Thirunavukarasu, a small scale farmer, no longer considers agriculture a non-lucrative trade. For the little vegetables he grows he has found a perfect buyer who offers steady prices despite fluctuating market rates.
There are no more fights at N. Muthukumar’s residence about who should buy the veggies daily.
Muthukumar, who would always end up losing this battle, has a burden taken off his shoulder now that allVivasayee Veg Kart are delivered at his doorstep.
A group of professionals from various fields and long-time associates now spend the major part of their time at the farms than in their offices negotiating with small cultivators. They are the reason why both Thirunavukarasu and Muthukumar are happy.
With a lot of talk about organic farming and growing vegetables in the backyard, V.K. Sudharsan and eight of his friends decided to take up farming themselves.
A few had a little knowledge about cultivation as their ancestors were into the field. When one of them went on an official trip to Tindivanam, he brought a kilo of fresh lady’s finger from a small farmer at Rs. 12. Back in Chennai, he checked out the rates in a super market and it was Rs. 42 a kg. The huge margin gave him a rude shock and he discussed it with the others. Agitated heads got together to find out a way to get daily vegetables at a cheaper cost for people of the city. Thus was born, Vivasayee Veg Kart or V2K, with a promise of free deliver of farm fresh veggies at the door-step of customers at wholesale rates.
“Knowing that not everyone can head to a wholesale market to buy vegetables everyday, retail outlets up the prices and sell at three-times the wholesale rates. Customers also buy from them blindly. To bridge the huge price difference we started V2K,” says Sudharsan.
There are around 70 farmers in the network and 20 have been delivering regularly. “These are small-scale farmers from places such as Vellore, Villupuram, Tindivanam and a few from the neighbour states, who are into farming with limited pesticide usage. Most hold just 2 to 5 acres of land. For them to get a permanent buyer makes a huge difference and encourages them to stick to farming and not divert their land holdings” says Balakrishnan, a co-owner.
The direct contact with farmer also ensures that the latter is not exploited and gets good rates for his output. “We have a fixed price structure, which is not driven by market rates. Irrespective of the market movement prices are kept constant for both farmers and customers and reviewed only half-yearly. Also the transport overheads and cost of damage during loading and unloading is borne by us completely,” adds Sudharsan.
They also educate for farmers on subsides available to them, on cultivating crops that need lesser amount of water and teach them inter-cropping.
For customers, there are three combo packages to choose from depending on their family size and needs. Delivery is done either ones or twice a week by delivery boys on motorbikes between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m on the days chosen by the customer. No matter the package, every customer gets free supplements such as coriander, green chilly, ginger and curry leaves. Eighteen locations from K.K. Nagar up to Kilpauk and Sholinganallur are covered. “At present, we have 150 customers. People can join by registering with us online and our customer care person will get it touch in 24 hours time,” says Balakrishnan.
To store the daily veggies, they group has taken up a gowdown at Porur, where packing is done according to customer’s choice and dispatched from here. Most perishable leftovers are donated to orphanages and other homes in the vicinity. “We don’t believe in cold storage. We want to give fresh products to our customers,” he adds.
For more, >visit V2K or call 80150 78885.
