Money-Making Cannabis and Buckwheat Honey

Dear Reader,

A mother is a child’s first teacher. Her care and guidance lay the foundation for learning, emotional growth, and social skills long before formal schooling. With the patience to answer every question, she helps her child learn more, better, and faster.

Growing up in Uttarakhand, Pavitra Joshi’s mother often told him about the hemp plant, native to the Himalayan region. Belonging to the species Cannabis sativa, hemp is a non-psychoactive relative of the marijuana plant. For centuries, hemp was used as food and medicine in Uttarakhand. However, the government banned it in 1985, and hemp became a thing of the past.

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Even after the ban was lifted in the state in 2018, hemp did not regain its lost glory. So Pavitra chose ‘Entrepreneurship on Hemp in India’ as the topic for his project during post-graduation in 2019. He turned it into a startup in 2021, and in just four years, the annual revenue of Kumaon Khand has hit Rs 1 crore, writes my colleague Riya.

The startup sources raw materials from over 2,500 farmers in Kumaon and makes face cream, lip balm, hemp seed oil, hemp seed flour, hemp textiles, bathing bars, and CBD oil. The products are also exported to Japan and the UK. Pavitra hopes to reach Rs 3 crore in revenues this year. You can read about Kumaon Khand and Pavitra here.

From Odisha, my colleague Niroj wrote about Maheswar Mohanta, who worked with the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) for 15 years, and then he lost interest in politics. He joined his father in sunflower cultivation, but the desire to do something more led him to beekeeping.

What sets his work apart is the use of various crops to produce high-value honey. Bees, which feed on nectar of buckwheat flowers, yield buckwheat honey that sells at Rs 10,000 per kg while chamomile honey gets him Rs 5,000 per kg. He keeps shifting his beeboxes from one field to another depending on the seasons and crops. Maheswar also sells beehives, made using wood that does not repel bees. His annual turnover is Rs 40 lakh, and he is targeting to reach Rs 85 lakh next year.

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My colleague Anu put together two pieces last week. She compiled stories of five engineers who quit their jobs and turned barren land into profitable farms.

She also wrote our weekend story on five profitable agri-startup ideas you can start under Rs 1 lakh. In today’s high-tech world, you don’t need acres of land or lakhs in capital to enter agriculture. One can begin with a single room, a terrace, or a small backyard and reinvest profits to scale production. High-value, short-cycle models are replacing the old belief that farming means waiting six months for harvest. Do look it up!

Happy Reading!

Warmly,

Rashmi

How this entrepreneur built a Rs 1 crore hemp startup in 4 years, exports to Japan and UK

Ex-politician turns beekeeper, sells buckwheat honey at Rs 10,000 per kg

Five engineers who turned barren land into profitable farms

5 profitable agri-startup ideas you can start under Rs 1 lakh