From rural farms to urban forks
In an admirable bid to connect rural farmers in the Pune belt in Maharashtra to urban consumers, 12 Rotary clubs in RI District 3131, aided by the district’s economic and community development team, has attacked a deep malaise of Indian agriculture. This involves the huge gaps in the marketing practices of agricultural produce that leave the farmer with a very low price for his produce even when the end-user pays a fair price for the agricultural products they buy from the market.

In a day-long event organised by the district’s 12 Rotary clubs at the College of Agriculture, Pune, rural farm producer companies and urban buyers were connected to support and boost agricultural incomes. Prominent agripreneurs of the region such as Balasaheb Gitte, Kavya Dhobale and Sameer Dombe were invited to the meet “to share their knowledge and wisdom along with challenges they face in their journey as agripreneurs. This initiative was supported by the Department of Agriculture of Maharashtra,” says Pradip Khedkar, secretary of the district’s economic and community development team.
He is very involved in this project, as his background is from agriculture (animal feed). “I’ve always believed that a lot more effort needs to go into developing the economy in rural areas, particularly in improving the income of rural farmers. Through Rotary we have been trying to improve the connect between agripreneurs and rural farmers, so that the benefit is reaped by both the groups,” he says.
In this region there are about 15 to 20 agripreneurs working in different areas of agriculture. During the buyer-seller meet, some of them were connected to the farm producer companies which comprise farmers growing different crops, who come together so that their interest can be better protected. These groups are also eligible for some government subsidies and concession in various taxes for the first three years. “We connect the farm producer companies with potential buyers and thus provide domestic and global opportunities to the farmers with help from the agriculture department of Maharashtra which is very proactive in supporting such farmer-friendly initiatives,” he adds.

Both the state’s agri department and NABARD have shown great interest in working with Rotary to improve the livelihood and income of farmers, says Khedkar. Some 250 people participated in the one-day event, and “we had invited potential buyers for the farmers’ produce that included malls, marts, restaurants, and big companies which use farm produce for their food products.”
The agri experts who participated in this mega event included Sanjay Patil from the NGO BAIF Development Research Foundation, which works in remote rural regions in animal breeding and other areas of agriculture. “He has done some major work in the conservation of indigenous crops, wild edible plants for nutritional security and on vital issues related to climate change for the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Odisha over the last 18 years and has been given the District Vocational Excellence Award,” he added.
BAIF has its own seed production and works in indigenous seed conservation. “In partnership with this NGO, we in Rotary are planning to develop a seed bank of various indigenous crops, because we believe that while hybrid crops are expanding, we have to encourage our farmers to grow indigenous crops too.”

Kavya Dhobale is a nurse-turned-agripreneur; she left a secure and well-paying job as a nurse in a Mumbai hospital with a monthly salary of ₹75,000, to promote sustainable farming in Junnar, Maharashtra. She now makes vermicompost, creates awareness about chemical-free cropping, and has trained 200 vermicompost entrepreneurs. Balasahab Gitte works in the drought prone Marathwada region infamous for a maximum number of farmers’ suicides. “He has developed a dairy-related model, in which milk is collected from farmers, converted into milk products and then marketed through a farm producer enterprise.”
Sameer Dombe is a technocrat, who has developed his own brand of anjeer (figs) which he collects from different farmers in a small village specialising in growing figs and sells them under his brand; he has a patent for this product. All these initiatives improve the income of the farmers who work so hard to grow their crops.
Khedkar who had conceptualised the event, said this was the second year this useful event was held, where the farmers did not only get a direct connect to the buyers, but were also given useful information on improving their yield through better farm practices. “Since this is our second year, we already have a network of some 200 people connected through a WhatsApp group, where buying and selling activities have already started. But our plan is to take this a couple of steps forward by improving our connect and providing export opportunities to the farmers.”

The objective is to set up an export agri centre where “we can give people guidance on how to export and connect them to potential buyers in foreign countries.” Asked to spell out areas where special opportunities were available, Khedkar said at the moment there is a huge opportunity for millet products in European and Gulf countries, particularly Dubai and also Saudi Arabia. There was also a good opportunity to export a particular kind of bamboo called mesh bamboo which is used in certain areas, particularly furniture-making, and one particular enterprise was in the process of patenting this.
He is happy that at this meet, attended by some 250 people, the farmers were able to do “substantial business” and moving forward, “Rotary will take the initiative to set up a facilitation centre to improve the connect of these farmers with the buyers and potential exporters. We don’t want this to remain a one-time initiative, but want it to become a continuing activity, with a pucca data base of farmers, customers, manufacturers of agri produce, and so on,” says Khedkar.
Apart from the farmers and agripreneurs, the event was attended by RID 3131 DG Shital Shah, RID 3132 IPDG Swati Herkal and DGE Santosh Marathe (3131). The participating Rotary clubs included RCs Alephata Central, Junnar, Manchar, Rajgurunagar, Chakan, Talegaon Dabhade, Nigdi, Pimpri Elite, Pimple Saudagar Central, Pune Camp, Pune Heritage and Pune Lokmanyanagar.
At the end of the day, it is all about improving farmers’ incomes, and Khedkar says, “Definitely, through our initiative farmers’ incomes have improved. We’re giving them a remuneration, technical guidance and knowledge on how to use fertilisers and some special techniques to bring down the cost of production. Knowledge is imparted through regular training sessions and seminars conducted by experts such as those mentioned earlier.”
Right now this initiative is limited to farmers in the villages around Pune, “but we are joining hands with other Rotarians to expand this initiative to the rest of Maharashtra,” he adds.