Agriculture

& Industry Survey

Business Opportunities
in Agriculture
150 Field Interviews

Vadamalai Media Group Publication

 CONTENTS

DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIST CONSULTANCY FOR

FLORICULTURE /
TRYING OUT THINGS AT
TURNED FARMER AND ECO-
HORTICULTURE BUSINESS BOTH ENDS
AGRI RESORT OWNER
Meeting farmers, educating and in
Ashok Malkarnekar, Partner, Robert de Bos, parallel selling the produce.
Dudhsagar Plantation, Goa Director/Consultant, Bangalore Parthasaradhi Nara, Founder and
Plants First Pvt Ltd. CEO, AnanthaNaturals
He is a Development Economist Mr Robert de Bos holds a Masters Perhaps owing to the fact that he hails from an
turned farmer and Eco-Agri Resort degree in International Agriculture agricultural family, even 11 years of IT could
Owner. He started following his passion and comes with extensive and rich not keep Mr Parthasaradhi Nara from giving in
for nature and settled down in Goa. experience in cultivation, local and to his agricultural dreams. “I started working on
He has worked in several continents and export marketing and international con- my farm since 2009 cultivating various horticul-
can speak several languages. He narrates sultancy. He has also worked around the ture and agricultural crops like fruits, vegetables,
his experience as farmer turned globe in places that include Netherlands, millets, spices etc. Gradually I got introduced
to natural farming in 2015. Since then I have
ecoagri resort owner. Colombia, Spain, Sultanate of Oman,
beeninto the practice of converting my farm into
(Page - 06) Kenya and India. (Page - 28) an organic farm. (Page - 28)

TRAINING PROGRAMME SCOPE OF AUTOMATION

COCOA CREATES VERY
FOR SUSTAINABLE IS MORE IN FARMING!
GOOD ALTERNATIVE
FARMING
INCOME
Rajendra Bhat, Agriculturist,
Prof. Nagendhiran Vishwanathan
Nisarg Mitra, Bendshil, Badlapur
Hari Mohan, Cocoa Agriculturist Founder of Suregrow Coimbatore
We have people being part of the agri- West Codavari District, AP
cultural sector because there is no other He is an automation engineer who
choice. We have others who bid farewellto Mr Hari Mohan is a lawyer turned has experimented with the possibilities
IT jobs and enter this zone for the passion agriculturist, who does not regret his de- of agriculture infused with automation.
of it trying to prove that agriculture too an In the process he has journeyed through
cision one bit. Although his fore fathers
be profitable – healthwise and monetory hydroponics, aeroponics
were into agriculture, he admits having
wise. Then, there is Mr Rajendra Bhat who and all the versions of farming
chooses to blow away all that dust and un- nothing to do with agriculture until he
decided to venture into it. without soil.
derstand that we receive from Earth so we
are boundto give it back. Sustenance of an
(Page - 96) (Page - 112)
ecosystem is his aim and vision. (Page - 69)
 CONTENTS

INTEGRATION STACK
COMMUNITY CONNECTING Farmers and
AND DATA-DRIVEN start-up entrepreneurs to customers,
SUPPORTED
AGRICULTURE MODEL brand building, & marketing support.
AGRICULTURE MODEL!
Mr Sriram Gopal, Ms. Jyotsna Kaur Habibullah
Ms Sumeet Kaur, Spudnik Farms Founder and CEO
Founder and CEO, FutureFarms
Lucknow Farmers’ Market, Lucknow
Mr. Sriram holds a degree in Engineer- A lawyer turned agriculturist, who
ing and another in Business. He is continues to seek justice for what she First of its kind, online sustainable plat-
founder and CEO of FutureFarm and stands for in her own unique way. form that supports Farmers, Artisans and
has, over the last 3-4 years, contributed Ms Sumeet Kaur works on a supply Entrepreneurs at all levels, aims at sustain-
immensely to the field of agriculture. chain model where, apart from encour- able living and a greener environment. She
“We are a vertical farming and hydro- aging excellent farming practices, she is interested in connecting farmers and
ponics tech company based out of India invests into building trust between the start-up entrepreneurs to customers, brand
- one of the first companies to set up consumer and farmer. building, and marketing support to farmers
hydroponics units in India. (Page - 128) and entrepreneurs.
(Page - 152)
(Page - 164)

ORGANIC FARMING PROFITABLE ORGANIC BRIGHT FUTURE FOR

EXPERIENCES FARMING FOR SMALL &
Mr Ashok Panwar, Farmer MORINGA
MARGINAL FARMERS
Rijgaon Village,
Dewar District, Madhya Pradesh Major Ved Prakash Sharma, Mr Kenath B Menon,
It is rare to find uneducated farmers who Gratitude Farms Private Limited CONSULTANT - FARM MANAGEMENT
are extremely proud of their profession. Talking to Major Ved Prakash Sharma
It is rare but they exist. Meet Mr Ashok After a 20-year Industrial stint & Export
opens our senses yet again to the fact
Panwar, a passionate farmer, who feels if a Business in the USA & Middle East
that serving the nation can be done in so
country cannot be resourced with healthy Mr.Kenath Balakrishna Menon is now in
many ways. Major Ved Prakash is a
food, there isn’t any need for farmers. Mr India. He has passion to be part of Agricul-
retired army officer who now helps retired
Ashok has received the Krishak Puraskar ture & Horticulture because life isn’t
at the Taluk level and has been recognised soldiers to become organic farming
just about making money, It is also about
at the block level for his innovative work entrepreneurs. “I served in the Indian
doing something worthwhile for the
on the fields like usage of solar pump, Army for 16 years and worked in the
Humanity.
vermicompost and net house for organic corporate worldtechnology sector for
(Page - 243)
farming. (Page - 172) another 16 years. (Page - 186)
 Development Economist
turned farmer and
Eco-Agri Resort Owner
Ashok Malkarnekar
Partner, Dudhsagar Plantation, Goa

H
e is a Development rigation systems. We had to set up these lished concept in countries like Italy
Economist turned farm- systems, bought cows, and installed and Spain. The concept is now increas-
er and Eco-Agri Resort biogas. We have been organic since the ingly gaining acceptance in India too.
Owner. He started fol- beginning. The land today is home to Our farm is near Dudhsagar Water-
lowing his passion for a diverse ecosystem with lots of fruits, falls which is a prominent tourist spot.
nature and settled down in Goa. He has spices, herbs, and vegetables. The main Thousands of visitors throng there ev-
worked in several continents and can crops are coconut, cashew nut and ery day. The Tambdi Surla waterfall, an
speak several languages. He narrates betelnut. We have a distillery where we ancient temple in the forest, Portuguese
his experience as farmer turned eco- produce cashew liquor. We do not use era heritage mansions, prehistoric rock
agri resort owner. pesticide. So the ecosystem is intact and carving sites, the Salaulim dam, and
vibrant. botanical gardens are also in the vicin-
We are fortunate to have a 50 acre ag- ity Thus by virtue of the location, we
ricultural property in the Eastern part Many people nowadays have realised already had a captive audience.
of Goa. We border on the Bhagwan Ma- that the city life is taking a toll on them
haveer Wildlife Sanctuary or Mollem and need to reconnect to rural life and When we started thinking about tour-
National Park. When we moved here in nature. Agritourism as a concept for ism, we had two business models in
the 80ies, it was a barren piece of land reconnecting with rural life and with mind. One is to host day tourists, where
devoid of electricity connection and ir- the source of our food is a well estab- people come into the plantation, par-
 guests. One group may want to see cer- and the noisy kind of guests, chances
tain areas only and are not interested are it will not go down well with them.
in other activities of the stay. Another So we should not cater to everybody’s
group may want to relax in natural en- request, and have clear dos and donts
vironment, book for multiple nights, in place.
wander around, enjoy the nature and
biodiversity. You will see another set of Now how do you promote your place
people who want to trek, explore trails, in case you are interested in starting
neighbourhood walks, birdwatching, this kind of a business? Walk-ins may
flora, and fauna. not be likely in rural areas. Website is
the easiest and straightforward tool
Though Goa has lot of potential, we to present yourself and make yourself
don’t have well-marked treks and trails known with a visiting card on the web
for exploring. So we have created maps, since most of the travellers do their re-
marked trails, and this has proved to search online. There are other listings
be very popular. Anyone who wants to such as Google Mybusiness, Tripadvi-
venture into this field can consider this sor etc., where travellers leave reviews
as this kind of information and guid- about the places, and other people can
ance can go a long way in creating a well get details about the quality of such
rounded experience. places. People tend to trust what oth-
ers say about you more than what you
People would want their kids to under- say about yourself. You can use such –
stand about rural lifestyle, food produc- hopefully positive - reviews as testimo-
tion, and their source. So harvesting or nials on your website.
milking cows can be an experience of
its kind and highlight of their visit. I Online Travel Agencies are also an op-
am also trying to bring in local people tion to promote your property, and a
on board to provide certain insights for good listing can get you a substantial
such tourists which will also provide flow of customers. This does come at a
them a little bit of side income. A lot of cost which would have to be factored
ticipate in a guided tour, local lunch, the everyday activities, even chores like in while developing your rates. Also,
and would purchase some souvenirs in pulling water from a well, can be inter- some people will find you on the portals
the farm shop. This is a high volume esting activities for city folk. So it is im- and still book directly if you give them
business, and margins tend to be thin portant to try to see things with a non good offers.
as substantial commissions have to be local perspective.
Even though travel agents are a more
incurred. We would have 100s of people
Cuisine plays a vital role in this indus- classic way of approaching, for a small
coming in, which would also involve
try. People like to enjoy local specialties, property it is cumbersome to contact
high operating cost as substantial staff-
and in our case, mostly vegetarian lo- them and enter into tieups with them.
ing would be required. For us, the sec-
cal meals are cooked. People love to eat Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp
ond model was to make our plantation
what they see grow
and its environment available for guests
and even more if
to experience in a slower way, by estab-
they are allowed to
lishing a homestay at the farm – we call
pick the vegetables
it a farmstay.
and cook. They can
As we were already frequently hosting go to fields, pluck
friends at the the plantation, we gave vegetables, and cook
this model a go. It involved only a small them for their meal.
investment, and less of a risk – we ini- It is farm to table
tially started hosting in cottages that we dining.
had built for our personal guests, and
created an additional little restaurant We do also fre-
space. quently get requests
for a night out. This
We started a website to share informa- tends to be noisy
tion and gauge the interest of people. with music and al-
With 2 cottages, we could easily man- cohol. If you have
age bookings manually. It is essential other guests staying
to undertsand the expectations of the at your place who
guests. There are different types of come to enjoy nature
are popular and can One key conclusion
make your presence is that at the time of
felt. There are also booking, it is abso-
newspapers with lutely essential to let
special editions, your guests know
magazines, and TV what they would
to sell your product. find at your place
We were for instance and what they would
featured on a FoxLife not get. Here, it is
show for our cashew better to undersell
liquor. You can also and overperform. It
invite travel bloggers is also important to
with good following send information on
to cooperate to im- how to reach your
prove your visibility, place so that there
its a low cost tool. is no confusion for
them. Communica-
As we got very good tion is very important
feedback we decided to add 3 in this sector.
more cottages, a natural water
pool with organic filtration and I spend a lot of time on answering
with no chlorine so that it does calls, emails, taking bookings etc.
not irritate skin. We also started It could be a full time job and can
a booking engine on our website be profitable too. Due to demon-
and a channel manager to coordi- etisation and pandemic outbreak,
nate bookings between the vari- things have slowed down a little,
ous online channels. It allows us but we are optimistic things will
to give instant confirmation and slowly turn around. In such a sit-
avoids double bookings. uation, you are at an advantage if
you operate with lean staff.
This is important as guests today
usually would like instant feedback, linen, and good food, so these are mini- Generally, it is advisable to start small
else they may start looking for other mum requirements. Guests also enjoy to test the water and see if this kind of
places. We have also introduced some getting involved with the work at the business is for you. With 5 cottages,
basic strategies of revenue manage- farm. We are hosting a Cashew Trail you can easily make around Rs. 1.5 to 2
ment, like calendar based pricing and which is a day long experience involv- lakhs per month. But for full time farm-
length of stay discounts. It may sound ing harvest, juice extraction, and liquor ers, this can also mean taking on a sec-
complicated, but it is easy with regard processing apart from roasting of nuts, ond full time job.
to revenue management. combined with a menu that revolves
around the cashew fruit and nut. These I suggest you get some help initially. I
In general, people look for cleanliness, type of experiences are not available in can offer my advice on the setting up
well ventilated, clean bathrooms, fresh standard hotels, so it becomes a USP. and technology part. I am also in the
process of setting up a portal for farmstays in India which
will offer networking, advice and free listings.

Which part of Goa are you from?

We are on the Eastern part of Goa. It is the area bounding to-
wards the Mollem National Park and about 35 kms from the
coast.

What is the minimum area you suggest for starting such

a resort?
We were fortunate to have a 50 acre plantation with our fam-
ily where we could do lot of things in house. If you are in a
rural setting and if you can tie up with the local people, it will
be good because it will be beneficial for the local economy.
When people come to the rural area, they may not want to be
cramped down and want to have space. Anything with one
or 2 acres should be ok. You may not call it a farm stay but a
rural home stay.

We are in the border of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. What

are the clearances we need from the government?
I think it differs from state to state. In Goa, you need to start
with the panchayat for your basic NOCs. For any kind of con-
struction, you willneed to go to the Town and Country Plan-
ning department. Depending on your area you may require Our people are trained in house andthey can work on both
forest clearance too. You need to register with the Tourism the farm and in tourism depending on the workload. We did
Department, take approval of the health department, and for not send anybody home during the pandemic.
the restaurant part, register with the Food and Drugs Admin-
istration.. Lot of clearances are required involving lot of time. Even though the homestay was closed for 6 months, every-
But it is better to follow the rules from the beginning to be on body was kept busy. Recurring cost may work out to Rs. 1.2
the safer side. lakh for the farm and homestay together.

