Deepak Sabharwal was shocked to learn the ‘poison’ label on pesticides used on his household’s farms. He shifted to natural farming and began Earthy Tales, with a mission to assist extra farmers make the swap.
Friday nights for Deepak Sabharwal have been slightly distinctive. The Delhi-NCR resident would rush after work to catch a bus to Pushkar, Rajasthan. He traded his formal shirts and pants for cargoes rapidly and travelled over 400 km.
Whereas individuals lazed round at residence or frolicked assembly family and friends, he visited his household farm. For 2 days, he would stay amidst nature, with no contact of any kind with the surface world.
There was no gentle at evening, no air con, no laptops and no community for these two days. He would begin his day by visiting the farms and getting his fingers soiled. This routine continued for nearly three years.
However one fantastic day, a label startled him.
“The pesticides that we have been utilizing had the phrase poison written on them in three languages. What have been we rising?” wonders Deepak in a dialog with The Higher India.
The realisation that they have been feeding poison to the soil and crops, and additional consuming and promoting this was a tough capsule to swallow for this MBA graduate with a high-flying company profession. As he studied methods to start out natural farming, he was hit by one other blow.
His mom had been recognized with most cancers.
This was the second of reality for the 48-year-old. From right here on, all his efforts have been directed in the direction of transferring to natural farming on their 21-acre land. Desirous to unfold the fruits of this pure labour, he began promoting this produce in Delhi-NCR.
With a mission to supply natural meals to shoppers and encourage farmers to shift to natural farming, he began Earthy Tales in 2017. Right this moment, they work with over 500 farmers throughout the nation and have served 15,000 shoppers, making a turnover of Rs 4 crore in FY 2023-24.
A weekend go to that sparked an concept
Deepak earlier used to develop amla (gooseberry), vegatables and fruits within the farm.
When the price accountant first got here throughout the dangerous pesticides getting used on the crops, he spent a number of sleepless nights. To find out about natural farming practices, he took a sabbatical from his job at Basic Electrical (GE) and spent a couple of months visiting farmers in Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan itself.
Seeing farmers in Jalgaon and different areas of Maharashtra practise natural farming made the price accountant perceive that farming may be carried out the best way nature meant it.
“Earlier than the inexperienced revolution, farmers in India have been primarily practising natural farming. All we needed to do was return a number of a long time,” he shares.
Whereas it sounds nice on paper, as soon as the soil will get used to chemical fertilisers, it takes numerous time and endurance to revive it or deliver it again to its former glory.
“Basically, soil or crops don’t want something non-natural. Chemical compounds are alien, however when you’ve pumped them in for many years, they get used to it. So we began with a small portion of land. The primary and most necessary factor to do is concentrate on the soil,” provides the entrepreneur.
He began utilizing cow dung and vermicompost. Whereas in chemical farming one tends to kill pests, one of many ideas of pure farming is that pests are integral and might co-exist.
As soon as the soil began regaining its well being, he began multi-cropping. Pulses and flowers can be grown collectively. After a couple of months, he noticed good outcomes.
Whereas the output won’t have been equal to the one earlier, it was freed from dangerous chemical compounds.
Maintaining at this for a few years introduced their harvest again to authentic numbers. Buoyed by the outcomes, he expanded to rising different pulses on the farm as effectively.
He began getting this recent produce residence and distributing it to family and friends. This was the identical time when consciousness in regards to the significance of consuming pure meals was rising.
Realising the inherent demand, he arrange the corporate, fashioned a Fb web page and WhatsApp enterprise account. Curiously, he was one of many first adapters of WhatsApp enterprise in India, and has additionally been featured as a case research for successfully utilizing the platform.
Deepak would personally ship the vegatables and fruits and groceries to clients in his Maruti Suzuki Swift automotive; embodying the ‘Direct-To-Shopper’ (DTC) precept fairly actually!
“I’d get the products by bus and ship it in Delhi-NCR,” he says. The farm-to-fork enterprise grew by means of phrase of mouth and after personally delivering items to over 500 clients, the previous finance skilled expanded the Earthy Tales staff.
Right this moment, the licensed natural model sells over 300 merchandise, together with fruits, greens, ghee, oil, pulses and worth added merchandise like jams. Vegatables and fruits are delivered in Delhi-NCR, whereas the opposite merchandise are delivered throughout India.
The bestsellers, in addition to the vegatables and fruits, are cold-pressed oils, stone chakki flours, in accordance with Deepak.
Motivating farmers to farm natural
As demand elevated, they began mentoring small and marginal farmers. They urged them to shift to natural farming and gave them a platform to promote their produce too.
He shares that convincing farmers was a problem as they have been frightened in regards to the yield and marketplace for the produce.
“We assist farmers by offering them market linkages and shopping for their produce at a charge larger than those they obtain usually. Farmers can get the identical yield they obtain presently solely after a interval of three years. It’s not going to occur in a single day,” explains the CEO.
Earthy Tales has a staff on the bottom that trains farmers and offers them with inputs, market linkages and getting an natural certification. The farmers are requested to start out with 30-50 p.c of their land after which enhance it to their total farm.
Jatin Kumar Saini, a farmer from Jhunjhunu district in Rajasthan, used to develop grains on his three-acre land. “However that wasn’t very worthwhile,” he shares.
A staff from Earthy Tales visited his farm about three years again and requested him to start out rising greens on a small portion of land. As this began giving him a superb return, as we speak he grows cucumbers, chillies and different greens in his total farm.
“My earnings has elevated nearly 4 instances after the interventions from Earthy Tales,” he says.
The farm-to-fork firm has educated over 500 farmers up to now. It’s incubated by the federal government beneath the Ministry of Agriculture’s Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) – Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied sector Rejuvenation (RAFTAAR) scheme.
Earthy Tales has additionally arrange two farmer coaching and assortment centres in Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh.
What began with Deepak delivering merchandise twice per week in his automotive now delivers merchandise twice a day in Delhi-NCR and 11 different cities. “We wish to turn out to be a farmer’s greatest good friend,” says Deepak.
Edited by Padmashree Pande, Photographs Courtesy Deepak Sabharwal
