable Tyvek Green Bib during signup, identifying them as "TMM Evergreeners" committed to running with purpose— this purpose, which has been directly linked with the Solapur farmers. 

Under this, while the companies participating in the marathon have adopted full one-acre land parcels, runners, in their individual capacity, have the choice of supporting the project by funding as little as a single tree.

Talking about the funding through the marathon, Ajay Govale says, "Organic growth involves runners at the Tata Mumbai Marathon upgrading to the Green Bib, along with non-runners contributing voluntarily through direct donations."

"Every supported tree is geo-tagged, enabling contributors to access its exact location and monitor growth progress via the donor portal linked to PAN numbers. United Way also issues an 80G tax exemption certificate for all contributors," says Neha Kandalgaonkar, the Vice President Corporate Communications, from Procam International.

In the last two years, the initiative has resulted in a donation of more than Rs. 95 lakhs and a total of more than 14,500 trees have been planted with 41 acres revived across 41 benefited farmers.