Regarding the liquor you would be distilling in your Don’t you think 3 or 4 people are too low to meet the
place, do you need any particular license? Can we do requirement of the homestay?
it with jackfruit? We are doing a lot of work ourselves. I work as front office
Cashew liquor is a traditional beverage in Goa, and there is a guy, waiter, and also plumber. We work with low operational
very established framework of the excise department for auc- costs. Even if you don’t have guests, it will not be a problem as
tioning licenses and for the whole compliance. For jackfruit, you don’t have big operational costs.
this is not existing yet. You may have to consult the local ex- How about having ayurvedic massage or traditional
cise department for guidance. treatment for long-staying guests?
What are the taxes involved in this? How do show the We have been considering that. We are talking to an ayurvedic
details in Income Tax? doctor to provide services.
Like anyone else, we need to file the returns. Most of the pay- It will work out expensive if you want to have somebody on a
ments are coming in online, and there is not much of ques- full time basis for a small homestay like ours.
tion of cash. You have to pay GST if you go above the GST
threshold. Depending on your income, you can file income How to reach the resort from Tamil Nadu?
tax returns. You can come to Goa airport or Panjim railway station. From
there it is quite close.
How are you dealing with agriculture income?
Agricultural income needs to be shown separately as it is What is the cost for one weekend and normal week-
non-taxable, but will be relevant for determining your tax days?
slab. On normal weekdays rates start from Rs. 3000 per night in-
With 50 acres of land and 5 cottages, how many staff cluding breakfast for two.
are employed, and what is the recurring expenditure on
the whole? CONTACT :
We have about 10 to 12 staff regularly employed here. About Mr Ashok Malkarnekar
3 or4 would be employed in tourism. We have set up our sys- Email: ashok.malkarnekar@gmail.com
tem in such a way that we can use our manpower more or less Telephone: +919765364456
interchangeably. Web : www.dudhsagarplantation.com
CONSULTANCY for
floriculture / horticulture business
Robert de Bos, Director/Consultant, Bangalore Plants First Pvt Ltd.
Mr Robert de Bos holds a Masters degree in International Agriculture
and comes with extensive and rich experience in cultivation, local and
export marketing and international consultancy. He has also worked
around the globe in places that include Netherlands, Colombia, Spain,
Sultanate of Oman, Kenya and India.
Along with Ms.Rajeshwari K, he offers consultancy through Banga-
lore Plants First Pvt. Ltd. - a company popular among people in the
horticulture and floriculture business around the globe.
Mr.Robert de Bos has been in the Indian floriculture world almost from
its stage of infancy.
“20-25 years ago when the entrance of hi-tech floriculture took place
in India, the first difference was the entry of stemmed flowers in
the market. However, the export had to be shelved. This was due to
lack of strategy about development and cultivation. The investment
required back then was very high. The flower business is a very com-
petitive business where efficiency and production levels and quality
has to come together. Also, you are competing against extremely pro-
fessional countries like Africa and South America. There is a tremen-
dous production in Europe as well.
So, export of flowers did not develop in the manner we expected it to
happen in 1995. The quality of flowers were not good enough for the
export market. At that time, traditionally flowers were only sold in
kilos. Since the flowers meant for export were rejected, it went to the
local market. Having said that it was quite a short phase and since

W
then we have seen a tremendous amount of growth in the floriculture
industry.”

hen did things begin to change?

In the beginning of 2000 we entered a generation of
great floriculture. More people, with prior experi-
ence, came into the business and their experience
started showing on the production front. These
people were more successful than the first generation of floricul-
turists in India.
But now again there is stagnation as we have not revolutionized
since then. We still have the same green houses and cultivation
methods that we had 20 years ago. This perhaps owes to the fact
that people are unwilling to take risks to go to higher levels of
growth.
However there are people who have got into substrate growing
and today there are hi-tech fertigation units available to automate
irrigation and fertilization and this is a good improvement because
nutrient, pH and EC level of soil directly affects the quality of
plants. So, I do see development but in my opinion it should be
much faster than what it is now.
We have been exporting and also the local market has been im-
proving quite a bit over the years. There is quite a high demand for
flowers. When we compare the prices in India to that of exporting
flowers we see that sometimes it is hardly worth exporting the
flowers. To be highly competitive in the export market, the quality
 country like India, with varied climatic
conditions, green houses with retract-
able roofs would do a lot of good. I see
that the net houses and green houses
with retractable roofs are a tremen-
dous development. There is only one
point that I have to say- if you do sub-
strate growing you need to have very
professional people to calculate recipes
and check equipment that is extremely
precise to grow in realtion to crop ex-
pertise in the conditions prevalent.

Please brief us about the services of

Bangalore Plants First Pvt Ltd.
It started mainly as a company to pro-
duce plant material, focused mainly on
grafted rose plants. In the last 4 years
we have stopped producing plants. We
of packaging, transportation etc. comes Apart from polyhouse technology do
are now outsourcing making of plants
into play. Most often 20% of what you you know of other technologies to
to other nurseries and we are trading.
have gets rejected from being exported. grow flowers in India?
We are much more in consultancy and
People with large farms of course will I believe there are many parts in India
I do the bulk of the work myself. I sign
need more than just the local market to where net houses are cheaper and are
up for consultancy contracts especially
sustain. very good and sometimes even better
for establishment of medium and
Cultivation, market, technology and solutions than green houses. In fact
high tech green house projects ans
management are the four most impor- in March, April, May, your crops are
cultivation processes of vegetables and
tant points when it comes to the world better off in net houses than in green
flowers.
of flowers. houses. Again it is more experienced
in the vegetable growing Do you grow rose plant material and
In the current COVID-19 conditions, is For example, the company Triangle offer consultancy for rose cultivation
it a nightmare for flower growers? Farm and Simply Fresh – vegetable in open fields?
There has been many people who have growers working with net houses Yes, we do. It is just that we don’t do
opted out of this industry the world which is in fact lower investment in rose plant material making anymore
over because they were n’t able to terms of protection and increased tech- ourselves. We have outsourced that.
sustain the running cost of production. nology in terms of soil environment. But we do take full responsibility for
COVID is definitely a difficult situation It promotes full control of nutrients the plant material we supply. We know
but I do not believe that this is the end and irrigation of the substrates. It is that if we deliver plant material we
of the world for the industry. The mar- definitely a development which is ap- have to help the grower and collaborate
ket will pick up again and we will pick preciated. On the other hand, we have and deliver successfully. That is not
things up may be in a different manner retractable roof green houses. For a just restricted to roses anymore. We
owing to many restrictions that may
come up. I think till around Valentine’s
next year there will be a shortage in the
market. I think we can expect a good
year after all this for the floriculture as
well.
Coming to people in floriculture
switching to essential commodities
- that has never been the case. In 40
years it has not happened, flowers have
their own market. It is a case of how
the rates resurface and pick up. So,
for people who do go to another field,
it will only be temporary because the
market will pick up and then you will
see floriculture re-stabilizing. New
entries into the vegetable growing how-
ever are taking place and often more
revolutionary than in the floriculture.
 floriculture model in India only cater-
ing to the domestic market?
To set up a 5 hectare project of bulk
flowers - carnation, rose and gerbera
- there is lot of scope in the market. If
your flowers are of good quality then
it is just about being on a competitive
level to carve out a section of the Indian
market for yourself.
Today, flowers are not grown on a
huge scale owing to less subsidies that
are available. At the moment, there is
good opportunity to set up floriculture
projects.

What are the reasons for flori-entre-

preneurs failing in India?
Projects that are successful are the
have gone beyond that. I hope this year What is a good size project to start ones in which the entrepreneurs are
we can start a nursery with some other off with? involved in the cultivation on a daily
plant material. There are so many Always start small because there will basis. Sometimes people know what
crops we can work on quickly and yes be lot of learnings along the way. One needs to be done, but they just don’t do
of course, we will provide consultancy shouldn’t start with more than 5-7 it. It can be because of lack of infra-
and recommendations to make the acres or may be a max up to 15 acres, structure but many a times it is because
crop a success. depending on your team. of the lack of commitment from the
entrepreneur.
Is there still scope for newcomers to How are Indian flowers rated in the The entrepreneurs commitment
enter the floriculture sector in India? Netherlands for quality? contributes immensely to the success
There is tremendous scope. There are Quality is often misunderstood. If of a project. That involvement is a very
professionals from IT and other indus- we ask over here about quality, it is important thing. It is not just about
tries who are normally quite strong in presumed that the flower should have paying your dues in cash.
management and who provide higher a big head and a long stem. That is
efficiency. They can also bring in amaz- not the main criteria. Of course, they Are any of the initial Israel/Nether-
ing ideas into the marketing part of the fetch better prices than the smaller lands units of the 1990s still opera-
game. There are also so many crops to ones. But, the main criteria is that the tional successfully?
grow other than the conventional ones. flower is healthy. Owing to the climatic Few of them are still functioning. How-
The country is so large with so much of conditions of India, we have smaller ever, there has been a huge overhaul
population that marketing offers many bud sizes than in other countries. So, in terms of how flowers are grown as
opportunities. in comparison to other countries we compared to what we used to do in the
get paid less. But if the flower is not 90s. People have become much more
How does the export market look healthy we stand even poor chance professional. Earlier, this was not so
nowadays? at making profit. We will lose out. So and then the growers depended on
Because of the very strong local mar- flowers should be grown in a healthy foreign consultants who were too new
ket we set up green houses with simple environment with no residue or spots to the country’s conditions. When you
equipment. That is what the invest- on the flower. It should have a good work in a country, understanding the
ment is. We keep things much simpler. opening and good shelf life. So there cultural side also matters a lot. That
For export we need more technology to are people reaching that level im- was a very difficult start. Few of these
assure quality and high production. Do mensely and they deliver good flowers companies have continued and they
we still have a bit of trauma that high to Europe. If you go to Holland on are doing really well. There are a few in
investment will lead to failure in the a given day for a flower auction, the Pune and Bangalore who existed from
floriculture industry. number of Indian flowers are almost the beginning who are performing re-
We have projects in Bihar, UP etc. that negligible. ally well today.
are not really attractive places for rose Today, they are not looking at Indian
or carnation cultivation. For that we flowers at all. But APEDA did build a CONTACT :
should move to the Deccan Plateau market for Indian flowers with good Mr Robert de Bos
like in Bangalore, Maharashtra, etc. controls and so the good flowers are re- Bangalore Plants First
700-1200mt above sea level is a very ally appreciated in the export market. Phone - +91 (0)80 23086901
conducive climate for growing flowers Email-blrplantsfirst@gmail.com
and vegetables. Is it possible to set up a profitable www.blrplantsfirst.com
 Training programme for
sustainable farming
Rajendra Bhat, Agriculturist, Nisarg Mitra, Bendshil, Badlapur
ter harvesting as well. I currently have How long have you been practicing
180 types of plants on my plot. I have 50 agriculture?
varieties of mangoes alone. I make pick- I have been practicing organic agricul-
les, juices etc and whatever extra I have ture since 1999 and it is still on. Today,
I sell it off. Now, instead of burning fire- I am 63 and am still farming with great
wood we make coal out of the wood so zeal.
that the environment is also protected What crops do you grow on your
and we can cook our food too. My field field?
is full fledged now and all kinds of birds I do crops that give me output directly
and butterflies keep visiting my farm. and their supporting crops as well.
I conduct organic farming training ses- Bamboo, for me, is a supporting crop.
sions for people around me. I always I grow this for the utilization of space,
warn people of the mistakes I made so water and man power. For instance, I
that they can avoid them. I also make have planted climber vegetables - the
my customers aware of the agricultural spacing for these are 7x7 ft. In between
processes required to reduce pollution. that I grow cucumber climbers. Be-
I teach them about demand and supply neath that, I plant radish which takes 45
and also how to create a heathy eco sys- days to grow. To fix nitrogen in the soil,
tem. I plant small pulses as well which will
grow in 60-70 days. Once the nitrogen
Do you find agriculture to be profit- is fixed, I grow vegetables.
able?
From all that I read and understood, I It is a 30-45-60-90 pattern. This gives
realized that farming is a primary edu- maximum utilization of space, water
cation. Being an organic farmer is like and man power. I let the roots remain in
graduation and natural farming is post the soil when I harvest the top produce
graduation. With each type of farming, and let the composting happen there
itself. I try to keep my tilling low. This

