Farm to fork

BENGALURU: Whether it’s green cardamom from Kerala, turmeric powder from Uttarakhand, or ashwagandha from Himachal Pradesh, entrepreneur Kanchan Kumar is working at making them available at the click of a button. This city-based techie-turned-social entrepreneur, has started a new project called Village Organica, a portal where he tries to cut down between farmers and buyers. 

Started by accident, the seed of the idea for the set-up came when Kumar travelled to Sikkim in 2019, to recuperate from health issues. He also worked with the farmers and did some hands-on work alongside. “Living in the hills, I understood why people in such remote villages don’t have any health issues and are content. They eat food which is natural and pesticide-free,” says Kumar, who left his IT job in 2019 to pursue this full time. “Vegetables and grains available in cities are filled with large amounts of pesticides. We want to make clean food available to every person,” he says. 

In addition, he also wanted to cut down on the exploitation farmers face from middlemen. “Farmers are primarily driven by enhanced productivity and profitability in the short term, and they maximise productivity by extensive usage of pesticides and chemicals,” says Kumar, adding, “For example, Sikkim is known for its black cardamom.

They sell it for around `500 per kilo but when we get it, it’s five times the price. No money goes to the farmer.” Kumar is currently working with over 1,000 farmers from across the country. Through his venture, he is also trying to give away machine crushing techniques for spices and churn oil, an attempt to create more job opportunities for farmers.

Although the project officially started in May 2020, to test the waters, this new entrepreneur was taking orders on WhatsApp. But noticing the growing demand, he launched a website to formalise the business. “We have around 400-500 through the week, including weekends,” adds Kumar.