Perhaps no other word has received as much approbation in the daily lexicon as ‘organic’, thanks to its sphere of influence extending to a good many things we eat, use and consume. So when Jagadesh Ningappa, an entrepreneur-turned-farmer, decided to offer fresh fish harvested responsibly, free from toxins and chemicals, he found instant acceptance. Gofish, the company that he founded two years ago, has since grown and expanded in size with a steadily increasing clientele. The first-of-its-kind urban organic fish farm in Bengaluru raises fish in an eco-friendly manner. The produce is harvested about four hours before delivery, thus ensuring the catch is free from toxins and chemicals.
Aspiring to scale up to at least 2,000 orders a month, Jagadesh next wants to acquaint and train farmers besides starting a ‘ready to eat’ venture. “In my home town Harihara, the Tungabhadra river was the source with fresh catch finding its way into the market twice. In a city like Bengaluru with depleting lakes and water bodies, the produce has to travel from a long distance with preservatives added for longer shelf life. Salt water fish has to come from the sea and if you look at the time schedule from the fishermen parking themselves in the sea for a good many days to it being caught and frozen and later auctioned and distributed, the supply chain is long and tedious,” says Jagadesh. This motivated him to offer freshly harvested produce.
Interestingly, Jagadesh who runs an IT company along with a friend had no knowledge or experience of agriculture. Needless to say, it was not an easy start. Their first move boomeranged when Jagadesh sought to sell small automation tools to farmers in the hope of optimising resources—primarily electricity—which was being consumed heavily. “I failed to sell even one. The farmer’s first priority was whether the crop (of fish) was safe and whether there was a buyer. Technology came in as a dismal third. So I thought I should first prove the concept I had in mind and then pitch it. And so I became a farmer,” laughs the 44-year-old.
By 2016-end, Gofish finally took off. It modelled itself on the lines of an experiment with the Israeli model of recirculating aquaculture system. “In this, the water gets recycled continuously and treated giving way to clean water. Done in a controlled manner, it took us more than a year to fine-tune the model which had already been through more than a dozen changes. The fish are kept in metal tanks with reinforced plastic lining to control the temperature. No chemicals are used. Only prescribed medicines are used to treat algae, etc, which form inside the tanks. There are six stages of filtration and then there is a laboratory for water testing, and finally the processing centre where the fish are packed,” says Jagadesh, adding, “Maintenance is another issue with tanks having to be kept clean on account of constant algae attack and fish waste. Even a small disease can wipe out the entire catch.”
When Gofish finally went to the market, it got a good response. Tilapia, the first strain that they developed kept the customers happy but wanting more. Jagdesh was happy to comply and followed it by nine varieties of tilapia and later rohu, katla, crab and prawn. “Unlike chicken and lamb, fish is extremely diversified and very personal to the consumers. Bengalis like river water fish while Keralites and Mangaloreans cannot eat anything other than salt water fish,” chuckles Jagadesh.
The Gofish prices are more than double the non-organic variety. But as they say, for something good one can always go the extra mile.