F
we realize our needs decreasing. I have
rom a barren piece of land very less needs today. method is slightly different from the
to a lush green forest. traditional cropping. It is done in cubic
Whatever I need, I get it from my farm. meter versus the square metre as per
How did you do this? Whatever excess is there, like electric-
I started slow. I didn’t have traditional cropping.
ity, mobile bill etc. get fulfilled through
much money. I made mis- the agricultural training etc that I con- Do you conduct any training pro-
takes, learned from them and gradu- duct. So, yes my needs are met quite grams?
ally understood the language of nature. well. We do conduct training programs. We
Now I have a paddy field with single have 2 types of programs:
cropping and other parts of the land is
engaged in multiple cropping. Along
with this, I have rain water harvesting,
soil development etc happening on my
farm.
I follow certain principles. Biomass is
the primary element of the pyramid
and all of us are thriving above that.
Biomass converts to food which we
eat. Biomass coverts to timber wood.
It provides for the wood with which I
have furniture in my house. Biomass
converts into firewood. So, we have
chulhas in our house. Biomass converts
into green manure. I can make that on
my field. Biomass controls humidity
and temperature and helps in rainwa-
We have people being part of
the agricultural sector because
there is no other choice. We
have others who bid farewell
to IT jobs and enter this zone
for the passion of it trying to
prove that agriculture too can
be profitable – healthwise and
monetory wise. Then, there is
Mr Rajendra Bhat who chooses
to blow away all that dust and
understand that we receive
from Earth so we are bound
to give it back. Sustenance of 1. A continuous 15 month program on Are you open to visiting other
an ecosystem is his aim and my farm. It is like a gurukul system. farms?
vision. If the Government of It consists of yoga session at surise Yes, I am. As a consultant I visit other
Maharashtra decides to award to practical farming sessions until farms as well.
him with the prestigious Krishi sunset. There are 17 subjects covered, What message would you would like
Bhushan it is so well deserved! highly important for sustainable to convey through your farm?
farming, in my opinion. This even As an active RSS member, I am aligned
“I once read a book on our takes care of how the trainees can
environment and decided then to our motto ‘Sukhadam Varadham
plan their farm depending on where Matharam’ - our mother-land provides
itself that if I ever did farming, they are from and the soil/weather etc
I wouldn’t do green revolution the pursuits of happiness (sukhadam)
conditions at their place. and is the source of power and divine
farming. I planned exactly what
and how I want to go about Planning in accordance to the place favour (varadam).
cultivation. I also took the time at which the farm will be developed, I do my best to live this motto. As a
to visit multiple farms. When is always advisable to avoid mistakes farmer, I try to give Mother Earth what-
I started farming, I was sure and take the long-route learning. ever I can. I try enriching the environ-
that I need a forest area on my Also, it is highly important that each ment I live in. In fact, this is my entire
plot. One square metre of an farm is in sync with its ecosystem so family’s goal. We got this land bestowed
area in a forest can yield more that we keep nature’s balance. This on us from our forefathers. I, like all of
than two kilos of food naturally course costs 25,000/- for 15 days - stay you, am responsible of keeping the bal-
without using any external and food inclusive. ance so that generations after me also
inputs. Whereas in a farm, the can live in peace. I have this small river
2.The other is a day-program. This
same area gives 600 grams de- running nearby. I have a bund built at
costs Rs.1000/- with food and train-
spite adding artificial resources my expense, so that ground water is
ing.
like chemicals.” enriched. This is a contribution to re-
Both these are on-the-field trainings. solving some of the issues of the Earth.
Prior to being an agriculturist,
Mr Rajendra Bhat worked as How do people get to your farm? I have also tried to contribute back to
a mechanical engineer. At the Once you are in Mumbai, take a train the society by associating with an NGO
age of 35 he turned to agri- from VT station to Badlapur. It takes while doing my agriculture.
culture and the bond is still 1 and half hours to reach from VT sta- Can you please shed some light on
strong. tion. My village is 6km from Badlapur zero tilling?
station. Zero tilling is ensuring that soil is left
Today, Mr Rajendra Bhat’s
Nisarg Mitra can easily be mis- There are share autos that one can as undisturbed as possible when culti-
taken to be a forest. It is a lush hire at the railway station. You can vating. When I need to cultivate things
five-acre farm with 187 variet- find my farm, Nisarg Mitra, on Google like lady’s finger, I leave the roots there
ies of fruits, vegetables and Maps. after harvest. But cultivation of leafy
medicinal plants.
vegetables demands for you to disturb the soil. So, I follow a set up a rain water harvesting system?
slightly different version of zero tilling. I grow vegetables on Nothing significant actually. The borewell recharging facility
a permaculture bed. hardly cost Rs.5000/-. The bund I built over the stream cost
me about Rs. 1,60,000/-.
I plant brinjals at a 5ftx5ft spacing. It can thus be done with
zero tilling. I brush out the weeds and leave them there where What are the challenges that you are still facing?
it decomposes. This creates mulching which in turn creates Inconsistency of climatic conditions is a challenge. Tempera-
micro climate and micro-organisms in the soil. In future I ture keeps fluctuating which affects the flowering time of
would like to do paddy also without tilling. my mango trees. Pollution is rising so much that it is getting
uncontrollable and also the labor cost is spiraling high. All
You need to, hence, plan things to ensure zero tilling. farmers use weedicides and traces of that can get deposited
Can you tell us about your rain harvesting system? into my lake as well. I am still looking for solutions to these.
I ensure rain water harvesting primarily through 3 activities: What agricultural lessons would you want to share with
1. Mulching of the farm: When mulching happens on my our readers?
farm, the water that falls on the land, seeps right under the Try to develop the ecosystem around your farm. Try to con-
soil. trol the temperature and invest into rain water harvesting.
This is our duty to this earth and to all those generations yet
2. Recharging borewells: I have 4 bore wells on my farm. I to take birth. Now if I need to rear honey bees and take honey,
have customized it to have recharging facility. Whatever wa- then I need to provide what they need to thrive. So, building
ter that flows on the surface, flows and gets collected in the your ecosystem is highly important.
area made for it
We usually focus only on the crop and not on the supporting
3. Bund: The bund I made at the stream that flows nearby ecosystem. The ecosystem plays a very vital role in sustain-
also deposits water under the soil. able farming no matter how big or small your farm is.
This way I ensure that my land has a good amount of water Contact : Mr Rajendra Bhat
underneath. The water that gets stored in gets used with the Bible Road, Bendshil Village,
help of micro sprinklers. So, there is optimum usage and re- Badlapur - 421503,
charge of water. This way the water and air conditions of my Maharashtra
farm are maintained well. rajendrabhat727@gmail.com
How do you control pests on your farm? Mobile: 9324601272
Pest controlling can be done in
2-3 methods. There are certain
pests that feast on certain types
of plants and then there are a
few common pests as well. Since
I have multiple cropping, chanc-
es of pests are reduced. Then
there are trap crops that attract
the pests but they feast on the
pests once the pests get attract-
ed to them . I follow integrated
pest disease management. So, I
have light traps, sticky traps. If
it doesn’t come into control with
all this, which is very rare, I use
vercillium trichoderma.
Do you use any fertilizers?
I don’t use chemical fertilizers.
I have a cow and so I use cow’s
urine and dung as fertilizer.
From 2005, I stopped all that.
Now my farm runs on vegeta-
tion. I convert biomass into ma-
nure. With the waste derived,
we make oil cakes which is used
as a fertilizer.
How much did it cost you to
Trying out things
at both ends
Meeting farmers, educating
and in parallel selling the
produce.

Parthasaradhi Nara

H
Founder and CEO, AnanthaNaturals

ow do you plan on help-

ing with marketing farmer
produce? Perhaps owing to the fact that he hails from
I have travelled across an agricultural family, even 11 years of IT could not keep
Andhra Pradesh for 2 Mr Parthasaradhi Nara from giving in to his agricultural
years, volunteering in various programs
and thereby discussed issues, attended dreams. “I started working on my farm since 2009
meetings and planned various initia- cultivating various horticulture and agricultural crops like
tives. In parallel, we used to bring our fruits, vegetables, millets, spices etc. Gradually I got
farmer produce and sell them in vari-
ous communities at Hyderabad, Banga-
introduced to natural farming in 2015. Since then I have been
lore and in local markets as well. That into the practice of converting my farm into an organic farm.
is where we were trying out things at This got me even more interested in this field.”
both ends - meeting farmers, educating
Today, like the yester years the hardest part is selling agricultural
them and in parallel taking the produce
and selling them in the markets. This is produce. This is where Mr.Parathasaradhi plans on laying the bridge for
an unorganized sector. We do not have fellow farmers.
a continuous supply of produce. There “Since childhood I have been seeing this dilemma of marketing crop
are days when we have produce to give
away and there are days we do not. produce. I plan on creating a platform for marketing for organic
and natural farmers because that is quite a concern in
Tell us about AnandaNaturals. the agricultural sector.”
AnandaNaturals is a rural-based FPO.
Our idea is to get more farmers to go or-
Today, Mr.Parthasaradhi markets organic produce
ganic. We want to set up an end to send under the brand name AnandaNaturals.
service company at a village level. We
aim at creating opportunities within ru- set up online platforms to trade organ- erything we use as inputs on our farm,
ral India so that people migrate back to ic goods. We now want to enroll more we also provide consumers with pro-
the villages. We are slowly yet steadily farmers into our network. duce traceability. We are also building
getting there. We want all these set up at rural sites. our own website and over a period of
We have set up a small enterprise where We have farmers, marketing entity and time, we can work with more people.
we collect the produce from farmers. lots of like-minded supporters like ag- We are also working on a women entre-
We then clean, grade, sort the fruits etc. ricultural experts, engineers, software preneurship program in Bangalore and
Our nearest market is Bangalore. engineers etc. Hyderabad. We got women to build our
The thing is people take it for granted customer communities for us so that
that organic produce is expensive and Do you only source agricultural pro- they take orders from us, weekly, for
also that there is no traceability to its duce or do you have a farm of your the community they build.
roots. People may have the purchase own? Additionally we offer a lot of support
capacity when it comes to organic food We have our own orchard farms grow- price to farmers during drastic times.
but there are people who wouldn’t buy ing pomegranates, grapes, papaya etc. For example, prices for fruits like
because of trust issues. We have set up a The natural farming which we follow mosambi, sweet lime etc fell drastically
system wherein we shed insight about is inspired by Subhash Palekar from during these COVID times. We still
the produce we sell, to the communities Amaravati, Maharashtra. We follow his provided farmers with the minimum
we sell them. We have made them try principles wherein we use local avail- Rs.30 support price.
samples of our food and thereby creat- able resources etc. Using natural farm- Now, we have started exchanging seeds
ing trust. ing, we can reduce the input cost and among our farmers. We have communi-
We gradually built a customer network improve the soil in a systematic way. ty-wise WhatsApp groups in the urban
across Bangalore and Hyderabad. We Using this method we not just make ev- as well as rural communities. These
groups are not just for selling our pro- the country where you are at. As you any soil in any kind of climatic condi-
duce it is also a platform for exchange go through this process, there is NPOP tion. If you really want to get into soil
of tips, tricks and educating each other. and OP standard companies which are testing, there are institutions like In-
APEDA approved. You can get your dian Institute of Horticulture Research,
How many acres of land are you work- products certified through them. It Bangalore and other national institu-
ing on and what was your initial in- takes a couple of years for this to get tions and local, government-approved
vestment? accomplished. In the interim, you can soil testing labs too. This is there in
We have 90 acres of land where we in- sell your produce at a local market and every district. You just have to provide
tercrop fruits over 30 acres of land. On refrain from export until you get the them with a soil sample. There are a lot
the remaining land we grow millets, certification in place. There are plenty of parameters to be checked out.
red gram, groundnuts etc. We spend of companies exporting agricultural
around Rs.10,000/- per acre and we produce to countries across the globe. Are you open to people visiting and
make a profit of around Rs.30,000/- per staying over at your farm for a couple
year. We save around Rs.25,000/- in the Do you do contract farming with buy of days to learn how you do things?
dry-land agriculture. With the horticul- back commitment? Yes, we can have people visiting farms
ture crops, we can save up to an average No, we don’t do contract farming. We but we can’t accommodate many at the
of 1.5L - 2L per year. The investment that assist farmers with natural farming same time. A couple of people at a time
one has to put in depends on the crop. techniques. Farmers perform cultiva- is something we can consider. We will
tion individually and we support them have to plan out things for them. We are
What is your labor structure? in marketing their produce. open to the idea.
In terms of labor, we have some auto-
mation in place. For instance, jeevam- How important is it to sell organic Contact :
rutham application. produce under a brand name? Farm Address : AnanthaNaturals
We have 4 labor that is regular at our For that we need to have a trusted mech- Uppanesinapalli village, Chigicherla
farm. Again, it is not commercial cal- anism right from the beginning of farm- Post , Dharmavaram mandal
culation alone that determines things ing processes. In Indian communities it Anantapur district, A.P, India 515672
here. It is based on how much interest is very difficult especially in the rural Marketing Company details
people show. On an average, farmers a sector - there are too many challenges Mr. Parthasaradhi Nara
can make a profit of up to an average of to overcome. I am trying since the last Founder and CEO
1.5L - 2L per year. 5 years and I couldn’t do much. Despite Organic Anantha products LLP
providing them with knowledge and in- Mobile 9663367934
How do you gain customer confi- formation and demos, the change
dence? comes about at less than snail’s
We arrange meetings with community pace. One way around this for like
heads and explain our farming prac- minded people who can invest to
tices. We also provide them with food join up together and cultivate on a
samples. We follow this by setting up land of about 500 acre and brand
stalls with all our available produce and the produce. This is a viable solu-
sell our products. This is done for cus- tion. There are people who are do-
tomers to experience the price and the ing it as well.
produce. We then take down contact Community farming is anoth-
information of people who would like er method. This requires high
to buy produce from us and create spe- amounts of energy to keep moving
cific WhatsApp groups. Through these around and making sure things
groups also we keep communicating are done. In this case, we need
time and again about our farming prac- support from other people, NGOs,
tices. This way they have a clear picture government bodies, etc. If there is
of the traceability. all the support we can get, this too
can be a winning model.
How do we assure proper certification
of organic produce from India for ex- How to go about enriching soil
port? fertility?
First go to a local place, take a small In our natural farming practices,
holding of land and start experimenting we do not care much about soil
the required parameters. Then, explore testing. You need to develop the
towards creating the products relevant soil with natural farming inputs.
to your market. Over a period of time, soil is sure
Organic certification depends on the to get rejuvenated. It will then be
country which you need to cater to and strengthened to grow any crop in
Cocoa creates
How do you cultivate cocoa?
very good First you have to get the saplings. It is best to plant them as an inter-
crop between coconut. If your coconut is placed at a distance of 27ft,

alternative you can plant about 5 cocoa plants in between two coconut trees. After
24 months of plantation you will begin getting returns. Before planting
of course you have to treat the soil with organic matter and manure.

income You can plant these cocoa plants in between palm trees as well.
After a year, these plants grow up to 5-6ft.
It will develop 5 branches similar to an
Hari Mohan. Cocoa Agriculturist umbrella. After that you have to do regu-
West Codavari District, Andhra Pradesh lar pruning in the months of June - July.
The plants should not grow more than 10
Mr Hari Mohan is a lawyer turned agricul- ft. October to June is when you get peak
turist, who does not regret his decision yield from cocoa. The duration of the plant
one bit. Although his fore fathers were into is about 25 years. With good care, they
agriculture, he admits having nothing to do can go up to 30 years as well. You have to
with agriculture until he decided to venture regularly watch and replace the diseased
into it. plants, if any.
Mr Hari Mohan explains, “I came into the Irrigation
world of farming in the year 1998, when I If you have surplus water, flood irrigation
was practicing as a lawyer. At that time, I is the best for cocoa. Having said that we
came in contact with a few people through all know about drip irrigation. Drip can
whom I came to know that cocoa creates also be employed. The water requirement
very good alternative income for farmers. I is, for every 7 days, in summer season, the
inquired extensively about this after which fields must be irrigated. In monsoons, of
I decided to purchase a piece of land. course, this is not required. During mon-
soons, irrigation can be provided depending only on the ground mois-
I was extremely new to the farming field ture.
back then. Earlier to that I had no experi-
Manuring
ence even going to fields and watching how Provide 5-10 kgs of cow dung every year. The complex manure like
things were done. Upon purchasing the urea, ammonia, neem powder etc, can be used 200 grams in the first
land, I enquired about coconut trees and year in 2 regular intervals. Then, depending on the growth and re-
planted those. Around that time, Cadburys' quirement of the plant this must be increased.
started their agriculture sector here and
began giving away their cocoa saplings Harvesting
which was sold back then at 50p per You can expect a standard yield from the 36th month of planting your
crop.Cut the pod when it turns from green to yellowish color. Extract
sapling. I had my coconut at 27ft spacing.
the wet bean from the fruit. Keep it then in heaps and leave it for fer-
Since cocoa is a shade-loving plant it could
mentation for at least 5-6 days. Post that, it has to be dried in sunlight
be planted after 3-4 years of planting your
for more than 5-6 days until it dries fully. Ensure that it is left to dry on
coconuts. So, in 1991 I got in touch with a clean and flat cement surface. If you get 21 pieces which amounts to
Cadburys who had by then, started their 100 grams it can be considered a good yield.
sales and marketing sector here. They were
excellent guides. They told me how to plant What are the advantages of cultivating the cocoa?
cocoa etc. I bought their saplings. Cocoa is a tropical plant which is inherently a wild plant and so it
is highly resistant to natural calamities. With good support, it is an
On a one acre plot, you can plant about amazing plant to grow. Just ensure correct managerial procedures.
180 plants when you are inter cropping Prune the plant regularly such that it is shaped like an umbrella and
with coconut. After that I was stuck about the maximum height is not more than 15ft no matter what the age of
how to care for the plant. I then did a lot the plant is. With proper care at all stages from sowing the sapling to
of reading and I got a lot of information. I drying the bean you can make Rs.30,000 to Rs.40,000 every year. The
put to use all the information I gathered. market is very good. All the chocolate industry has a good demand for
As a result, I was able to and am still able cocoa and the payment system is pretty prompt. People come to your
to generate good income from cocoa. I took doorstep and take the produce. With the booming chocolate industry
time because during those days it was ex- the demand is very high.
tremely hard to source information. Today Statistics show that even if the cocoa cultivated land is doubled, it is not
it is available at your finger tips. Even the sufficient to satisfy the basic demand of the industry. With respect to
horticulture departments today are very marketing, the demand is very high compared to the production. You
much friendly and knowledgeable.”
can get your revenue based on the international market and
dollar value. These days it is Rs.120 owing to all the calami-
ties. But you can expect peak amounts of Rs.210. On an aver-
age you can get Rs.160. This is the assured amount you can
get every year. If you follow good agricultural procedures,
you will get 350 - 400 kgs per acre every year. 30-40% of your
revenue will go back into the field and the rest is your profit.
Just keep in mind that the quality of the bean is superior.
What are the main pests and diseases that can attack the
cocoa?
There are two types of diseases that I have come across so far:
1. Fungus attack: Post pruning, the plant is sensitive to fungal
attack at its branch ends. This can be avoided by using blue
copper or biotech.
always replaced diseased plants immediately. I keep my eyes
2. Caterpillars: Use chlorophyrophos to keep caterpillars at
open to ensure that this is caught and done regularly.
bay. Don't use it in huge amounts because whenever you use
it, cross pollination also decreases as this chemical affects Which variety of coconut should be planted along with co-
honey bees as well. Hence, use only a mild dose of chloro- coa - the tall or the dwarf variety?
phyrophus. Spray it only once in 10 days. Also, do not use the I would recommend, the dwarf variety. If you want longer co-
chlorophyrophus in its concentrated form. conut tree life, you will have to go for the tall variety.
Apart from these, stagnant water is not good for cocoa. The
soil should have good drainage properties. Please tell us if you do any kind of value addition?
I do not do any other value added product. I sell it directly to
After I plant coconuts, when is a good time to plant cocoa? Cadbury.
You can plant cocoa after 30-40 months after coconut plant-
ing. That will ensure enough shade for the cocoa plants. You How long does it take to get paid from companies like Cad-
will begin getting yield from coconut trees from the 4th year bury?
onward. You get hybrid varieties of cocoa also now. This en- They take only one day. The payments are very prompt. I
sures quicker yields. You generally get cocoa yield from the haven't had a difficulty on that front till date.
24th month but your standard yield begins from the 36th
month. Coconut yield begins from the 4th year onwards. Where are these companies located?
You can start making a regular income from the 7th year on- They come and take the product from your farm and they re-
wards. Before that also you will make money but it will be mit money into your account. They even come and pick up
only just enough to support your farming practices. one quintal. It is fairly easy to deal with them.

