NEW DELHI: Organic food, fancied by the health-conscious metropolitan elite, is finding customers in smaller towns ranging from Aurangabad to Shantiniketan and Kanyakumari. Many farmers are selling organic vegetables in small towns at a relatively small premium over the chemical-laden vegetables, and are making money by bypassing middlemen.
In Aurangabad, dozens of farmers set up stalls for organic vegetables every Sunday for their regular buyers - not the expat in a Mercedes, but the local postman, schoolteacher, a manager of the nearby state-run bank and others.
Prices are up to 15% higher but business is brisk. "Our organic bazaar is for the common man. We feel that even a postman should be able to afford it," says Joy Daniel, who helps farmer set up their stalls in Aurangabad and is the director of the Institute for Integrated Rural Development (IIRD).
Farmers actively participate in three such weekly markets across the Marathwada and Vidarbha regions. Farmers and NGOs working in the region attribute the success to late Alexander Daniel, founder of IIRD, who helped set up such markets successfully in places like Ambajogai in Beed district, Umra in Hingoli district and Jintur in Parbhani district.
For customers, such markets have many attractions including availability of many types of vegetables. "Consumers come here largely to buy vegetables like Diwali bhendi, allu leaves, hadhga flower, cherry tomato, native varieties of bottle gourd and chival leaves. You will not find them in any modern retail or local vendor store," says Daniel.
In Kolkata's Salt Lake and Dum Dum areas, government officials, executives and businessmen are regular clients of organic vegetables, says Srikant Mondal, who organises such markets twice a week. "We have a few clients from Delhi and in future we can think of tying up with Delhi's organic bazaar," he says. He also gets local Bengali buyers. "People coming to us tell us that prices of organic vegetables in Delhi and Mumbai are so high, that they have to think twice before making any purchase. This is not the case here even though I sell it 20% higher than market price," he says.
In Aurangabad, dozens of farmers set up stalls for organic vegetables every Sunday for their regular buyers - not the expat in a Mercedes, but the local postman, schoolteacher, a manager of the nearby state-run bank and others.
Prices are up to 15% higher but business is brisk. "Our organic bazaar is for the common man. We feel that even a postman should be able to afford it," says Joy Daniel, who helps farmer set up their stalls in Aurangabad and is the director of the Institute for Integrated Rural Development (IIRD).
Farmers actively participate in three such weekly markets across the Marathwada and Vidarbha regions. Farmers and NGOs working in the region attribute the success to late Alexander Daniel, founder of IIRD, who helped set up such markets successfully in places like Ambajogai in Beed district, Umra in Hingoli district and Jintur in Parbhani district.
For customers, such markets have many attractions including availability of many types of vegetables. "Consumers come here largely to buy vegetables like Diwali bhendi, allu leaves, hadhga flower, cherry tomato, native varieties of bottle gourd and chival leaves. You will not find them in any modern retail or local vendor store," says Daniel.
In Kolkata's Salt Lake and Dum Dum areas, government officials, executives and businessmen are regular clients of organic vegetables, says Srikant Mondal, who organises such markets twice a week. "We have a few clients from Delhi and in future we can think of tying up with Delhi's organic bazaar," he says. He also gets local Bengali buyers. "People coming to us tell us that prices of organic vegetables in Delhi and Mumbai are so high, that they have to think twice before making any purchase. This is not the case here even though I sell it 20% higher than market price," he says.
