Archive · 13 Aug 2026
Raptadu MLA Sunitha Studies Modern Agriculture in California
A leader from India named Sunitha traveled to the United States.
She wanted to learn how American farmers grow food.
Sunitha visited a big almond farm in California.
The farm was 175 acres big.
The farmer's family moved from Punjab, India to California a long time ago.
The almond trees on the farm were eight years old.
Each acre has 150 trees and makes about 1.6 tonnes of almonds.
Machines do a lot of the farm work.
Sunitha thinks farmers in her home state, Andhra Pradesh, can learn from these modern methods.
Raptadu MLA Paritala Sunitha inspected agricultural fields in California during a personal visit to the United States.
She toured a 175-acre almond orchard owned by a Sikh farmer whose family migrated from Punjab during India's Emergency period.
The eight-year-old orchard has a planting density of 150 trees per acre and yields an average of 1.6 tonnes per acre.
Local growers told her that individual landholdings in the region typically range from 100 to 3,000 acres.
Sunitha observed end-to-end mechanized harvesting and said Andhra Pradesh farmers can learn from American models of mechanization, yield enhancement, and post-harvest marketing.
- Who
- Raptadu MLA Paritala Sunitha, along with Sikh almond growers in California
- What
- Inspected modern American agricultural practices, including a 175-acre mechanized almond orchard
- When
- During a personal visit to the US (exact dates not specified); the farmer's family migrated during India's Emergency period
- Where
- California, United States
- Why
- To learn about advanced cultivation, mechanization, yield enhancement, and marketing approaches that could benefit farmers in Andhra Pradesh
- MLA
- Paritala Sunitha
- Constituency
- Raptadu, Andhra Pradesh
- Location visited
- California, United States
- Orchard
- 175-acre almond orchard owned by a Sikh farmer
- Orchard age
- 8 years
- Planting density
- 150 trees per acre
- Average yield
- 1.6 tonnes per acre
- Typical landholding size
- 100–3,000 acres