From the farm to the shelf

Chennai

Rakesh Ravindran started his farm four years ago, around 40 kms from Chennai, in Gummidipoondi with about 25 cows. These cows were milked automatically in a parlour and the chilled milk was then bottled and delivered across the city. “It was the lack of good quality cow’s milk for children that drew me towards the idea.  Currently we distribute about 1000 litres of milk every day in the city. The milk is absolutely pure, preservative free and non-pasteurised. It is delivered fresh in refrigerated vans across Chennai by our team of delivery boys,” says Rakesh of the Astra Dairy Farms Pvt Ltd.

The whole idea of fresh greens and herbs is alien to most of us who live in the metros. Most of us rely on vegetable stores for our share of keerai. But majority of it is not fresh. A bunch of IT professionals saw a great market for fresh greens, gave up their lucrative jobs for investing in organic farming lands. “There was a high demand in the market for fresh greens and many of the farmers didn’t have the technology or marketing skills to cater to this demand. We decided to take up about 5 acres of farmland on lease, grow greens with the aid of farmers and market it. We sell about 2,000 to 3,000 bundles of greens per day across the city, at the moment,” says R Jaganathan, founder of Nalla Keerai, which literally translates to good greens. Nallakeerai also conducts weekend workshops on organic farming and eco-friendly lifestyles.

What is on offer?
VEGETABLES: Tomato, chilly, brinjal, yam, colocasia and much more
FRUITS: Sapota, sweet lime, mango and more
MILK: Dairy products like cheese, ghee and butter
SPICES: Pepper, turmeric
LENTILS: Toor, uradh

Love for organic and chemical-free food unites modern age-couple, Ashley and Sneha Koshy. So much so that they decided to grow vegetables, fruits, rear cattle on their ancestral farm and market them. Thus, their venture Trader Koshy took flight about three years ago. Trader Koshy offers everything from organic veggies, fruits, dairy produce to spices, coffee and lentils. Talking about it, Ashley says, “My ancestors were farmers and I always knew, about what it takes to produce things naturally. I was always amazed at the variety of products that can be produced in-house but didn’t like the idea of using chemicals and preservatives to create them. As I had a small farmland in Thiruporur, the idea of Trader Koshy took off from there.”

Right from making shrimp pickle using the shrimps caught at Buckingham canal that flows near their farm to packaging it for the retail stores, everything is done manually by a small group of people, he explains. “We have limited people, who handle procedures manually in pollution free environment and without using any mechanical procedures,” he adds.  

Yet, the packaging is contemporary and in tandem with the market. Starting their day early at the farm at 5 am, they ensure that the products move out after packaging by 10 am. The products of Trader Koshy are available across retail stores in the city.
While organic food fresh from the farms may still not be mainstream in Chennai, it is significantly catching up among city-dwellers who care about health and the actual source of their food. A number of youngsters are rising up to the cause and are looking towards growing veggies, fruits and producing dairy products on their own.