How much income can I make per acre considering coconut Has Cadbury ever refused to purchase from you? Do you
and cocoa? have a Plan B?
This depends on the area you are at Cadbury is a very good company to associate with. We have
as well. Here, we are selling coco- not had any issues with them till date. There are other local
nut for Rs.800-900. A good yield is chocolate companies that are in the game. They also come
about 350 - 400 kgs after you have and pick the product from you.
achieved stability. Per acre, after 6-7
years, you can get about Rs.800-Rs Is there any contract period agreement you get into with
1000 per plant and cocoa can fetch companies?
you a minimum of Rs.160 per plant. No, I do not have anything in writing from the company.
In terms of expenses, the max, on an
Have you sold to other private parties besides Cadbury?
average, you will incur is 40% of the
Yes, I have. I have not faced any problem from them as well.
revenue per acre. This is based on
The industry in general is doing well.
my practical experience, not based
on any bloated marketing figure. Would you be open to sharing Cadbury's details with oth-
ers?
For how many years would a cocoa
Yes, please get in touch with me for details.
plant yield effectively?
The lifespan of a cocoa plant is pro- CONTACT : Mr Hari Mohan Aduri
jected as 25 years on an average. My House no 23 A/6-68,Dr.Rajasekar Rao Street,
plants have completed 25 years but Rama Chandra Rao Pet, Eluru, West Godavari,
my trees are still doing well. One Andhra Pradesh, 534002
best practice I have done is I have Email : harimohanaduri@gmail.com Phone : 9440182180
 Scope of automation is more in farming!
Prof. Nagendhiran Vishwanathan, SUREGROW

P
rof. Nagendhiran Viswa- based farming. That is why I stepped the farming is done in a poly house, the
nathan, Founder of into hydroponics and aeroponics ini- produce doesn’t qualify for an organic
Suregrow is based out of tially. certification from an Indian perspec-
Coimbatore. He is an au- Later on, we developed ‘finite volume tive.
tomation engineer who soil-based farming’. It is the same as There are other countries which accept
has experimented with conventional organic farming but in farming in poly houses to be organic.
the possibilities of agriculture infused conventional farming you deal with an So, that perspective varies from country
with automation. In the process he has infinite volume of soil. Quite a lot of to country. So, by way of certification
journeyed through hydroponics, aero- problems associated with the current the produce is not organic but positive-
ponics and all the versions of farming farming is because of this factor. So, like ly one can have total control of avoiding
without soil. in hydroponics or aeroponics, we cul- any chemical usage whatsoever.
Team Suregrow has built around 70 tivate with limited amount of soil col-
commercial farms in India, predomi- lected in containers - we do it in pipes. Can you shed some light on the cost
nantly vertical farms. Most of them are The finite volume of soil gives us a lot of vs. profit aspect?
farms which do not employ soil. In the control over it and things get very easy. This is a very conscious evolution for
last one year, they have started building One can manually control the farm or it us. My research started off in 2007,
soil-based organic computerised verti- can be computerised.” when I was working as a teacher and
cal farms as well. we started off commercially in 2012.
The vegetable crops tried are broccoli, Organic Vs Inorganic We came to realize that technology-
mint, capsicum, cucumber, green peas, If you are not aware, farming done in- driven farming in India did not take off
basil, amaranthus, palak, lettuce and side a polyhouse does not qualify for an in a big way because of the costs. We are
microgreens. organic certificate. Although Suregrow a developing country and most impor-
Besides vegetables, they have tried their does not employ any chemicals, since tantly vegetable prices are the lowest
hand at strawberries and marigold as compared to any other country. That
well. posed a challenge. We realised that if
“I am not consigned to farming without are going to venture into technology
soil, alone. I do soil-based farming as driven farming, the infrastructure cost
well. Our realm of work involves com- should be one that is viable in India.
puterised soil-based farming as well. That was our challenge.
With my hands-on experience in au- Our effort to minimize costs drove us to
tomation I believed I could effectively a complete indigenous development of
contribute to the agricultural sector. our products. Over a period of time we
The scope of automation is more in were successful in getting everything
farming without soil compared to soil- done inhouse - right from the software
to electronic hardware, poly house fab- cept is spilled over from hydroponics enriched the soil with manure, etc. and
rication to the plant growing system and aeroponics where we use these in- we used the vermin-wash process the
fabrication. We are very proud about dividual nutrients so that we maintain same way we did for enrich media and
this. ideal conditions for the plant to thrive this also gave amazing results. In addi-
We are perhaps the only company throughout its lifetime. The same tech- tion to that, we have another gentleman
which have end to end expertise in do- nology can be extended to conventional based in Chennai and Kolkata, who
ing these things. In the process: farming as well. Conventional farming supplies us with certified organic nu-
1. Cost advantage: We can deliver at the can be tweaked a little bit to make it trients. He uses seaweed as well in his
cost that other operators in this field finite volume soil farming. It gives the nutrient pack.
cannot imagine. same results as hydroponics and aero-
2. After-support for our clients: Any- ponics. How are you planning on expanding
time our clients need software upgrade this business?
or tweak in hardware etc. we offer di- Do you use seaweed extracts as a I was not really focused on developing
rect support. Our support extends in nutrient in hydroponics? the business. I have been running the
the long run as well. Seaweed extract is being used in differ- business based on word of mouth ad-
ent ways. We get something called en- vertising. Having said that, it has been
Please share some more inputs re- riched media, which is pegged between good. We have had the highest number
lated to using computer automation hydroponics and finite volume soil of farms installed in India with no con-
in agriculture. based farming. scious effort towards developing the
Let us break it up into 2 based on agri- To make it simple, if you use coir pith business part of it. We have been more
cultural activities: for growing the plants, it is neutral focused on making the technology more
1. The common manual tasks: Tasks media and water soluble fertilizers are adaptable to this part of the world. That
like irrigation, fertilization, weeding, mixed in water to grow the plants. is what has been happening so far.
pest and disease management, etc. can Instead of plain coir pith, we also have Our confidence level has shot up and
be automated by slight modification enriched media where seaweed com- I believe we are geared to deliver very
and integration of computerization. post is also one of the ingredients that is powerful projects. I have faith that
2. The parameters: This is something used along with other ingredients like once we have a strong technology base
most people do not go to the extent of bone meal, etc. Use of enriched media the business part will automatically be
correcting, but when corrected you for growing the plants gives great re- taken care of.
stand to get magical results. The differ- sults. Having said that, this enriched
ent parameters are: media tends to exhaust as the plant Who are your clients?
a. Monitoring moisture in the soil: grows. We have clients across India. Like I
Excess moisture in the soil creates as We have set up a farm around 3 hours mentioned earlier, we have 70 farms
much trouble as soil dryness. A sim- from Coimbatore, where there is a ver- installed across India. We also work
ple and low cost automation ensures mi-composting unit. We extract vermi- in Sri Lanka and Malaysia - we have a
the plant with moisture in the desired wash from the vermi-composting unit. few farms there as well. We have some
amount. The vermi-wash is then sterilized and current projects going on in Malaysia as
b. pH level of the soil: Soil is heteroge- mixed with useful bacteria like nitrogen well and another one is about to com-
neous and the soil properties vary from fixing bacteria. We use this liquid to re- mence in Sri Lanka.
one place to the other. Each crop re- plenish the enriched media. These give Technology driven farming in Malay-
quires a particular pH factor. The soil’s great results. The catch - it costs 3 times sia and Sri Lanka are totally different
pH can be monitored and corrected us- that of neutral media. from that in India just because of the
ing computerization. That is where we adopted soil, which vegetable prices. I have seen cauliflower
Once you maintain the right pH and costs lower than enriched media. We getting sold there at 10 times the rate at
nutrient composition etc. in the soil, the
quality of the produce goes up.
3. Yield of the farm goes high.
The parameter details go a long way in
easing and giving precision to agricul-
tural practices and makes things ro-
bust. The biggest problem that people
face is the reliability of the crop. Very
often they face crop failures. Once the
parameters are right, the robustness of
the crop improves and hence its quality.
When we are given a patch of farm, we
can probe the soil in multiple places and
we can find out the amount of nitrogen,
phosphorous, potassium etc. This con-
 know farming so all that we need to do
for them is build the infrastructure and
explain how things are done. But, later
we realised that things weren’t that
easy and that people needed hand hold-
ing. That is when we hired an inhouse
horticulturist.
Now, our consultancy starts at the point
where we help the client choose the
right project. We have come to realise
that a project that is suitable for x may
not be suitable for y. We need to look
at how they would market as well and
which it is sold in India. This very as- pening. We supply vertical farming their potential. Looking at all aspects,
pect changes the whole project viabil- equipment to TNAU using which stu- we counsel them about the right project
ity; I get the freedom to employ quite a dents get to learn. From the automation and right size for them to start with.
lot of technology there. But here, I have and other technology point of view I After finalization of the project, we be-
to restrain myself from doing quite a deliver guest lectures at TNAU. We get gin with the turn key construction of
few things. a treasure of information from TNAU. the project. Once that is done, we hand
We have an inhouse horticulturist, hold them until harvest. This could be
Any thoughts on farming under Anita who happens to be from TNAU. for multiple crops or multiple cycles of
lights? She has done her PhD in Floriculture crops as well. Only then will the whole
Very often people come to me asking for but she is a hands on person and has exercise be comprehensive and suc-
farming under lights. We have a very her own vertical farm and hence has a cessful.
successful working model using which plethora of experience. In fact, if it is a large project, we can
we can grow plants under lights. But, I Once we do the engineering part for virtually run the project for them by
would warn people that it may not be a our clients, we hand over the farm to appointing qualified people. They just
viable idea in an Indian scenario. Ms Anita and she takes over. She then need to give us the space and invest on
To quote an example, we did a farm hand holds our customers until har- the infrastructure, we are open to run-
in Lucknow. It was a 2000 sq. ft ultra- vest. ning a farm on a profit sharing basis.
high density vertical farm. We provid- We don’t charge clients for our consul-
ed them with 14200 planting slots for tancy and even the first client who con- Read full article @ https://bit.
growing exotic vegetables and it was nected with us way back in 2012, still ly/2U3hkrI
completely climate controlled and it consults us. Contact : Prof.Nagendhiran Viswa-
was under lights. Initially, we used to walk off after nathan, ‘SureGrow’, Street 50A/1,
I had to provide 2W lighting per plant. building the infrastructure assuming Mariamman Kovil Street, Coimbatore
So, for just a 2000 sq. ft farm, I had to that the client will be able to take care - 641007 State Tamil Nadu
give 28400 W lighting, which had to be of the rest. From our initial discussions Phone-+91 9585286005
working for 18 hours a day. In terms with our clients, we assumed that they Email: suregrowfarm@gmail.com
of natural light, plants need 6 hours of
natural sunlight. Under artificial light-
ing, it would require 18 hours of expo-
sure. That translates to 28.4 units of
electricity consumed per hour. That is
511.2 units consumed for 18 hours for
just 2000 sq. ft installation per day. This
is only for the lights. We have other ma-
chines in play. This is stretching the
technology just for the wonder factor of
it all. It may not be a pragmatic solution
in India. We have to keep our restraint
and keep things simple so that we get
into a sustainable and viable model.

