Ten years ago, farmers of Mahursa village in Uttar Pradesh started moving away from chemical-based agriculture. With organic farming, they could reduce the increasing input costs. Growing demand for organic produce could also open access to a new market.
Last year, online supermarket BigBasket entered the village for organic perishables. Some 3,300 farmers in five states benefit from BigBasket’s foray into the organic fruits and vegetables space. The company, in which the Tata Group now holds a majority stake, is the first online supermarket to have established a proper value chain for organic perishables, which form 5 per cent of the 300 tons of the fruits and vegetables it sells.
Source: downtoearth.org.in