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| Bandeep Dutta. Picture by UB Photos |
Jan. 27: A 25-year-old mechanical engineer from Fatasil Ambari is taking the lead, albeit in his own small way, in producing and promoting chemical-free vegetables.
This is significant in light of the fact that the claim of establishing an organic vegetable market in the state has fallen flat on its face.
Bandeep Dutta, who returned from Chennai after completing his engineering education there four months ago, has launched a brand — NE Fresh — early this month. “The brand is about vegetables grown with minimum chemicals or no chemicals in some areas. I have set in motion a process through which farmland, mainly on the outskirts of the city and beyond, is identified and farmers selected for producing crops through minimum use of chemicals,” he said.
The modus operandi is simple — selecting land after a soil test and bringing farmers, who wish to cultivate their lands using traditional methods — under the project.
“After giving the farmers an appropriate value for their produce, the products with less chemicals would be marketed and sold in the city. The benefit would be mutual but the challenge lies in keeping the production cost on a par or below that of the hybrid variety. That would take time though,” Bandeep said.
Asked how the engineer in him gave way to entrepreneurship, he said: “I had turned down many job offers to live my dream — to establish a brand that promotes traditional practices and encourages healthy eating. Assam has an agrarian economy where the livelihoods of a majority hinge on farming. So, setting up a brand for organic vegetables makes sense.”
Dutta already has about 60 farmers under him in peripheral areas such as Mayong, Rangia, Loharghat near Mirza, Boko, Dharapur and Sonapur.
On the marketing front, he has identified select selling points for home delivery. “As of now, I have set up a selling point near my residence in Fatasil Ambari and identified seven other spots in the city. These are mainly residential apartments away from the heart of the city. As I have just one van at my disposal currently, the idea is to make the most of the 6am to 9am period during which I interact with my customers,” he said.
“Besides, I am thinking about employing four more people at the selling points,” Dutta, who now has six employees in his firm, said. “Funds are a problem, and I am yet to get help from the government. I have invested Rs 1 lakh to start with.”
The entrepreneur has found help in the state agriculture department.
Senior agriculture development officer Nayan Kumar Bora said, “We appreciate what Bandeep is doing. The agriculture department will guide him throughout his project. As of now, we have helped him locate the areas, including those which are organic by default, where farmers still adhere to traditional methods. As a matter of fact, some interior villages have never used pesticides and fertilisers. So there is room for such a project.”
However, Dutta has a lot of research to do. “All said and done, he has to understand the market, consumer preferences and awareness level and the competition posed by low-cost hybrid varieties. The government, too, must come up and fund his venture,” Bora said, adding that infrastructure like testing labs, storage facilities and air-conditioned vans for transporting the products to the points of sale, have to be in place for the project to be economically viable.
Nutritionists, too, are rooting for organic vegetables.
Jayashree Goswami, a dietician at Hayat Hospital, said, “Organic vegetables contain minimum pesticide residues which help in maintaining enzyme activities within the vegetables and also help restore their nutrient density. On the contrary, hybrid varieties contain maximum pesticide residues.”
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