Nitin Dinesh Kedia - Organic Farmer Category

Mumbai, India
2021

Mr. NITIN KEDIA
Born in a stockbroker's family, finance is in his veins. After having completed his Masters from the University of Lancaster in Finance he finally decided to follow his calling and get his hands-on agriculture.
During his stay in U.K. Nitin was an audience to not just the benefits of food grown organically, but also how people’s awareness of it benefitted both, the farmer and the consumer when compared with the conventional way of doing this business.
It was to his sheer disappointment that India being one of the largest producers of milk in the world lacked accessibility to real and pure milk. Milk is said to be the most adulterated food in India. Also India being an agrarian economy lacked accessibility to organic food. India being the 2nd largest agricultural economy in the world not even 20% of it is converted into organic farming. It is a matter of concern that the food we were consuming is filled with harmful toxins and preservatives. This certainly puts our country at risk. As consuming toxins has scientifically proven to cause cancer, diabetes, obesity & slow brain development in small kids, So it was time to bring a revolution in the food industry.
The awareness related to organic food was in its nascent stage when Nitin returned to India. He started with commercializing their sale of produce, extending its reach beyond family and friends. They also own a gaushala that is a source of organic manure that is used to feed the soil in their organic farm. They produce organic manure that is prepared using cow dung, cow urine, and buttermilk. Sustainability is ensured with the help of this organic manure.
He has come a long way. From handling just 3-4 products, today, their team handles more than 300 SKUs. In keeping with their vision, he has partnered with farmers to procure some of these 300 products. He made a platform and established a customer base, and it is not just him benefiting from it; he has extended it to be used by the farmers who produce but don’t have the bandwidth to market and sell their produce for what it is worth. From processing just about 2-5 orders in a day, today, he processes close to 150 orders in a day. From having a customer base that mostly included family and friends, today, he has extended their reach to PAN India, for non-perishable produce, and across the local train network for perishable produce.
But what differentiates the farm from other industry players is its focus on empowering farmers by implementing a B2C business model, while maintaining a high level of transparency & traceability in its business processes for customers. "Leveraging our B2C business model, consumers can get the products directly from our farmers. By doing this, we aim to achieve the optimum level of client satisfaction through our transparent processes, while eliminating the link in-between. Also, our farmers get the best price for their produce. It's a win-win situation for all of us," states Nitin.

With the world's population expected to reach almost 10 billion by 2050, experts predict that we need more farmers with organic farming techniques for a sustainable future. Being from a finance background, it was a difficult task to wrap her head around growing crops with organic farming practices. Through many hours of studying, attending various conferences, trade shows, and online tutorials Nitin is convinced it can be done! And it is being done!


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