We understand that you associate a

lot with the Tamil Nadu Agricultural
University (TNAU)
There are very interesting things hap-
 Bright future for Moringa
KENATH B MENON, CONSULTANT - FARM MANAGEMENT

After a 20-year Industrial stint & Export Business in the USA & tissues in full quantum. Moringa
Middle East Mr.Kenath Balakrishna Menon is now in India. He has proves to be very beneficial
passion to be part of Agriculture & Horticulture because life isn’t for the human body. It is also
just about making money, It is also about doing something worth- said to prevent various types of
while for the Humanity. cancer because of Apoptosis-
“I was in my own business in the Middle East and United States. that is Programmed Progres-
Now,back in India and have three entities - Green Planet Agri, sive Cancer cell death. Regu-
Green and Brown Industries in Bangalore & Yosan Foods Pvt Ltd lates Hypertension & blood
Mumbai. We are basically into farm management, organic culti- sugar too.All of this has been
vation of chosen medicinal herbs particularly Moringa Oleifera, Researched out by Reputed
Tumeric, Tulasi etc. We cultivate in about 200 acres in Karnataka, Medical Groups in USA - NIH -
100 acres in Madhya Pradesh & 80 acres in Tamil Nadu. Also have National Institute of Health Bal-
cultivation in Maharashtra. We do buy back & cater to domestic timore & Johns Hopkins group
market plus Exports to USA, Europe & China etc of Hospitals & Medical college.
Kenath follows dense cultivation, i.e.they grow about 20,000 Also according to R & D they have conclusive evidence
plants in one acre for Moringa leaves and they get a reasonably that Moringa powder produces Androgenic effect by enhancing
good produce every year. They do about 6 times harvest of leaves. sexual drive through increased serum & Testicular Testosterone
He sees a bright future for Moringa. World market projection for levels,increased blood flow to the Male reproductive organs &
Moringa products from 2020 is about US DOLLAR Seven Billion per stimulating Nervous system to enhance the sexual desire - Libido.
year. 80% of above Exports from India. Moringa has no adverse cardio vascular effects for men.
“ Moringa leaves powder has 28-29% plant protein, 9 es- We add value to Organic Moringa dry leaves to produce
sential Amino acids, all essential vitamins, 46 anti oxidants with Powder,Capsules and Tablets.Moringa seed oil - BEN OIL is a very
Minerals Iron,Calcium,Magnesium,Manganese,Phosphorus,Potassi versatile product which is highly effective for skin.Ben Oil works
um & Zinc. Instead of all the synthetic stuff we get from pharmacies, wonders in removing black heads, blemishes,pimples, Acne, black

A
Moringa leaves powder being plant origin is absorbed into body lining below eyes, stretch marks etc.

re the leaves of the Moringa and attention you give to your plants direct exports and contractual agree-
better than the pods? the better will be the output and quality. ments with many buyers hence we do
Absolutely! Compared to Buy back.
the pods, the leaves are in- Can you tell us about your Buy back My forecast is there is a huge require-
grained with large quantities arrangements? ment provided we cultivate organically.
of protein, vitamins, minerals and anti- In the month of February this year I Moringa exports can happen to coun-
oxidants. The harvesting and hygienic was invited by a European group in tries like USA, Europe, Japan, China,
drying is very important. It should not Sweden & Prague to sign a contract for etc. All these countries emphasize
be exposed to larger temperatures. It Moringa. A few months prior to this a greatly on Organic quality.
should be at about 30 degree centigrade. group of Chinese visited my farm; they I have an advantage. I was dealing with
This is highly important for it to retain gave me an order for 96 Lac Moringa US FDA 1:1 for about 15 years. I know
all its richness. We use our technical ex- Tablets. First batch was despatched. their standard norms of quality and I
pertise to process moringa. By then CORONA VIRUS hence One always adhere to it 100%.So we see to it
full container of Moringa dry leaves that all our products conform to Inter-
Is Tamil Nadu a suitable place for Mo- was shipped to Shanghai Port. We have national quality standards.
ringa cultivation? I do buy back. But, only for high
Tamil Nadu is extremely good. quality produce.
Both Karnataka and Maharash-
tra are good for Moringa culti- Do you help farmers practice
vation. Also cultivate Moringa cultivation so as to reach this
in Sohagpur, Madhya Pradesh kind of Organic quality pro-
on 100 acres which is absolutely duce?
fabulous. Yes, I help crop selection,land
Many people grow Moringa but preparation, cultivation, harvest
seldom use most modern tech- and post harvest support and
niques. I have been growing buy back. I am very choosy I
20,000 plants in an acre without pick farms & farming commu-
hassles. The speciality is taking nity who are very sincere and
care of them well. The more care passionate doing agriculture.
 with 50% UV-treated HDPE on the effects.Organic Agriculture combines
roof and it is very effective.The tem- tradition, innovation & science to ben-
perature is within control limits. efit the shared environment & promote
fair relationships & a good quality of life
Do you know of people who would for all involved.
offer this kind of assistance to We use Organic farming methods
someone who intends to start small which combine Scientific knowledge
in about 1-2 acres of land? of ecology & modern technology with
If you are doing it on smaller plots traditional farming practices based on
of land, sufficient quantity yield will naturally occurring Biological process.
not be possible & logistical feasibil- While conventional Agriculture uses
ity is limited, hence we suggest to do synthetic pesticides & chemical fertil-
a minimum of 10 acres. In that case, izers, Organic farmers are restricted
I would strongly recommend to fo- by regulations to using Natural plant
cus on the drumsticks itself. You can based, Bio & organic pesticides & fertil-
then sell it in the market or the near- izers.
est town. You get about 15k - 16k ki- Of course, you can use Bio
Is there a minimum acreage required los per acre if you cultivate as per my Nitrogen,Bio Phosphorus,Bio
for you to support the cultivation? consultancy. Last year Drumsticks Potash, etc to ramp up the fer-
You should have at least 10-15 acres for were sold at the rate of Rs 300 - Rs 400 tility of your plot. The plants
things to be feasible for farming com- per kilo. Moringa for leaves and Drum- thereby get whatever they need.
munity and me. Also, I have to visit oc- sticks farming when done methodically Once in 2 and half months, sup-
casionally because there are blind spots will be lucrative at all times. ply the plants with nutrients.
which may escape other’s perception.. Give a preventive organic pesti-
here lies expertise. Tell us about organic method of cul- cide spray once in 45-50 days to
tivation. ensure that the plants are kept
Can Intercropping be done with Mor- Many people have the wrong impres- away from diseases. We manu-
inga cultivation? sion and are misinformed about organ- facture our organic preventive
Intercropping can be done. But, when ic cultivation. I will give you the authen- spray using plant extract, etc.
you are doing organic cultivation and tic and most pragmatic mode of organic This is a highly researched prod-
if you are using some chemicals for any cultivation, which gives you 100% re- uct and the outcome is excellent.
of the other crops, then it becomes a sults with less expense & more margins I have observed that there are
problem. But, otherwise fine. I have a of profit, when done with proper know many who do organic cultiva-
unit producing Bio Nitrogen,Bio Phos- how. tion. But when their plants face
phorus and Potash liquids-all Micro The most important thing is to use some diseases, they spray the
Biologically live organisms & culture farmyard manure or chicken litter etc. plants with some chemical spray
which are organic really effective Mi- You will need 2-3 tons of this per acre, sourced from one of the local
croorganisms to improve quality and culture it and then keep mixing with stores. Their entire organic culti-
increase quantum yield.I have been do- sufficient moisture. Within 30 days vation efforts gets washed away
ing this for several years now because it becomes powdery. This holds high with that one step because the
I don’t believe many to give me 100% amount of fertility because the bacteria produce will contain chemical &
genuine organic inputs. multiplies rampantly and it is going to pesticide residues.
We also introduced two organic pre- be spread on the land where you are go-
ventive sprays. One is for Moringa and ing to cultivate your crop organically. What kind of irrigation meth-
vegetables & all crops and a little more This is a highly important step. This odology do you suggest for
stronger one for black pepper, tea, car- is also a very effective method to slow- high density cultivation?
damom etc.These products give 100% ly convert the soil into organic mode The irrigation system best suit-
results.They are organic as they are where previously chemical cultivation ed would be either sprinkler or
plant based in origin. was being done. drip irrigation. The government
Plough your land twice with a tractor gives subsidy for all this. Even
Is the harvest / plucking of the leaves before you begin sowing. if you think you cannot get sub-
automated? sidy, flood irrigation will also
No. Such things happen abroad. Right Organic Agriculture do. But,the irrigation should be
now, we are dependant on trained man- Organic Agriculture is a production done religiously. The timely ap-
ual labor in India. Harvest and post system that sustains the health of soils, plication of nutrients & water for
harvest activities must be done with Ecosystems and People. It relies on maintaining the soil moisture is
high diligence. I have used solar dryers ecological processes, biodiversity and very important.So do not over ir-
and all but it is not a practical option. cycles adapted to local conditions, rath- rigate your plants but maintain
We have drying shed with shade net er than the use of inputs with adverse the soil with sufficient moisture.
 Moringa capsules all organic pharma products will then be affected.
quality. This is a sad scenario. But even then it
We market Turmeric with Cur- is yet another stamp to show how ef-
cumin. In 1990 when I was in fective & beneficial these products like
the US, research was going on in Moringa oleifera is to your health,hence
a very big way. They have now such restrictions.
established that it treats can- Indian Ayurveda is an ancient Science
cer. Oncologists over there have and we in India are blessed immensely.
started prescribing it for cancer The World Health Organization - WHO
patients. It kills cancer cells. The recently defined Herbal Medicine which
main drawback of curcumin is its is traditional medicine comprises many
slow absorption into the blood Therapeutic effects that have been in
stream because curcumin is an existence, since thousands of years
oil-soluble product. Oil cannot even before the development of modern
dissolve in water. We are doing medicine & are still in use today.
a lot of R&D to counter this and India is sitting on a gold mine of well
very soon we will be coming up recorded & well practiced knowledge of
For Moringa,it is best to have a with a new product. traditional herbal medicines.we should
drip irrigation system in place. We produce Moringa seeds oil- BEN take immense initiative to do follow-
OIL which is 100% pure Natural plant ing…
Have you tried extraction of origin highly effective for application Document traditional uses of - single
the powder? in human skin especially on the face. plant herbs ,cultivate medicinal plants
Many people ask this and they For men & women all skin types ben- free from pesticides & heavy metals, try
try doing it. But, the answer is a efit from using Ben oil.Apply few drops to standardize molecule activity profile
big No. on the face and nicely massage, in few using modern techniques and safety
1. Water extraction is not per- minutes the oil gets absorbed in the fa- and stability. Also mode of action in an-
missible because post extrac- cial skin through the skin pores. This is imals & efficiency in humans will also
tion, you are going to dry the amazing-the only oil which acts so fast be supportive.Such scientifically gener-
produce and then subject it to & removes fine lines,wrinkles, improves ated data will project Herbal medicines
higher temperatures. the overall appearance of the facial skin in a proper perspective & help in sus-
2. The other extraction meth- & also an effective skin moisturizer.Fa- tained global market.
odology involves Ethyl alcohol cial skin texture improves a lot. India can enter strategically with our
usage. Here again, you are med- These are products that are essentially time tested plant based herbs & medi-
dling with the product. You will required in the market for all people. To- cines & Export, which are already ac-
not get the quantum of nutrients day all of us are talking about is COVID. cepted in Europe, USA and Japan &
ingrained in Moringa and the But cancer is still a huge evil,affected by South America.Of course this novel
entire philosophy of using Mo- a large percentage of people all over the methodology will increase our market
ringa powder for its benefits to globe. share in the whole universe.
the human body gets lost. In fact We have more products being re- Moringa leaves powder could be con-
I would recommend to take Mo- searched on. For me, it is not just the sumed by all for IMMUNITY BOOST
ringa leaves powder as no heat profit or the business, I want to do & PREVENTION OF MANY AIL-
is treated in the process hence things that are beneficial for the human MENTS.The source of Moringa plant
all the nutrients are present in kind. has been from the foot hills of Hima-
full quantum.So Extracts of Mo- One of my friends, last year, went to layas - says ZEICHNER.Many people
ringa is not pragmatic at all. participate in an Exhibition in Geneva. in the Western World have been con-
She took with her 10 kgs of Moringa suming Moringa products in order to
Tell us about the products that powder. She was showing this at the prevent diseases & create Immunity. So
you develop. customs in the Airport and she had all why not us from India who have been
We are the first to introduce a the certifications with her. Even then using Moringa since about 4000 year
few products. For instance, the the customs people wouldn’t allow it to long ?
taste of Moringa powder is to be pass. She said she had put in so much of
made palatable. we use a special money and effort plus all the certifica- CONTACT : Mr BK Menon
method and so it is sweetened tion was in place. The negotiation went Green Planet Agri and
with Stevia or other sweeten- on for half an hour to 45 minutes. One Green & Brown Industries
ing agents and use a few other Customs Inspector, explained to her Defence colony - Hebbal
items so that it fizzes out in wa- kindly that they have strict instructions Bangalore - 560024, Karnataka.
ter. This makes it more palat- from the Government and Pharma Mobile: 9884715432
able. We also produce Moringa companies that no food supplements E-Mail: menon@greenplanetagri.com
leaves powder, Moringa tablets, should be allowed because the sale of www.greenplanetagri.com
Integration stack and
data-driven agriculture
model
Mr Sriram Gopal Founder and CEO, FutureFarms

Everybody has space in the world of agricul-

ture. If you think that experience and/or an
agricultural degree is the only way to pave How is your activity different from other hydroponics
ventures?
your way in one of the most stable space Our philosophy is slightly different. We do not see our-
then it’s time to think again. selves as a technology/hardware/equipment company. We
consider ourselves as a knowledge company.
Mr. Sriram holds a degree in Engineering We strive to create a seamless integration stack and
and another in Business. He is founder and data-driven agriculture model. It is a combination of subject
matter expertise, standard operating systems, fertigation
CEO of FutureFarm and has, over the last 3-4 systems, climate control systems and the hardware itself.
years, contributed immensely to the field of
Who are your customers?
agriculture. We have two types of customers:
“We are a vertical farming and hydroponics 1. The corporate segment: They are the ones who
want to diversify into alternative farming methods like
tech company based out of India - one of the hydroponics. We give them a turn-key solution - right from
first companies to set up hydroponics units conducting feasibility studies, design, consultation, develop-
ment of green houses, setting up of hydroponics equipment,
in India. In about 4 and half years, we have giving them annual AMC for the equipment and also giving
completed 50 completed projects in about consultancy on crop production.
2. Individual entrepreneurs: These are the ones who
10 states in India. We have also set up proj- want to set up their own fresh produce brands. We back
ects in Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka as well.” them up with the technology and give them a turn-key solu-
tion from a technology point of view.
 management side of things. Today, we are 50 people in our
company and I have got more than 4-5 senior agronomists
and bio technologists in my company. We have a person who
holds a Doctorate in plant biology.

How would you advice nil-agriculture-experience

people aspiring to enter the world agriculture?
Hydroponics, in India, is very new. It has only been
a few years since this technology has been around. Most
people will not have a first-hand knowledge of hydroponics.
It is more technology than actual agronomy or biology. It is
easy to adopt because India is littered with engineers and
hence, this is a good way to progress. It is highly efficient
- saves 90% water and it is very easy to learn. For the most
commonly grown crops, the adaption is high. The skill level
required to operate a farm is not that intensive.

