Seven agripreneurs connecting farmers with consumers

Farmers toil in fields to produce crops. However, the middlemen decide the price, which is mostly disadvantageous to the farmers. With no room to negotiate, especially for fresh farm produce, the growers are forced to sell crops at extremely low rates. 

On the other hand, buyers often have to deal with exorbitant prices. This is because the produce reaches them after at least three layers of middlemen have taken their cut -- adhatiya (commission agents), wholesalers, and retailers. 

What ails India’s agriculture sector is the disconnection between farmers and consumers, adversely impacting both parties. 

To address this, some enterprising individuals, including farmers, engineers, MBAs, and scientists, have built the farm-to-fork model, eliminating multiple middlemen. 

This results in fresh produce reaching consumers soon after harvest and a fair price to farmers without the hassles of transportation and sale. Alongside, these agripreneurs have built successful businesses that generate revenues in crores. Here are five agri-entrepreneurs connecting farmers and consumers:

1. K Ranjit Kumar, Tamil Nadu

K Ranjit Kumar, an engineer from Cambridge, United Kingdom, has transformed nutmeg farming in Pollachi, Tamil Nadu, through quality upgradation and branding. He has set up an FPC that pushes Rs3 crore in annual turnover and exports to Canada, Australia and France.

Ranjit organised a series of training programmes and visits for farmers. These initiatives familiarised them with scientific cultivation methods, quality standards, and post-harvest practices. 

After retaining a minimal profit for the FPC, the majority of the earnings are distributed to the farmers. Previously, when middlemen were involved, farmers would get only Rs 270 per kg. Now, they get around Rs470 per kg.

Read more here: How this Cambridge engineer made Pollachi's nutmeg a global sensation with Rs3 crore annual turnover

2. Dr Ramesh C. Biswal, Odisha

Dr Ramesh Chandra Biswal was a scientist for Clemson University in South Carolina when he quit his job in 2016 to connect farmers directly with consumers, weeding out middlemen. His Odisha-based startup Villa Mart works with over 15,000 farmers and 50 FPCs, paying them 20 percent above market rates for their produce.

Villa Mart’s annual turnover was Rs 12 crore in FY25.

The agri-tech startup directly buys vegetables from farmers through its four procurement-cum-fulfilment centres (PFC). While it has set up two PFCs in Bhubaneswar, it has one each in Puri and Berhampur to market over 150 items through its farm-to-fork model.

Villa Mart’s eight specially designed mobile outlets, now battery-operated and equipped with sensors, cameras and cold storage systems, move around Bhubaneswar daily to deliver fresh farm produce to the customers' doorsteps. 

Dr Biswal’s story: How this scientist built a Rs 12 crore agribusiness by connecting farmers with consumers 

3. Varkey George, Tamil Nadu

After pursuing his post-graduation in electrical engineering at the University of Texas and working in the US for six years, Varkey George returned to India and took up farming.

He earns Rs 4.25 lakh per acre by farming passion fruit and sells avocados and Meyer lemons at over Rs 330 per kg. Varkey has also built the Life Exotics brand to sell various fruits, sourced from other farmers throughout the year. 

“All of us cultivate exotic fruits like rambutan, litchi, mangosteen, etc. Our collective products are branded as ‘Life Exotics’ and supplied to supermarkets or wholesalers directly. This diversification ensures a steady supply throughout the year as the seasons vary. We skip the middlemen,” he says.

The produce is primarily sold in Kochi, followed by Mumbai and Delhi.

The story in detail: Engineer quits US job to cultivate exotic fruits in TN, earns four times more revenue than traditional fruits

4. Kartik Suresh, Kerala

Kartik Suresh’s Fresh ‘N’ Good sources exotic fruits and jackfruit varieties at guaranteed prices from over 200 farmers in Kerala. This provides growers with a fair and stable market and buyers with fresh produce. 

From Kerala, the company trades fruits to cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Hyderabad. The produce reaches the Gulf and the US through exporters and distributors.

Local traders would offer a lump sum that rarely benefited farmers.

We changed that. Instead, we offer per-kilogram pricing with guaranteed procurement. If the MSP for rambutan is Rs 125 per kg, we pay the farmer that rate for the entire quantity they harvest, directly and transparently," Kartik says. 

Fresh ‘N’ Good clocked a turnover of over Rs 1.5 crore last fiscal.

Here’s the detailed story: Engineer takes exotic fruits and jackfruit varieties from Kerala to the world; clocks Rs 1.5 crore turnover 

5. Bijesh PK, Kerala

Living in Dubai, Bijesh PK identified a gap in the demand and supply of vegetables and quit his job to start exporting vegetables from Kerala. He works with 35 farmer families and also practices organic vegetable farming over 8 acres.

Bijesh exports 3,000 kg of veggies to Dubai every week. His initiative, Nature Beats Organic, supplies homegrown organic vegetables to over 1,000 families across Dubai, runs a retail outlet in the Al Qusais area, and makes an annual revenue of Rs 2 crore.

Bijesh’s story: How this Kerala man built Rs 2 crore business by exporting organic veggies to Dubai 

6. Satendrasingh Lilhare, Chhattisgarh

Satendrasingh Lilhare’s ‘Bastar Se Bazaar Tak’ empowers 1150 tribal women by providing a fair price for their produce and employment opportunities. The enterprise clocked Rs 52 lakh in revenues by processing 40 tonnes of fresh forest produce in FY23.

Based in north Bastar, the venture provides post-harvest management of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs), which include fruits and nuts, vegetables, fish and game, medicinal plants, resins, essences, and fibres.  

“We measure the produce fairly and give them (tribal women) more than double the rate they would get if middlemen were involved. We procure around Rs 40-45 lakh worth of NTFPs annually,” Lilhare says. 

It sells under the brand name ‘Forest Naturals’ with its tagline ‘from the hands of forest dwellers’. It bridges the gap between the forest and the market and also sells quality forest-based products to urban consumers. 

His story: Forest to fork: Chhattisgarh entrepreneur takes natural food products from forests to urban consumers, empowers tribal women

7. Biplab Das, West Bengal

Biplab Das, an MBA from IIM-Bangalore, quit his job with Accenture to work in the Sundarbans, West Bengal. His startup Kishalay Organics produces native rice, organic fruits and vegetables and procures naturally-grown produce from local farmers. 

Kishalay procures crops and other organic groceries directly from farms, giving them a higher-than-market price. It also sells cold-pressed mustard oil, honey, jaggery, tea, spices and A2 desi ghee among other products. Parallely, they have also developed women’s groups interested in organic farming.

Here’s his story: IIM-Bangalore alum takes up organic farming in Sundarbans; empowers local farmers