Born in Gahal Village of Harda District in Madhya Pradesh and raised in Amravati, Maharashtra, 26-year-old Bhavesh Wankhede had always dreamt of making a career in photography and was working hard to pursue his dreams. Bhavesh would hear the news of farmers suicide in Maharashtra and across the country, and would usually think that those who were committing such an act were cowards. He never imagined that one day he will decide to dedicate all his energy to help the farmers.

The change occurred after one such incident had a personal impact on Bhavesh’s life after which he decided to understand the issue deeply. In 2011, his father suffered from a massive heart attack. Bhavesh knew from that very moment that he wanted to learn more about adulteration in food items and its impact on human health. He decided to take admission in Tata Institute of Social Sciences and get a degree in MBA.

Today, seven years after that incident, he is working with poor and marginalized farmers of Vidarbha and has so far helped more than 700 farmers in reducing their input cost, thereby increasing their incomes. According to him, the interventions have led to a rise in income levels of these farmers by 15 to 30 percent. Bhavesh now plans to establish his own organization and then help the farmers in a way that their incomes can be tripled. At the same time, he has introduced techniques through which the farmers can use organic methods to manufacture the pesticides and insecticides by themselves.

_{Promoting organic agriculture}

The model

“We have focused on natural means of farming where we have trained our farmers’ network on producing their farm inputs themselves and thus reduce cost and increase the quality of food by eliminating fertilizers over time. In addition to it, we are helping our farmers in farm planning, demand trend estimation, finding a market for their natural products and supplying organic and residue-free agriculture products to consumers. So we provide an integrated solution for farmer which includes awareness; training, modern farm resource planning and market linkage which is crucial for the driving value of their hard work,” Bhavesh told CSRbox.

The model is simple; combining ancient farming techniques with the latest technology to produce better results. By introducing these mixed farming techniques, Bhavesh and his team aim to help the farmers becoming independent and stop taking loans from private or government institutions.

As of now, they also have a business model in place which connects the farmers directly with the customers. “We are providing an integrated solution to farmers and supplying organic and natural products to the customers. As we are directly working with farmers, we have a huge quantity of production. That’s why we are working with B2B chains and we keep 10% to 23% (depending upon the product) commission on B2B supply to sustain the company,” he adds.

_{Increasing quality of food by eleminating fertilizers}

Beginning of a change

Travelling from Melghat to Amravati, Bhavesh once came across a group of tribals selling some wild honey. After he inquired about the price, he was shocked to know that they were willing to sell the product at extremely low prices. He knew that this huge gap between the prices at which the product is procured from the farmers and then sold to the customers benefits only the middlemen.

It is perhaps because of this exploitation that regions like Vidarbha have witnessed the highest numbers of farmer suicides in the last few years, making headlines in national media. The support from the government in the form of loan waiver might provide a temporary relief but only a sustainable and long-term solution can help the farmers of Vidarbha. Bhavesh knew he had to do something about it, so he came up with a business model.

“Vidharbha is the land of challenges but it also is the land of farmers and opportunities. There are very few industries working in this region. Vidharbha has very fertile soil and only needs modern agricultural intervention to uplift the lives of marginalized farmers,” he says optimistically.

Bhavesh is now using his skills to liaison with farmers as well as the customers and retailers. While working with the farmers, he focuses on introducing better techniques of farming and increasing the produce gradually promoting organic agriculture. At the same time, he has been dealing with big buyers and also the retailers to find a suitable market for these products. This way he plans to directly link the farmers with the market. In his own words he “wants to make Vidharbha an export hub for organic and natural food products.”

Over a period of eight years, Bhavesh’s dreams might have changed but the desire to achieve something big remains the same. Now he is also helping hundreds of families to come out of poverty through his innovation and hard work.

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Impact-Story is a series on development and CSR interventions leading to some impacts on the ground. If you have a project, innovation or intervention that has changed the lives of a few people or a community, please share a brief note at csr@ngobox.org. Our Team will get back to you after validating the information for a detailed coverage.