What is the cost involved

for a small unit?
The cost depends on the
crop one wishes to grow,
the kind of technology, the
location, the kind of auto-
mation you want to deploy
etc. It varies from project
size and the produce itself.
There is no fixed thumb
rule to measure that. It
broadly varies from project
to project.
Roughly, to start a mini
farm in your balcony, from
as less as Rs 10,000/-, it
Who do you target
can go up to about even 6-7
more - the corpo-
crores in a hectare of land.
rate segment or the
individual entrepre-
With setting up of the
neurs?
farm, do you also train
We do not dif-
the people involved in
ferentiate between both segments of our customers. It is just
hydroponics?
that we try and interact with the customer to find out their
As a business, we are not into training. Having said that,
end objective. If it is getting into the Food and Beverages seg-
when we partner with the customer, we offer two services:
ment, we are not particular whether it is an individual or an
1. We give a turn-key solution only for the set up or
organisation.
2. We do a build and operate
How does the Set up Your Fram button, on your web- If we do a turn-key we also extend the hand-holding for
site, work? 3-6 months. We train the customers’ staff and set SOPs for
That is for people to reach out to us. If somebody is look- the farm.
ing ahead to set up a farm, we have multiple products. We
have different ranges for commercial and large scale; we have Does the hydroponic system come with the cooling
a range for urban farming and we have a range for home system as well?
and hobby/kitchen garden as well. Anything that produces Not all hydroponic systems come with cooling systems.
food is a farm or a version of a farm. We try and engage with It depends on the farm location. If you are at a place where
people. The website is one of the starting points where people the climate is cool, you do not need a cooling system. In fact,
can reach out to us and start a discussion with us about their if you are in a place which is very cold, you may need a heat-
business/cultivation intention. ing system. So, it all depends on what components you need
to add in project.
Do you have any agri-related background? The whole concept is not about hydroponics; it is about
I personally hold a degree in Engineering and in Busi- micro climate and irrigation and fertigation management.
ness. I have done contract farming and was inclined to the As long as you are able to give optimum condition/micro cli-
mate for a plant, the purpose is served.
It is not all about the technology or the
components we use.

What is your advice on marketing

the produce?
In my opinion, if you think about
your farm like opening a restaurant,
the first thing you have to keep in
mind is the potential customer/de-
mand. Technology is overrated most
of the time. If there is demand, you can
try fulfilling it using technology.
Choosing the crop is the first step.
There is a business angle and a techni-
cal angle to it. If you are an entrepre- to backward integrate into your first that, that is when you can get into the
neur who is looking forward to scale farm. You don’t even have to create a business.
the business, in the restaurant context, brand at this stage, just be an aggrega-
you need to appoint a chef. This way tor. Branding can come after you begin Is hydroponics advisable for gin-
you do not have to go through a hotel cultivation. ger cultivation?
management course, become a chef, I have set up farms for so many It depends on the location you are
etc. people. We do not commit market at because if you are at a location far
As an industry we need to differ- linkage or selling because that isn’t away from the consumers, commod-
entiate between the entrepreneurs and our specialty. But, I often come across ity is definitely the way to go.
chefs. One is the person who invests in passionate and overly optimistic entre- Cultivation of ginger is possible
the business, takes care of day to day preneurs jumping into the investment and for that using the substrate
marketing, selling positioning etc. An- first because they have the money at medium is advisable. It is almost like
other is a technical person who prob- that point in time. Later, this becomes drip irrigation in soiless medium.
ably has an agriculture background/ a struggle. If you grow ginger under pro-
has expertise in plant management, Machines will always do the work tected cultivation, your yield and
pest control, etc. We don’t necessarily you program it to do but if you don’t environment management can be
need to be both at the same time. capture that value, it is a waste of your better. Also, disease and pest issues
For marketing the produce, some- money and effort. can be greatly controlled. That is the
body needs to look at how to generate benefit of growing ginger indoors.
the demand and there has to be some- Any advises on how to
body who you can employ, who simply crack the market?
looks at giving you consistent A grade There is no other way
produce throughout the year. to this other than putting
Passion alone is not enough to set yourself out there because
up a plot. You need the passion and an there is no science behind
agriculturist who knows things in and that. You have to go and get
out. your set of 100 customers.
Some people achieve this in
For a nil-experience entrepreneur, 3 months; some people take
is it advisable to hire people with a year to crack it, etc. That is
hydroponic experience to farm the gestation period.
greens? All the excel sheets can
Once you figure out the crop and give you fancy numbers but
how to grow it, the next challenge is I think if somebody says that
to sell the crop. So, before starting the there is an ROI for 2 years,
cultivation process, my advice would you have to mentally prepare
be to start sourcing greens that you yourself for 4 years. This is
plan to cultivate from other farmers not just true for agriculture
and try selling it. or agroponics; it is true for
That way you get a pulse of the all businesses. Excel is just
market. Also, your investment and a conservation estimate of
learning period is safe. Once you are things. So, you always need
able to offset, let’s say, 1 ton of produce to add a buffer of 2x to it and
a day it automatically qualifies you if you think you can fulfill
 Of course, economics will domi- big on hydroponics. It is a globally ac- seems new. So, in our last 5 years of
nate it all. So, one needs to think about cepted technology. operation, we quickly realized that the
why ginger is being grown. Is it for Tell us about the problems and cost is only one portion of the prob-
processing, supplying directly to the challenges you have faced. lem. The other is that people do not
market etc. If upon analysis, it is viable The general public doesn’t know have that scientific background and
it is definitely a good project. how to differentiate between hydro- understanding in most cases to run
ponic product and an otherwise culti- these farms.
Is hydroponics suitable and eco- vated product. They are not yet aware We built like a robotic consultancy
nomical in India? of these kind of hygienic produce. So, who is equivalent to 100 agronomy
I would definitely say yes to hydro- marketability is still a challenge. consultants which on auto pilot mode
ponics in India because with the level People are gradually moving can manage a farm. It can set the set
of water depletion, nutrition deficit, towards cleaner and better choices. points, detect the sensors, decide what
the amount of pesticide contamination We see that market maturing. We are kind of fertigation ECPH is to be main-
and the unavailability of labor that we all used to open-field farming and the tained. Basically, it can operate a farm
are getting into, hydroponics is defi- minute you put a controlled envi- for you. This saves you from hiring an
nitely the way forward for us. ronment, green house and all these agronomist.
This methodology gives us more sophisticated technology, cost becomes You can employ this computer to
control over the climate and in an a huge factor. Until the last 5 years, run the day to day activity on your
acre of land, we can produce almost a everything that you did in this space farm. We use this not just in India but
4-acre worth of produce. We can also was imported. we also integrate with partners from
pay people to work in these farms al- From when we have started there other parts of the world for this AI
most two times what they would earn has been a huge change. We have product.
in a normal farm. reduced the cost of technology by 50%
From employment, sustainability, and we have made it viable for almost What are your future plans?
water, nutrition and hygiene points of 20 crops. But yes, marketability is still So far the journey has been good.
view, hydroponics can be seen as the quite a challenge. We have grown - we are a company of
way forward. It may not be suitable for 50 people now.
all crops, but for horticulture, this is a We noticed something called plant Hydroponics has been getting a lot
huge leverage. If not today, in about 3-5 intelligence in your website - can of attention in the last couple of years.
years there will be a wave of agricul- you please shed some light on All large corporate companies are get-
tural methodology in India like in that? ting into some form of food segment.
many other countries across the globe. Absolutely! The food processing industry is also
Even if you consider South East For a first-time hydroponic farmer, getting really big and taking better
Asia alone, Malaysia, Thailand etc is things can seem too overwhelming quality ingredients, lower heavy metal
contamination, hygienic products. I
think there is large scope for hy-
droponics in this country and more
people are getting into these kind of
farming.
As a company we want to make
it a successful and an easy business
proposition for farmers to adopt; we
are also developing sustainability
paths where we are trying to create
clusters of hydroponic users so that
there can be shared knowledge and
the common economics will play.
This way costs can get lowered.
We are, hence, experimenting
with new models and the next two
years will be very interesting in India.

CONTACT : Mr.Sriram Gopal

FutureFarms
4/640, I Main Road, III Cross Street,
12th Link, Nehru Nagar,
Kottivakkam Chennai - 600041,
because Tamil Nadu Phone-9884009110
everything Email : info@futurefarms.in
Community
Supported
Agriculture
model!
Ms Sumeet Kaur, Spudnik Farms
A lawyer turned agriculturist, who continues to seek
justice for what she stands for in her own unique way.

Ms Sumeet Kaur works on a supply chain model where, apart from encouraging
excellent farming practices, she invests into building trust between the consumer
and farmer. Community Supported Agriculture is the model she has adopted wherein
agriculture and health is made sustainable by regaining the lost connection between
farmer and consumer.

C
an we start with a small introduc- NSRCEL, IIM-Bangalore. At present, we are in an
tion about yourself and what you accelerator programme run by AIC Sangam, and is
do? supported by NITI Aayog. That is what we do, in a
I run an organization called Spudnik nutshell.
Farms. Being in the farming sector Are you native to Bangalore?
since 2013, I have recently started working with I am based out of Bangalore. I am not an agricultur-
other small and marginal farmers around the Ko- ist, academically. By virtue of qualification, I am a
lar region. We work with them to provide market- lawyer. I graduated from the National Law School,
ing assistance for their produce, extension services, Bangalore. I quit my job as a Tax Advisor in 2012 and
and assistance in pest and nutrition management. got into farming.
Ultimately, we pick up the produce and supply it di-
I started by growing and supplying organic vegeta-
rectly to households in the city.
bles to friends and acquaintances from a small piece
We have been supplying vegetables since March of land at Hoskote. That is when I realized that the
2019. Currently, we work with 8 farmers and supply agricultural space really interested me although I
to around 60 families in Bangalore. Spudnik Farms did not have any technical expertise. Everything I
was part of a one year incubation programme at know today, I learnt on the job.
It was a little difficult to sustain it finan-
cially because I was doing everything
from growing the vegetables to deliver-
ing it at homes in the city. I realised that
to make my work sustainable, I needed
to make farming financially viable.
Also, there were production issues as
well; if you want to supply vegetables
continuously I realized that I needed
to have more area under cultivation. In
that scenario, I worked out that instead
of buying more land, I could make a
better social impact if I started working
with other farmers who may:
• need assistance in marketing their
produce; and fairly senior person who has been with on a weekly basis. For example, if we
me since 2013. Apart from this, we have have 4 farmers growing lady fingers
• want to go organic but don’t exact- hired a young agri-professional who and capsicum; we will have four oth-
ly know what to do. helps us create the planting calendars ers growing tomatoes and cucumber.
The more I talked to farmers I realised for our farmers and organise the pro- Likewise, other vegetables. We gather
that they are most willing to go organic duction. the produce that all these farmers grow
but in situations like a pest attack or and divide them into baskets which we
To provide a continuous supply of
crop disease, if they aren’t provided call weekly baskets.
vegetables, you need to have a plan in
with the right kind of advice and in- place. I need to plan everything three The customer then receives an assorted
puts, they are forced to walk the usual months in advance, including things basket with 8-9 vegetables at their door-
path. So, we go visit these farmers and like, ensuring that I have the right seeds step. We try keeping some preferences
create a production plan depending on that suits the soil type and anticipating in mind. For instance, some people are
the season, water availability, the type the weather conditions. either allergic or due to some reason
of soil they work on, etc. Through dis- do not eat certain vegetables. We make
cussions we figure out what kind of So, in short, I have 5 people and then
crops they would prefer growing. my own driver. He also doubles up as a
packing person and oversees the third
Also, when it comes to organic farm- party logistics people.
ing, crop diversity is the key. Hence, we
encourage them to grow 3-4 crops on a What are some of the challenges
rotation basis. We provide them with with respect to the initiative you
seeds or source it for them. We visit have taken up?
them once a week and observe how Initially, one of the challenges was try-
their plants fare. If they require assis- ing to figure out how to market this
tance with pest, disease or nutrition produce directly to people in the city.
management, they can reach out to us People are used to handpicking things
and depending on the situation we de- from the local stores - so I wasn’t sure
cide on a corrective course of action. how I would get them to buy this con-
cept. When you sell things online, cus-
Lastly, we pick up their produce, pack it tomers don’t get to see the produce be-
and do a door-to-door supply. fore buying it. But, experience taught
How big is your organization? Lo- me that if your product is good then
gistics must be quite complicated word of mouth really picks up.
here, right? I started with about 15 families. My
Logistics is just not my area of exper- only advertisement was their word of
tise. It doesn’t interest me as well, to mouth and now we supply to about 60
be honest. So, we have outsourced lo- families. We sell vegetables on a sub-
gistics. There is a local person who scription basis, which is a slightly dif-
helps us with both the inbound and ferent methodology.
outbound logistics. I have a team of 5
people, which includes the two people Can you elaborate on that please?
who work on my farm. The customer signs up with us for a
I have a farm manager who also man- month and then whatever we grow
ages the network of 8 farmers. He is a that month is sent to the customer
a note of such things upon customer recover their cost of cultivation. If the has snapped over time because of the
registration. This being a monthly sub- price of one vegetable goes down, they crowd that penetrated into the chain
scription, families can re-subscribe at can make it up with the price of another. that links farmers and consumers.
the end of the month.
Hopefully farmers will be willing to ex- A farmer in Kolar does not know who is
This system helps sort out our produc- pand their area of cultivation. consuming the vegetables he produces
tion to a great extent because before the and what happens after his food leaves
This model helps them avoid the vari-
farmer sows the seed they are aware of his farm. Similarly the consumer does
ous commissions and rents that they
the quantities they need to grow. When not know who grows their produce or
usually deal with. We pick up their pro-
we talk to our customers and take down how and where it is grown.
duce from their farm making transpor-
their preferences, I can estimate the
tation of products also convenient for Hence, with this community driven
amount of vegetables we need to grow
them. Like I mentioned earlier, we have approach, we hope to rebuild the long-
so as to meet needs and keep this sus-
laid no restriction on them. Even if they eroded sense of trust, reliability and re-
tainable. This way farmers are also in a
have excess produce which was grown sponsibility through personal connec-
better position because they don’t end
for our requirement, they are free to sell tions.
up growing too much of one vegetable
it in the local market.
which they may not end up selling. How do you take care of pests and
What guarantee does the customer crop diseases?
have that there are no chemicals The first thing that helps with pest
being used while growing the pro- management and diseases is diversity
duce? and crop rotation. These two aspects
Neither the farmers that I work with of farming takes care of a lot of farm-
nor I have a certification in place. The ing issues. We chart out planting cal-
beauty of what we do lies in the fact endars for farmers. We try to give them
that our customers are free to come crops that complement each other. For
and spend time on our farms. They are example, we encourage farmers grow-
welcome to come and see what we do. ing tomatoes to plant extra basil in their
We are extremely transparent and open row of crops.
about how we cultivate the produce.
Not only does this result in better fla-
When it comes to small and marginal voured tomatoes, it also provides better
farmers, a third party certification is pest protection as well. Similarly, we
something that isn’t financially viable. encourage them to have a boundary of
Also, because we cater to the domestic garlic or other strong-smelling herbs
market, certification is not a priority. as per season so that there is a natural
Certification is a requirement when you pest control mechanism in place. This
want to enter the export market. Most is a push and pull approach in compan-
of our customers are not interested in ion planting. So, during the planning
any kind of certifications. phase, we avoid associating plants that
will harm each other or attract insects
Rather, they value the fact that they
or pests that are detrimental to other
know who is growing the produce for
crops.
them. We focus on building trust be-
tween the farmers and our customers. At the second level, we try to get the
That, I believe, is what is required. To- farmers to use naturally available pesti-
day’s organic market is so flooded with cides. We encourage them to use a lot of
produce that claims to be organic that fermented plant juices, Jeevamritha etc.
we, as consumers, tend to question the In that respect, the agricultural depart-
certification as well. This is because of ment is doing a commendable job. They
lack of trust. have these programmes to train farm-
We don’t have any formal agreements
So, I focus more on building the trust ers on using different natural potions
with our farmers which forces them to
by keeping it transparent between the for pest and nutrition management.
sell all their produce to us. That is not
customer and the farmer. The more Also, there is exchange of a lot of tradi-
how we work. We do not aim at con-
people you can avoid in this chain be- tional knowledge between farmers.
tract farming. We are giving them a
support window in terms of marketing tween farmer and consumer, the closer Read full @ https://bit.ly/2EUseab
and technical support as per their need. people are brought together and trust is
This works out quite well for everyone built. The idea is to have a family farm- CONTACT: Ms Sumeet Kaur
involved - farmers can grow 4-5 differ- er just like you have a family doctor. Founder, Spudnik Farms
ent vegetables at the same time. This Every family, I believe, should know email: spudnikfarms@gmail.com
lowers their risk of not being able to their source of food. This connection Mobile: 9900606698
 Become a Premium Member

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CONNECTING
Farmers and start-up
entrepreneurs to
customers,
brand building, &
marketing support.

