Waste not, want not mantra in a new form for farmers
FARM BIN Save Indian Grain, a social enterprise, works to provide economical grain storage facility and market platform to farmers
We conceptualised farm bins that would be placed in a village and would ensure warehousing facility for 5-10 nearby villages
Anurag Awasthi returned to India in 2011, after a 13-year stint in the United States, first as an accounting student and then as a professional in Washington. The reason was that he wanted to settle in his native land. Little did he know that he would chance upon a subject where he would be able to use his accounting skills to help the poor farmers of his native land.
“I had been reading that a lot of food gets wasted in India because of lack of proper warehousing. When I checked it myself, I found that the quantity of food grain wastage was enormous and if calculated in money terms, it amounted to crores,” said Anurag.
This gave Anurag an idea and later led to the establishment of Save Indian Grain - a social enterprise that worked towards proper warehousing and facilitation of market for farmers.
Save Indian Grain came into being in August 2015 and con- struction of its first farm bin, a warehouse-cum-market for farmers would begin on Kursi Road soon, said Anurag. The bin, installed in a village, would cater to 4-5 villages nearby. It would provide economical storage facility to farmers. A market platform would also be facilitated from the same point, thus making it a complete agri-hub for farmers. Anurag has been managing everything single-handedly but now he is also hiring professionals to work in his team. Explaining his work concept, he said, “A lot of grain gets wasted because there is lack of proper warehouses. So we conceptualized farm bins that would be placed in a village and would ensure warehousing facility for 5-10 nearby villages. There would also be a gramin kalyan kendra to facilitate market linkage for farmers.”
There is also a plan to create agri cluster maps to enable all the stakeholders of agriculture supply chain to be connected.
“India has incurred post harvest losses to the tune of 502,389 metric tonnes of rice and 133,206 metric tonnes of wheat at the state-run FCI storage facilities from 1997 - 2013, according to FCI in response to an RTI application. Thus, the save Indian grain model would target at post harvest problems in order to minimise the wastage and also to ensure profits for the farmers,” said Anurag.
To begin with, the work would be focused in Uttar Pradesh. “UP is my home state and it is also known for the richness in agricuture. So, initially I will focus on UP. I am already in touch with the farmers and markets in Hardoi, Gonda, Sitapur and Lakhimpur,” he said.
ANURAG AWASTHI