HYDERABAD: Ever since Subhash Palekar, an Indian agriculturist, wrote books about zero budget natural farming, which was later renamed as Subhash Palekar natural farming, and laid the foundation for the concept among people from all walks of life, especially youngsters, the major hurdle that those following indigenous farming techniques have been facing is the lack of access to the right markets to get remunerative prices for their produce.
A solution to this might be in near sight as an effort to organise all natural farmers across the State has begun under the umbrella of 'Grama Bharathi Natural Farmers Producer Company Limited', an agricultural co-operative.
In just a couple of months after its registration, the body has managed to bring as many as 130 natural farmers together.
Only those natural farmers who have either applied for organic certification or have received certification under the Telangana State Seed and Organic Certification Authority can become members of the society.
"Eventually, when the certification is completed, it will improve the traceability of the produce or product, so that consumers can know where it is being produced,” says T Praveen Kumar Reddy, State general secretary of Grama Bharathi.
This farmers producer company (FPC) has already entered into a partnership with several suppliers and vendors to ensure various needs of its members are taken care of. For instance, they have partnered with 'ABYFarmers' who would procure their crops, brand it under their company and sell the same in markets.
The FPC would also work with value-addition companies and retail-chain outlets such as Sampradayam, Pudami Thalli, Farmers' Pick and Aaharayoga so that the marketing for their member farmers could be improved.
For their farm mechanisation needs, they have teamed up with 'Kisan Raja' and are working with ‘Na Panta’, a digital agricultural platform which assists these farmers on crop management, market price information and market linkage, government subsidies, advisories and provides other tech-enabled information.
The first annual general meeting of the FPC was held on December 5, where 11 directors, one for each erstwhile district, were elected. Six of them are women.
"This will be a one-stop solution to promote natural farmers by linking them with traders and retailers, by training and empowering them to go for trading and processing and create a value-chain so that the farmers can benefit from it," says Dr S Sowmini, chairperson of the Board of Directors of GBNFPCL.
The FPC works under the guidance of Grama Bharathi, an NGO which was established in 1996 to promote ‘Amma Vodi (ideal motherhood), Veedhi Badi (ideal knowledge), Devuni Gudi (ideal society), Rythu Madi (ideal farming) and Sarukula Angadi (ideal market).