Ms. Jyotsna Kaur Habibullah

Founder and CEO
Lucknow Farmers’ Market, Lucknow

W
First of its kind, online sustainable platform that supports Farmers,
e have a mango or-
Artisans and Entrepreneurs at all levels, aims at sustainable living
chard outside Luc-
know, and I have and a greener environment. She is interested in connecting farm-
been working on ers and start-up entrepreneurs to customers, brand building, and
supporting entre- marketing support to farmers and entrepreneurs. She talks about
preneurs related to rural farming and creating and supporting ecosystems, brand building, and marketing
agri-entrepreneurs.
support to farmers and agri-entrepreneurs.
I conceptualised a mango festival,
Farmers Market and Growers Associa- but do not know where to get them. It People from cities want to visit farms
tion. For the first time in UP I brought is an opportunity to collaborate with as they are often disconnected from
together the state horticulture and tour- likeminded farmers, brands, and other their roots. You can arrange for it with
ism department with local entrepre- collaborators to help everybody grow a meal, or you can arrange the visit dur-
neurs, Hotel Restaurant Association and create a network of those working ing the fruiting season or for instance
and initiated a public private partner- in the sustainable space. the mango festival. In UP, there is a
ship to popularise our main produce story telling tradition which is slowly
Mangoes. I collaborated with ICAR You get to promote local agriculture, getting lost.
here to do that as well. We organise encourage community members to in-
farmers’ markets to create conscious teract, conserve craft and indigenous We have revived this, promote lo-
consumers and producers, as well as activities and promote local specialties cal handicrafts and entrepreneurship
connect with consumers who are aware such as Karonda, a seasonal berry rich in the region by encouraging the small
of natural products, want to buy them in vitamin C. In every state you have entrepreneurs with fresh produce and
such agricultural pro- market linkage. It helps those interested
duce which is not sold in building your own brand, and when
in the market as there associated with other products and col-
is no demand for them. laborators, it will help you to receive
When we reintroduce testimonials from people when they
them, its boosts immu- visit your farm for tourism based ac-
nity and we retain the tivities. We promote local farms where
local indigenous things people can visit, enjoy local music, and
that are very important crafts. Children are taught how to ap-
to agriculture and the preciate the crops the farmers grow.
ecosystem. Visitors are fascinated by the local food
made from the produce of the farm,
Through the farm- which also boosts the local economy.
ers market, mango fes-
tivals we propagate a We have in the past collaborated
farm experience and with the tourism department and also
promote rural tourism. promote local farms and plan to do this
around the country. For the Mango Fes- jaggery, and raw mangoes in different with institutional buyers and connect
tival we focus on different farms every types of sweets and savouries. We buy to big industries like Safal, Spencers,
year. People come and enjoy a tradi- mangoes from the local farmers for the and Nature Basket in different states.
tional experience. We tell people why festival and encourage the restaurants The PG students of vocational training
we get mangoes at the hottest part of the and hotels to do the same. Its a fabulous department in Nutrition PG College in
year, stories on how emperors travelled experience for everyone and we also Lucknow started the app Mango Baba,
in hot summer months when mangoes showcase in many restaurants the dif- and ICAR launched it for mango farm-
were available, poems, and shayari, ferent mango based international and ers to connect to consumers. Since the
and keep the tradition alive. There are national dishes to create interest among last 8 years we are promoting mango
activities to engage children like mango people. tourism in UP.
eating, story writing for children about
fruits and vegetables and drawing con- The festival helps us to promote lo- We plan to attract tourists in sum-
tests too. We get sponsors and collabo- cal handicrafts, potteries, and crafts. It mer holidays for the festival to create
rators to promote the festivities and en- is an opportunity for industries to come a linkage with producers. We have op-
gage them in the local economy too. up with different food-based items. portunity to create infrastructure and
Children learn how to grow trees from value for the products. We interact
For the Mango festival, we have in- saplings. The mango motif is famous with specialists and scientists to en-
volved well known chefs and culinary all over the world and is used in block sure the farmers get input and interact
academies like the Pankaj Bhadouria printing and embroidery. with farmers and consumers who will
Academy who conduct a cooking con- understand where the food is coming
There are many other entrepre- from. The purpose of the festival is to
test. Hundreds of people apply online
neurs who launched Mango based enable farmers sell directly at good re-
for this. It helps to conserve the local
products such as Mitti Se that produces tail price instead of losing out to middle
specialities involving mangoes and
non-toxic skin and hair care products, men and the mandi.
raw mango dishwash,
and Mystique Artisans Every year we get around 100 stu-
who launched their dent volunteers who help us organise
products like shampoos the festival and enjoy being involved
and soaps etc. Bakers in interacting with farmers. They help
like Sweet Nothings promote the festival through social
launched a whole range media and conduct live events to raise
of sweet and savoury awareness like flash mobs.
products with Mango.
Other products like The Chief Minister, Governor and
mango tea and mango Mayor have been visiting the festival
and aloe based soaps for many years. People come from all
are sold here. over the country contact us in advance
to plan their visits. After the pandemic,
The aim of the farm- we hope to have more people in small
ers markets and festival groups visiting orchards across the
is to link the suppliers country. We bring in many collabora-
 service with us connect on https://www.sell.lucknowfarmer-
smarket.com/

Can our products from South India be marketed there

by linking so that we can transport our produce to your
place to get good price?
Yes. With the online farmers market, there is opportu-
nity pan India. We can supply from Bangalore or any other
city when someone orders online. We have collaborated with
Delhivery and are also tying up with India Post so that deliv-
ery can happen from anywhere. People can go online and see
all such opportunities, visit, buy products and by-products
through collaborations. We will also help in marketing and
providing suggestions in developing orchards, an ecosystem
to help farmers improve their offering.

When somebody wants to develop an ecosystem like

yours, will you give advice and help?
If a farmer produces ghee, and if he wants to link to our
website, we give him the knowhow, how to see online, and
guidelines for certifications needed. Eco-friendly packaging
is required. He has to reduce the plastic and other nonrecy-
clable products and know how to make the packaging using
products that are eco-friendly. We can help him connect to
Lucknow Farmers Market people to work on, his brand, his logo, and develop a strong
way to communicate his brand. We also help on how to com-
municate and connect through online.
tors to promote the Mango Festival, farmers market and be
eco conscious, like Fab India, Accord hotels, banks, and lo- Is it only for mango or for other produce too?
cal farms. The foodie groups in social media can also help It is a farmers market. It has a website now, and we list
to promote the farmers online. In UP, we have tied up with different products and services.
government associations, local colleges, radio and Uber in the
past to send messages to prospective customers. It is a great Will you help in getting certification and logo?
opportunity. We can help you in this. We help with your brand, logo,
and communication strategy to connect with others.
We have organic teas from Hariyali Organics, consulta-
tions from naturopaths to help live a natural lifestyle and eco- Can you reach Bangalore and South India since you are
system. There are companies that sell squashes, jams, and jel- pan India?
lies without any preservatives or colours. We have associated Lucknowfarmersmarket.com is now live and delivering
with a hydroponics company that grows microgreens. We pan India
collaborate with self help groups and Rural Beat in Sultanpur
to help people in villages to be sustainable. There are a few How do you handle organic produce demand?
companies that sell garden accessories, and others making When we started the farmers market, we had to convince
flowers out of tin cans. We have bee society in Faizabad with everyone that it was worthwhile buying organic produce.
700 hives who produce honey, bee products and soap with Persuading the buyers and consumers was an uphill task and
bee wax. We would like to connect farmers with consumers many time products were left over and had to be gifted. Now
to sell their products in advance by getting subscription at the
beginning of the year to get better prices.
We also focus on connecting consumers to farm stays to
enjoy the authentic farm experience. We currently list Vin-
tage Village, a beautiful farm stay in Sitapur and Foothills Hi-
malaya an experiential farm stay in Corbett and would like
to connect to farm stays across the country. Lucknow farm-
ersmarket.com also shares talks and a blog about different
methods to improve your health, live sustainable, creating
awareness about natural food, herbal teas.

We offer those working in this space the opportunity to

have their own website and interact with the people who are
their target audience. If you would like to list your product or
 to visit orchards wherever they are. We have 1 day for orchard
visit, 2 days for farm visit where we have display of mangoes
and mango-based productions. We have opportunity to do
online. We can tie up with mango farmers from various plac-
es so that people can visit the farmers throughout the season.
We can also extend this to other fruit other than Mangoes.

Are you tied up with any IT companies to promote the

products?
We have a WIX based website and are working with IT
specialists to ensure we have cutting edge technology.

Is the festival conducted in one venue only?

We keep changing the venues where farmers display
their products. Entrepreneurs come up with mango-based
products. We can promote a lot of orchards on our website,
we urge Bangalore, Hyderabad and other farms to connect on
our site

Do you have any control over the prices of mango grow-

ers?
We encourage them to fix prices based on market prices.
If they sell in mandis they get low price. If they sell directly to
Marmalade Rural Beat from Local Tangerines consumers, they get a much better price.

What are the norms to enrol the farmers prior to festi-

vals?
We have MoU with the orchard owners and a written
people know the benefit of using natural resources. With the agreement. In the past the Horticulture department connects
pandemic a focus is back on health and there is a huge change those who are in need of help, now we urge FPOs and Farm-
in consumer awareness and realisation that we need to eat ers Groups to connect with us. It is an opportunity to build
healthy and live sustainably. We have to continue the drive a large network of farmers and agriculture based products,
and create more awareness. natural and organic products, and to show how to live natural
way. We look for more people to join the board.
Will you help us to sell our produce with hospital indus-
tries? CONTACT : Jyotsna Kaur Habibullah
We can definitely connect different industries including Email: jyotsna.habibullah@lucknowfarmersmarket.com
hospitals. A B2B offering is next on our platform and we are Telephone: 9005575999
currently working on this.

How big is your orchard? What is the duration of the

festival?
We have one orchard, but the idea is to promote local or-
chards everywhere so in the past I have tied up with other
orchards for the festival. Now on the website we want to pro-
mote as many orchards as possible to enable the consumers
Organic Farming
Experiences
Mr Ashok Panwar, Farmer
Rijgaon Village, Dewar District, MP

It is rare to find uneducated farmers who are extremely proud of their profession. It is rare but
they exist. Meet Mr Ashok Panwar, a passionate farmer, who feels if a country cannot be re-
sourced with healthy food, there isn’t any need for farmers.
Mr Ashok has received the Krishak Puraskar at the Taluk level and has been recognised at the
block level for his innovative work on the fields like usage of solar pump, vermicompost and net
house for organic farming.

