Organic Producers @Bangalore

From where does the food come from?

Whatever we buy from the stores (be it clothes , groceries, household items, just anything), we always go on the brand name, trust the brand blindly and buy - this is the normal human tendency.

Since food is so important (it is something we consume internally and not wear externally) - have we ever given a thought as to from where does the veggie vendor source all the veggies that you buy? You may say - "From the market?" okay... but from where before that? The sad truth is no one knows the answer, including me.

We are clueless as to what are we eating and from where!

Take a look at the videos here and here and here to see how clueless we are on what all the veggies undergo before it reaches us.

Direct deals with farmers

Did we ever realize that the most important job on earth is of a FARMER than anything else in this world? 

More than anything else, it is the food because of which we are alive, because of which we are able to go for work, because of which we are living our families happily. 

Over the times, we have taken food for granted. We don't realize that there should be some person (farmer) physically standing, sowing seeds, taking care of them, harvesting them for it to reach us one day. And that is a job which has been taken for granted. 

What if the farmers stop growing food? Where do we get the food supply from? Did you know even if we want to grow it ourselves, each crop would take 30-60 days or even more for us to get one batch of crop? How can we live without food? (It is not just vegetables and fruits; it includes even the grains like rice, dal, wheat etc)

Nowadays it is a huge question mark for the Indian urbanears as to why are so many farmers are committing suicide. It is because they are in debt and in no way can repay what they have spent. How can any human (not only farmer) repay their debt if this is what (below bill) they are paid in return for their crop?

You may wonder that even though you would have spent so much on the veggies and fruits, where did all that money go? The truth is most of it is going to the middlemen and transportation from one city to another and not even reaching the farmer, who is the sole reason for us to eat what we got from the shop.

Looking at the current trend, farmers are discouraged and you can take a guess that none of their family members would continue farming. Who would supply the food for us then? We will start importing the food and that is going to cost our money (in the form of tax again in the next year's budget)

Knowing these problems (and there may be other unknown/hidden problems as well) to create a win-win situation, for us - the consumers and the farmers, the best model would be to buy directly from the farmer.


With direct buying from the farmers : 

1. You buy FRESH food, it is not preserved in cold storage and does not have to deal with all the dust from various cities.
2. You are sure from where you have sourced it. 
3. It is even better if you find out that they have an Organic Farm - we can see the site they grow the food on, we can trust the farmer that he is maintaining the farm organically.
4. The money you spend decreases (as there are no/less middlemen involved)
5. The farmer can earn what he deserves for his hardwork - he gets justice, and hence indirectly we (consumers) are saved.

How to find out Local Sources

A few start up's have come up with this model of creating a win-win situation. Here are few ones which I am aware of. If you know if some more, please feel free to convey it as a comment and I shall add these up to benefit the others,reading the blog. 

1. http://jivabhumi.com/ -- claims organic
2. https://farmily.com/ -- may or may not be organic
3. https://www.ketto.org/organicfarming -- claims organic

[Disclaimer : Try finding a local farmer yourself within your area; Speak to them and confirm if they are organic or not, if you are very particular for it to be organic]