Where farmers become wealthy and people become healthy

NAGPUR: In a two pronged effort to make farmers wealthy and keep Nagpurians healthy, a local organization, Nisarg Organic, has set up a shop that sells produces brought directly from organic farms around the city. Started in March by Hemant Singh Chauhan, a supervisor in agriculture department, the unit functions from Lendra Park in Ramdaspeth.
The actual sentiment behind the effort is to give the farmer his due and also to bring pesticide and chemical free vegetables and cereals to the consumers, he says.“There are 400 farmers in this initiative, all doing organic farming. But for starting this project we selected around 10 who are closest to Nagpur and collected Rs10,000 each from them.” The outlet in the park has come for a rental of Rs25,000 per month. “Initially we created a corpus of Rs1 lakh, half of which went into hiring this place. Another Rs20,000 were spent on furnishings,” he says.
The shop sells vegetables, fruits, grains, groundnut oil, herbal medicines like aloe vera, geloe and mahua, barley and hibiscus juice and gels prepared by farmers. “Subhash Palekar of Amravati who is master of organic farming has taught me a methodology. Now we are making the farmers grow at least 15 varieties of vegetables in one acre farm. This will ensure a constant harvesting of one produce after the other and also preserve the eco balance and protect the soil,” says Chauhan. The vegetables will start arriving in full flow from August end this year.
The focus is not much on grains as they are purchased in bulk at the time of harvest. “But we are in a position to provide it if orders are placed,” he says.
In a module which is still being honed, the organization proposes to collect vegetables and fruits directly from farms. They will then be graded, weighed and packed. “We plan to enrol customers as members and give them updates about availability of items. They can place the orders either online or through text messages on phone. The items will be delivered to their homes,” he informs. The members will also get an opportunity to visit these farms.
The prices will be at least 10 to 20% higher than the market rates but this is the cost of convenience and health he says. “This extra cost is for fresh, organic food which is hand-picked from the farms and door delivered to the customer within 24 hours.”
As of now some 50 to 75 kgs of vegetables are arriving at the outlet daily and being sold. “So far word of mouth publicity has worked and customers like the taste of the organically grown items,” says Virendra Barbate one of the farmers supplying to the outlet.
“As I am all for organic farming so I promote this place. I buy rice regularly from here and its good and so are the veggies,” says Shalini Arora, a homemaker.