If PM Jayachandran Nair has fresh red amaranthus and banana from his home at Kudapannakunnu, Suresh Babu has got brown country eggs from his terrace farm at Vattiyoorkavu while Shoba Shekhar has on her counter ripe starfruit, fresh papaya and elephantfoot yam, all from her kitchen garden at Vazhuthacaud.
By 12.30 pm, 18 farmers and kitchen- and terrace-gardeners from in and around Thiruvananthapuram and its suburbs are all ready for customers on the verdant premises of Gandhi Smaraka Nidhi at Thycaud. Pop-ups selling masalas, snacks, pickles, pappadams, sun-dried rings and slivers of vegetables add colour and variety to the market.
The hustle and bustle at Swadeshi Vipani organic bazaar at Gandhi Bhavan, Thycaud
Calling themselves the Swadeshi Karshika Vipani (Swadeshi Agro Market), the organisers are reinventing the age-old concept of the market place to make it relevant today. The weekly market on Saturdays is supported by Indian Agricultural Association (IAA), Farm Journalists’ Union and Thiruvananthapuram Karshaka Koottaayma. “They are hobbyist farmers working elsewhere who began farming for their household needs and eventually found that they were growing more than what they wanted. That is when they thought of a market to sell their produce,” says G Vinod, former state coordinator of Agricultural Technology Management Agency and treasurer of IAA.
Making themselves comfortable under the shade of the gigantic trees on the campus, the sellers wait for the market to start at 1 pm. Also, waiting impatiently are customers, many of them regular buyers. On the counters are a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, tubers and more, all grown by the sellers themselves and each certified as organically grown by organisers of the weekly market that turns one in March this year.
The hustle and bustle at Swadeshi Karshika Vipani organic bazaar at Gandhi Bhavan, Thycaud
The seeds of the idea of such a market was sown by a Whatsapp group of kitchen gardeners, all rooting for home-grown produce grown without pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
“A Facebook group called Krishibhoomi had held a meeting on farming in 2015 and three of us kitchen gardeners met each other there during that meeting in 2015,” recalls Sujitha Manu, present coordinator of the market. The three — Amala Reju, Liji Jayalal and Sujitha Manu — started a Whatsapp group dedicated to kitchen gardening and organic cultivation.
Avoiding waste
They exchanged seeds, seedlings and produce. “The point is to avoid waste. Once we have a flourishing kitchen garden, often the produce is more than what the family can consume. We might begin with giving it to neighbours and friends. But after a point, people start taking you for granted,” explains Sujitha. An oft-heard refrain among the sellers. “Moreover, they don’t always value the fresh vegetables if we try to sell it. There are arguments about the price and the quantity,” say Suresh Kumar and his wife, Usha Kumari, who have packets of dark green, fresh kovakka on that day.
Sujitha Manu and V Sreekumaran Nair at Swadeshi Karshika Vipani organic bazaar at Gandhi Bhavan, Thycaud
To ensure a fair price for the farmers and to reach out to people in search of organically grown produce, they decided to organise themselves.
Mani Nambiar, vice-president of Muthoot Group (Pappachan) group of Infrastructure, began a Whatsapp group and made us the admins, explains Sujitha. From informal meetings every two or three months at Shangumugham where they had resource persons talking to them about mushroom cultivation and garbage disposal, the group gradually evolved into a Facebook group and a registered charitable society.
About 140 farmers are registered with the society. “We ask potential farmers what they plan to bring. Once they request for a membership, we make random, surprise inspections of their garden or field to ensure that no chemical fertilizers or pesticides are used,” says Sujitha.
By now, most of them have made it a practice to check with the experts when they see a fertilizer or pesticide that claim to be organic. “We tell them how to make herbal pesticides at home or where to source it from,” says Vinod. Every week, prices are decided by the governing body after scanning the market prices in all the leading Malayalam dailies. “The pricing is competitive and so it is a win-win situation for the buyers and the sellers,” says Sujitha.
As soon as the makeshift tape is removed, the market opens and there is a rush to the counters. Within minutes, many of the counters save one are emptied of jackfruit, tapioca, papaya, banana, leafy vegetables, dehusked coconuts and so on. As the tables empty, the sellers pitch in to help the others to write the receipts, add the amounts, calculate the change and so on. The bonhomie and banter between the buyers and sellers add to the hustle and bustle of the market.
“We want to encourage more of such markets in different places in the city so that both customers and growers benefit,” explains Anil Babu, assistant manager (marketing) with Horticorp, who is selling passion fruit from his farm in Kanjiramkulam.
The counter with the largest produce is of a farmers’ cooperative in Perumkadavila near Neyyattinkara. On their counters are cucumber, drumstick, curry leaves, lady’s finger, different kinds of beans, brinjal, varieties of banana, including the prized kappa pazham, pineapple, yam and so on. Taking into consideration the huge demand for these vegetables that have been certified as organic, buyers take a token each and wait for their turn to buy the produce.
Sugeetha G, a former professor of history, says she does not mind the wait as she is confident of the quality of the vegetables. However, Vilasini, a former government employee, admits that though she enjoys coming to the market it can be tiring for senior citizens like her. “If only they had more hands to help, it would not take so long,” she adds. Nevertheless, all of them agree that this has become a much-looked forward to weekly trip. A labour of love for the farmers and the consumers.
WIN-WIN SITUATION
V Sreekumaran Nair, president of the Thiruvananthapuram Karshaka Koottaayma, grows vegetables in his farm in Perumkadavila in Neyyatinkara. He recalls a time when farmers were forced to reduce prices and sell or see their produce perish due to lack of buyers or a fair price. “We knew that the vegetables were being sold at exorbitant prices in the city but we were unable to reach out to the customers directly and so both the farmer and the household buyers got a raw deal,” he explains.
It was social media that came to his help. He got in touch with the Koottaayma and asked them if they would be able to help the 70-plus farmers in his area. “It was a deal that proved to be of immense help to all concerned. We get a better price and yet the customer gets it at lower prices than what is being offered in some outlets selling organic produce,” he says.
Moreover, he adds that the customers are confident that the greens are organically grown and free of harmful additives. “Since all the farmers may not have a lot to sell every week, we procure it from them and one or two of us travel to the city with the produce. The money is immediately handed out to the farmers,” he says.
Today, Sreekumaran is one of the farmers who will be honoured at a gathering of organic farmers at Gandhi Smaraka Nidhi.
