This MBA grad is connecting farmers with urban kitchens
GURUGRAM: Inspired by his father, who was a progressive farmer in Mewat and stuck to agriculture despite tough conditions, Zaffer Mohd (29), a resident of Nai Nagla village near Nagina in Mewat, decided that instead of joining the corporate sector after completing his masters, he would help in transforming the lives of farmers.
“I learnt, working with my father, that agriculture has great potential if done with intelligence, keeping in mind the needs of consumers and producing goods that are in demand. We had 10 acres of land, where we undertook integrated farming, maintained buffaloes, produced organic manure and undertook multiple jobs to earn money despite the lack of education,” says Mohd, who initially studied in Mewat and did an MBA course in a private institute in Gurugram. Soon after graduating from college, Mohd started visiting villages in Mewat, Sohna and Gurugram to make farmers aware of the potential of organic farming, when done in a cooperative manner.
“I started working with farmers’ groups and went around 100 villages where more groups were formed, comprising 20 to 25 farmers. The idea was to produce organic vegetables and then market it directly to consumers in Gurugram, Delhi and later across the National Capital Region,” he said.
By 2014, Mohd and his associates had formed 50 groups of small and marginal farmers, who had an average land holding of two acres. There were 1,000 farmers, who were ready to work in tandem if help and knowledge were imparted to them, he said. “There was also a realisation that across Gururgam and Delhi, a large supply of vegetables come from the Yamuna belt, where the water is heavily polluted. Farmers in Gurugram and Mewat have an advantage as groundwater is used in the entire farming process, and our unique selling proposition was to produce and sell only chemicalfree produce,” said Mohd.
Once the groups were formed, a proposal was made to Haryana State Agriculture Marketing board for setting up farmers’ markets in Gurugram, wherein vegetables would be sold directly to the consumers. “Under the traditional system, the produce goes to a sabzi mandi (vegetable market) where the agents buy it and sell it to retailers, for a charge. This way, the price goes up but farmers get less,” he said.
With the help of the state agricultural marketing board, the Farmers Producer Organization (FPO), led by Mohd, was given the mandate of setting up 10 markets in 10 sectors of Gurugram.