A request for organic mangoes put college mates S Balaji and P Balathandayuthabani on the road to creating an internet-based ecosystem of nature-friendly food items based out of suburban Tiruchi. With over 80,000 followers on its Facebook page, and domestic and foreign business of approximately ₹15 lakh per month through its website, B&B Organics aims to support both traditional farming and healthy eating.
“We take a lot of interest in researching our mobile phones, and compare their various features before we pick one. But surprisingly, we aren’t bothered by where our food is coming from, and what it is doing to our bodies and the Earth,” says Balathandayuthabani, or Bala as he prefers to be known. “We decided to concentrate on organic products to encourage our farmers to revive traditional agriculture and also create awareness among customers about healthy food.”
Eco-friendly ethos
Bala, 33, who is from Pudukottai and Balaji, 27, from Dharmapuri, graduated in Horticulture (four years apart) from the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in Coimbatore. Bala followed up his Masters with a doctorate in Environmental Sciences from Sweden, where his thesis helped him to understand organic farming in greater detail.
“After studying Horticulture, both of us were sure that we wanted to run a business together with an eco-friendly ethos,” says Balaji, who trained under a leading consultant for large farms after graduation. “We floated a few ideas, but clearly we weren’t cut out for business, and many projects remained on paper,” he laughs.
It was a request for organic mangoes from Bala’s elder brother, a doctor, that sprouted the idea for an online enterprise in food items free of chemicals. B&B Organics was founded in 2016.
Grains being packed at B&B Organics premises on Lalgudi Main Road. Photo: M. Srinath/ THE HINDU
“We had begun to realise that organic was the future of food consumption and like many others, we were concerned about the growing chemical inputs in our food chain.
“We started out from a small room four years ago, and from then until today, in our custom-built premises on Lalgudi Main Road, the learning is still on,” says Balaji.
Social enterprise
The duo’s field surveys across Tamil Nadu revealed that only around 15% of farmers carried out organic farming in the State, and of this, 5% alone were into traditional agriculture. “Most of the growth has been caused by non-resident Indians who have returned home to establish integrated organic farms in the past 10 years,” says Balaji.
Dr P Balathandayudabani, co-founder of B&B Organics. Photo: Special Arrangement
Among the first lessons Bala and Balaji learned, was not to rely on just feedback from friends to expand their business.
“While being initially supportive of our products, most of them still preferred their usual branded groceries, mainly due to the price factor,” says Bala.
Organic products are costlier due to the smaller number of farmers engaged in this sector and also because of the absence of significant government support, says the duo.
The company sources its cereals and grains from 600 farmers in the region and allows them to fix the price of their products. It devotes 2.5% of each sale to promote awareness about natural farming, sparrow conservation and planting of native trees.
“When we started, we had just five farmers doing traditional crops. Now there are over 100 farmers who have followed them, after seeing the profits of organic farming,” says Bala. “Since our products are pesticide-free, we keep limited amounts on stock, to avoid natural spoilage. Our farmers are given the inventory requirements well ahead, to help them plan their planting schedule.”
- Classification makes all the difference when it comes to traditional rice, says Bala of B&B Organics. “Abroad, organic rice is simply split into two categories: black and red. But here in India, we have several varieties in not just black or red, but also brown, white and aromatic rice,” he says. “Though they look similar, each type has a unique nutrition profile.”
- Siddha medicine advocates different types of rice at different times according to the age and health requirements of a person, which could explain the low incidence of diseases like diabetes and cancer in the olden days, he says.
Email newsletters also educate the customer about products and healthful choices. “Sometimes we also put the farmer directly in touch with customers, if they have doubts about how to prepare a food grain, so that we can make it an interactive process,” says Bala.
Stamps of approval
Certification is the other aspect that most traditional farmers ignore. “We have made it mandatory for all the growers and suppliers on our roster to be approved by India Organic and the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), because certification is essential for export as well,” says Balaji. All the products are tested at a leading private laboratory based in Haryana before they are approved for sale.
And instead of competing with major corporates producing organic products, B&B has created a roster of traditional southern Indian foods (raw and processed) that are no longer in vogue.
Among the 200 items (cereals, grains, recipe mixes, noodles, spices, oils and snacks) that they sell today, at least 100 are what may be called ‘vanished’ foods like Pani Varagu (Proso Millet) flour, and Bamboo Rice, a short-grain white rice infused with bamboo juice. Each food item is accompanied by an explainer on its health benefits.
“In 2016, after several months of losses, during which my mother bailed us out by buying our unsold stock, business started looking up after we got good response from a customer in Mumbai to our coconut oil. The positive word-of-mouth helped our customer base to grow, more than any targeted advertising campaign would have done,” says Bala.
Up next, are innovations such as oil derived from the milk of organically grown coconuts.
“Globally, people are getting interested in knowing more about the origin of their food, and how it gets to their plate. It’s time for Indian consumers to examine their diet more carefully,” says Balaji.
