Organic farming start-ups in India: A vision towards a healthy nation

By BWA Envoy
November 29, 2021
2 Minutes Read

What is Desi Utthana?

"Our vision is to strongly revive desi, organic and multicultural Indian food culture while providing a platform for organic produce", says Shakuntala Iyer, the founder of Desi Utthana. Foraying into farm journalism, with an intention to address the farmer issues (their economic development and sustenance at large), they figured out a potential market for organic products and produce, which could in turn economically empower the micro farmers (small land holders). "Our ancestors advised us to eat good and what is good for our body. What is needed for our sustenance, nature around us abundantly provides it", she quotes while reminding us of the lost glory of native Indian food diversity and eating habits.

How has the journey been from farm journalism to an organic products start-up company?

"If we go back to the times before Green revolution, India only practised organic farming (www.desiutthana.com). With the Green revolution movement (and its vision of food sustenance), chemicals started flooding our agricultural practises and food chains", says Prahlad Deshpande.Farmers stick to chemical-based farming due to the lack of knowledge and support systems. Though they are expected to follow sustainable farming practices, there is hardly any help offered to them in that regard. Someone has to start it somewhere and thanks to Desi Utthana, for educating the farmers to switch to organic farming.

In the past decade or so, people have grown more health conscious and a larger shade of urban population is looking to switch over to healthy organic diets, shunning their unsafe food practises. "Once we started to educate the farmers on the benefits of organic farming, it was our responsibility to find a market for their produce", says Shakuntala Iyer, remembering the starting days. Due to the farmer's willingness to switch over to organic farming and an increasing demand for organic food by the larger urban populace, Desi Utthana proved to be a bridge aiding market connectivity

How is it like going an extra mile for organic food farming?

From a very humble beginning, Desi Utthana now offers around 75 plus products. "All of our (400 plus) farmers are certified and we source desi/ native food produce from them", says the founder proudly. They also nurture and support women self-help groups (currently 5 groups) and several women-led micro industries to prepare processed food, desi milk, ghee/butter, snacks and masalas (ground spices)

Challenges and converting them to opportunities:

"Like every business, we too often come across a lot of challenges, some small and some big. Be it battling the false narratives, or be it the lack of support from the banks and B2B sector, or be it struggling with the shorter shelf life of the natural products/produce". However, Covid-19 really came as a boon to them as more and more people chose to give an unadulterated, healthy food a try during the pandemic. In other words, while many businesses tried to stay relevant during the Covid times, Desi Utthana made a better footfall. After all, who doesn't want a good health and sound immunity? Though a late realisation, better late than never, chuckles Shakuntala Iyer.

What is the future of organic farming?

The future of organic farming is very bright as people have a better understanding of it now than before. If you want to try your hands at entrepreneurship, now is the time to venture into organic farming start-ups. However, one small piece of advice, make sure you have patience, integrity and commitment to run the show for a longer time!