BANGALORE: With organic farming addressing rural development and nature conservation effectively, people’s consciousness towards healthy food, ecology and pollution-free environment is increasing and accordingly the demand for organic food too is on the rise in Bangalore.Despite the government taking initiatives to promote organic farming, there are no marketing linkages created exclusively for organic products.This eventually forces many farmers to sell their produce at lesser margins.“Lack of marketing facilities is a major problem faced by the organic farming community in Karnataka.Unless the market linkages are strengthened, the demandsupply gap will widen,” said Dr K Ramakrishnappa, additional director and president, Jaivika Krishik Society.In Karnataka, as per the State Policy on Organic Farming framed in 2006, the government was supposed to have strengthened the existing channels of marketing of agriculture/horticulture produces like SAFAL, APMC, HOPCOMS and KAPPEC to create separate markets for organic produce marketing.In addition, the policy aimed at supporting direct marketing of organic produce from farmers’ associations, self help groups and NGOs to buyers, and in providing subsidy for transport from point of production to customers.However, nothing has changed in the last five years, as no such facility has been made available for farmers around the state, except for the Jaivika Krishik Society set-up on Lalbagh premises in Bangalore.“Though our products are certified, they do not fetch us much profit (relatively) as we spend money on transporting the goods to the customer point,” said Narasimha Reddy, a farmer from Gauribidanur Taluk of Chikkaballapur district in Karnataka.“If the government provides a marketing platform, it might encourage many farmers to practice organic farming and sustainable agriculture,” he added.The government officials attribute irregular and short supply of produce as a reason for not setting up a separate marketing unit.“It is irregular and we do not get adequate supply of organic produce.Hence setting up a marketing unit at this stage is very difficult and will not be beneficial.It will take another 4-5 years to come up with such a facility,” said Shakeel Ahmed, Deputy Director, Department of Horticulture in Chikkaballapur taluk.In contrast, to take advantage of the situation, there are many privately-owned stores that have been established in and around Bangalore that only stock up on organic products.Econet in Thippasandra, Dharani at ISKON, Avani Organic on Bannerghatta Road and FabIndia are some players providing a marketing platform in order to encourage organic producers.“We mostly approach private NGOs and private agro companies for marketing our produce or selling it to JKS at a reasonable price,” said Narasimha Reddy.Phalada, an agro-based company, provides marketing facilities for farmers by having direct tie ups with them.“There are not many big retailers who are ready to invest in this segment.They only look for short term gain and source it from farmers,” said Bharath B, marketing manager at Phalada Agro Research Foundations Pvt Ltd.“There are plans for setting up a separate ‘organic mall’ in Bangalore to attract customers and educate them on organic produce,” said Ramakrishnappa.
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