H
ello Mr Ashok, please give us a brief intro- my open farm I have soya bean. I had a lot of vegetables last
duction about yourself and your current harvest. This time, I have not planted that many.
activities in the agricultural sector.
I am from Dewar district of M P. I have How do you market your farm produce?
been practicing organic farming since the last Nowadays we have switched widely to grains. If I get a
3-4 years. Honestly, this is a methodology that runs in our good price I sell it in the market. If not I supply it directly in
ancient history. It was practiced by our ancestors. The same the nearby houses. Mine is not a huge set up. I have started
thing that was practiced then has been aided by net houses, small. But, it is not much of a hassle.
etc. in these modern times.
I have small net houses and have installed solar panels Has switching to organic farming impacted your health
so that we are not hassled with electricity issues. This way, in a positive manner?
farmers can save on their cost of production as well. This is People, nearby, have consumed my produce and have
our modus operandi. We aim at providing people with good commented that it tastes good. They feel it fares better than
grains so that people stay healthy. We have been experiment- the produce you get from the market. In fact they say that
ing with new things. when they make rotis, out of the produce I supply, they stay
We have also made a vermi compost and have been soft for longer.
producing bio gas. This is a very simple procedure. The The vegetables may lack the colour and lustre but they
cow dung is used to generate bio gas which can be used to taste better. The produce, that uses chemicals, looks great
support various household chores. The slurry is feed for the but quality and taste is not as good.
vermi compost plant.
What are the challenges you faced when you started
Are you into dairy farming as well? doing organic?
I have cows but I don’t sell milk. I admit that it can be Everything in today’s world moves at fast pace and
done, but I haven’t delved into it full-fledged. Honestly, if people want instant results. You can’t expect the same ease
you do dairy farming, your soil gets converted into organic and pace when you want to go organic. It takes time, effort
pretty fast. The more cow dung manure you feed into the and patience. Farmers are not motivated to do this because
soil, the faster your farm soil converts into organic. for the usual method everything is available readymade -
I have seen how magically cow dung works on the soil. the seeds, the fertilizers etc. But, in this method, we have to
Half of our problems will be taken care of by cow dung. In make a lot of things ourselves and process it. These are the
fact our ancestors used to say that if you use cow dung, you challenges.
don’t have to feed the soil anything for the next three years.
That was their mantra for agriculture. Cow dung is a boon What are your future plans, Mr Ashok?
for the earth. Also, you shouldn’t burn any of your farm resi- We have made a group for ourselves. We are a bunch of
due. Burning farm residue deteriorates the soil and environ- organic farmers. The plan is to improvise on what we are
ment. All the farm waste can be used as feed for your vermi doing right now and encourage more farmers to join this
compost plant, instead. bandwagon. If that gets done, there will be a lot of unity and
we can sell all our produce in bulk and get good prices for
What crops do you produce on your field? it. Only if we get good prices can we attract more farmers to
I currently produce tomatoes in the polyhouses and in take up this style of farming.
 So, we are working with conviction. Hopefully we will Another reason why they shouldn’t stop the chemical
get more farmers to work this way and it benefits many usage all at once is because everything should be balanced
people. out. We should think of our household expenses etc. and
work systematically.
How many people are there in your farmer’s group
now? Is your farm certified?
Now, we are a group of about 12 farmers. Our club is We haven’t moved towards certification. We have to
called Varda Farmers’ Club. The club is at a distance of about think and discuss about it before we venture into that path.
30 kms from my farm.
Are you getting good rates, for your produce, at the
How much did you have to invest when you started this market?
this initiative? In the market the rates aren’t very good. In our local
I am cultivating in 2 and half acres of land. I had invested market, there isn’t so much of space. So, that is a dilemma.
about 6-7 lakhs for the net houses, etc. Additionally, I had to
spend on the solar panels etc. How do you source your seeds?
For the last three years I have been growing vegetables. We have organic seeds with us. We have farmers from
This time, I have grown vegetables in one part and grains whom we source it.
in one part. Honestly, vegetables are a greater hassle to sell
because of the lower shelf life. Are you being able to meet your family expenses, after
taking up this initiative?
Did you seek any help from the Government? Right now, it is not running at a huge profit. In fact we
We sought help when we were setting up net houses. We are suffering a bit of a loss.
got subsidy for that. We also got subsidy when we wanted to
install solar panels. You may have to look into certification. The advantage
of getting your produce certified is that you can brand
How would you advice farmers who want to go organic your products and sell it at a better rate at the market.
and follow whatever you are doing at the moment? Make sure you keep a record of everything you do so
My advice is that we should keep food clean and be that the certification process becomes easier.
mindful that as farmers, we are the ones who can do that. I The discussions are on with respect to certification.
would advise to increase the usage of cow dung. Of course, Hopefully that will do the trick.
we shouldn’t stop chemical usage all at once, gradually
decrease the usage of chemicals on the farm and increase the Thank you, Mr Ashok. You are a very practical
usage of natural manure like cow dung etc. farmer and this was a good discussion. All the very
What happens usually is, when farmers want to turn best to you!
organic, they just stop chemical usage all at once. This will
end up being a huge loss because their yield goes down Contact : Mr Ashok Panwar,
pathetically. Khategaon, Dewas District, Madhya Pradesh
Due to this they lose heart and think it is a waste turning Email : ashokpanwar65@gmail.com
organic. Tel : 9977111532
 Profitable organic farming
for small & marginal farmers
Major Ved Prakash Sharma, Gratitude Farms Private Limited
Talking to Major Ved Prakash Sharma opens our senses yet again to the fact
that serving the nation can be done in so many ways. Major Ved Prakash is a
retired army officer who now helps retired soldiers to become organic farming
entrepreneurs.
“I served in the Indian Army for 16 years and worked in the corporate world
technology sector for another 16 years.
The last 3 years, along with my friends and one other retired officer, we have
set up this agri-tech start up by the name Gratitude Farms. Our goal is to help
retired soldiers to become organic farming entrepreneurs. We are addressing
two problems through our work:
1. Dignified livelihood for retired soldiers.
2. Profitable organic farming for small and marginal farmers.”
To mitigate the issue of lack of experience in the agricultural sector and to do
it right, Major Ved Prakash and his team travelled across the country and learned

H
a lot about organic farming. They now have their own model organic farm.
“We had to convince ourselves about the benefits of our model before we
pass it onto other hands.”
ow has your initia- about 1500 soldiers
tive been received? part of that FPO.
For the small com- The model we have
pany that we have set set up will be rep-
up, the response has licated for each of
been very good. these.
We have set up a mod- The Food-Forest
el farm outside Pondicherry, where I Model
live and have developed every aspect Interest levels are also coming in from
of what should be sustainably profit- a lot of organic farming practioners.
able for a small farmer and so we have We are being supported and mentored
a 2-acre model. very well by some seasoned organic
Every year, about 60,000 soldiers retire farmers. It takes time for us to solve is-
from the Indian Army. They retire at sues.
an average age of 40-45 years, which is There is a strong myth among mnay
no age to retire. Most of them are from farmers that organic farming can-
rural background and desire is to settle not be profitable, yields are low, etc.
down back in their villages. This mostly is a result of ignorance. If
But, owing to a multitude of reasons you have been practicing non-organic
they are forced to take up menial jobs farming, of course there is a period of
in cities like security guards etc. That transition that you will face. But, in the
is a travesty at multiple levels not just case of land which has not been used
for the soldier but the fact that if the and you prepare it for organic farming
soldier is in his village, he can actually assuming that water, etc are taken care
be a good grass-root leader for rural de- of, then by very careful design, crop se-
velopment. lection and disciplined execution, it can
This was the background with which be highly profitable and our farm bears
we had started. evidence to this. We call it our Food-
Right now in our farm, we have em- Forest model.
ployed 11 ex-soldiers and we are in the An element of profitability also is a fact
process for setting up a Farmer Pro- that one of the biggest problems a farm-
ducer Company of ex-soldiers in the six er has is that he doesn’t know where to
districts of North Tamil Nadu. Hope- sell. We also faced the same problem.
fully, in the next 24 months we will have We are primarily focusing on organic
vegetables, greens and fruits. There is
a huge demand for organic farming but
you have to do the marketing well to get
the right price.
The model that we have chosen is that
of a direct-to-home service. We do not
have outlets or shops. For sales, we have
our e-commerce platform and What-
sApp.
Being a start up we do not have the
budget or money to spend too much on
marketing. But, because of our quality,
we have a lot of word of mouth advertis-
ing and so we have been growing quite
rapidly in Pondicherry and Chennai.
The end consumers’ level of interest is
quite high.
We aim to deliver vegetables to our cus-
tomers within 8 hours of harvest. In or-
der to shorten the supply chain, we have
restricted our farms to be within100 km
from Chennai.

Do you only offer services in terms of duce, grade, sort, pack and sell. So, ev- I wanted to help ex-soldiers. I started
training or do you help people set up ery step - pre-production, production, inquiring what will fit in well with
their farm? processing and sales - is encompassed their experience and aspirations. We
Implementing skill development is in our model. It is not easy to operate focussed on what would be best for the
merely a beginning of the journey. So, this. But it works best for farmers to soldiers.
we handhold the farmers who take our gain the best prices. Somewhere along the line, we found
services. After the training goes well, Honestly, it is much easier to grow as organic farming to be quite appeal-
they will need good seeds, saplings, an aggregator or being just a producer. ing. When we checked back with ex-
good-quality nutrients, etc. They will In our model it takes a lot to perform soldiers they seemed ready to plunge if
need a lot of guidance on a day-to-day end-to end activities without any com- we taught them how to go about it. They
basis. There may be pest attacks and promise on quality. So, the speed of the were ready as long as it improved their
other unforeseen uncertainties. So, we growth of our business is not as fast as livelihood.
provide a lot of support for all farmers one would like but that is fine for us. So, we started checking out through
joining hands with us. Hence the fact that we are and end-to- meetings and got in touch with lot of
Ex-soldiers either come to us as farmers end ecosystem players is what differen- retired soldiers in Tamil Nadu districts
or they come asking if they can work tiates our farm. like Thiruvanmalai, Vellore and so on.
with us before they develop their own It is a thing that has evolved and pro-
farmland. For the latter, we place them Why the agricultural space after being gressively took shape. We just wanted
as Farm Managers on leased farms part of the Indian army and then the to do something good for soldiers. Then
where we are working. corporate world? we got ourselves to start learning about
During my corporate tenure as well, organic farming and developed a full-
How do you differentiate Gratitude fledged model farm.
Frams from other organic farms? For Training of Ex-soldiers inlarger
In the market, you will mostly find two batches, we are working with SriAu-
types of approaches: robindo Society to setup a model Train-
1. Eco-system approach: Organ- ing Farm of Food-Foprest model; they
ic farming practioners who produce, have an excellent 60 -person capacity
harvest, grade, pack and sell directly to training centre where we will train the
customers. ex-soldiers, once the movement across
2. Aggregator Approach: They India is restored after the COVI-19 is-
only have outlets or online channels sues are hopefully resolved.
and do not have any farms of their own.
They collect produce from various Are there fees attached for this train-
farmers and sell it at their outlets. ing?
In our case, we have very consciously Yes. The syllabus of the training is
chosen the first model where in we pro- aligned to National Occupational Stan-
 ement of trust as well. We do plan to have fairly advanced,
technology driven, operational monitoring to ensure quality
of organic produce. And go for certification as well. But at the
end of the day, organic farming in India is a trust-based busi-
ness.
Working with a ex-soldiers and being an ex-soldier myself,
we have high degree of trust. Secondly, we have very close
supervision in terms of the nutrients that is being fed to the
farm, etc. For most cases, I personally supply the farm in-
puts. That is another pointer to confirm that all produce is
organic in nature. Overall I am very confident.
Also, our farms are open for anyone to come visit. Of course,
the biggest proof is always in the pudding. The quality of
products in itself gives verdict to the type of farming involved.
In the next few months, we will be implementing traceability
technology from the farm to end consumers. That adds to an-
other level of trust with customers.

dards of the NSDC, so that it becomes applicable for accredi- What are the main challenges you have faced in this ven-
tation with reputed institutes as we grow. ture?
The training duration is about 300 hours - 250 hours plus The first issue we faced was the acute problem of pest man-
communication skills, entrepreneurship, marketing etc. This agement. Pest management in organic farming is a perpetual
we usually cover in about 40 days time. It is 80% practical and problem. This is something we are still figuring out as to how
20% theory. to best handle. Unlike in chemical farming, where pest is con-
sidered an enemy and they spray up the farm with chemicals,
Do you help market the produce of the farmers who have organic practices treat them just as unwelcome guests. There
joined hands with you? are multiple steps and it took us a year to get it right. After the
Yes, we do. I buy the produce from the farmers who work rains,you will see a plethora of pests attacking your farm. So,
with me. They have to grow exactly as per our requirements. learning to manage them has been quite a journey.
We pick up their produce from the their farm and we sell it. We have finally found the combination of organic plant based
We give a good price at the farmgate. The benefits here are: solution which we have sourced from around the country.
1. They get their money in time. One of the most effective pest management tecniques uses
2. The revenue per acre is pretty good. Dashaparani which has been in existence since ancient
3. It takes about 6-9 months for the conversion of land and times. The effectiveness depends on how well you make it.
after that when we start we get a pretty healthy revenue per We source it from a farmer in Maharashtra. Similarly we
acre. have sourced a few other things as well.
In the first full year of prodcution, a farmer can comfortably The second issue was around the yield. People will seldom
earn a net amount of 1.5 -2 lakhs and this keeps improving come to me for the love of organic farming. On the contrary,
year after year. they will first and foremost come to me for the economic vi-
ability of what I am trying to do. It has taken almost over a
Are the training and services extended to ex-servicemen year to get to the yield that we were hoping for. Our Food-
alone? Forest model is all about high yield. We follow Dr Subhash
Anyone is most welcome. The army is our focus and so we try Palekar’s ZBNF model. We do not follow it to the last detail,
setting up batches of army. But, we are open to conducting
sessions for anyone else as well.
Till now, I have conducted 3-4 small batches because these
were pilot batches. Once the COVID-19 related movement re-
strictions are eased, we will offertrainings in batches and will
open to anyone interested for it. But the thing is people who
want to work with us after the training, because my market
is only in Chennai, I will be able to work with them only if
they are within 100 - 150 kms from Chennai and Pondicherry.
But for training, anyone in India can come and register for
the training.

How do you ensure that people who collaborate with you

strictly adhere to organic cultivation practices?
Most of the farms I collaborate with are close to our area. So,
we have physical supervision as well. Then, there is the el-
 out there who are interested in joining the agricultural sector.
Some of them have land. I always advice that this field is an
extremely intense affair. One should not enter it unless you
are willing to invest 100% of your time and effort into it. It is
not a part time job which you can enjoy with people. You have
to live the reality every day. It is a way of life and the way you
interact with nature.
The second thing is figuring out where the demand is. At the
end of the day, when I look at the entire spectrum of activities,
at the production side I am wanting to give a dignified live-
lihood and at the consumption side I aim at providing very
high quality produce to the end customer. So, to build a sus-
tainable business around this we have to make sure that we
figure out the demand before planning out the production.
One of the biggest mistakes that farmers do is producing first
and being caught up with where to sell the produce.
For sustainably profitable agriculture by small and marginal
but it has been a source of great guidance and we do pick up famrers, the first thing is to find out where to sell and what
a large part of its concept. We do multi cropping, growing up to sell .
to 15-20 different types of vegetables, greens and fruits in each
acre in a highly systematized fashion. To get to that level of CONTACT : Maj.Ved Prakash Sharma,
design for every acre of farm has been a journey. Gratitude Farms Private Limited
Another major hurdle we faced is not alien to any part of 353 / 354, Diwan Candappa Nagar, Kotakuppam
our country and that is availability of good working hands. Villupuram District (bordering Pondicherry)
The level of interest in agriculture is going down. We employ Pincode: 605104
rural women to the extent that we can. We do take trainees Tamil Nadu
from agricultural colleges, train them on the job etc. but this Mobile: 8095999776 or 9360903655
is a persistent problem. Even if you have people on the farm, E-Mail: vpsharma@gratitudefarms.co.in
the discipline with which things should
be executed is a difficult thing to ensure.
That is where working with ex-soldiers
as farmers and farm managers can miti-
gate the problem to quite an extent.

What all crops do you grow on your

farm?
We follow a 4 layer model called Food
Forest. We have carved out the farm
into grids. We have our first layer with
trees - papaya, lemon, guava, banana,
etc. Then, we have plants like tomatoes,
chillies, zuchinia, bitter gourd, bottle
gourd, etc. The next layer are all produce
that grow below the soil, which is local
to our region like yam, turmeric, radd-
ish etc. Then, there after for all the rest
of the left over space, every square foot
is covered with greens of different vari-
eties. This way each acre contains 15-20
different types of vegetables, fruits and
greens which are growing with different
cycles of maturity.The sowing calendar
is meticulously planned. This way you
steadily carve out a harvest every single
day.

What is your advice to newcomers to

the agricultural field?
I understand that there are lot of people