Eleven farmers from Maharashtra's rural parts of Shrirampur Taluka of Ahmednagar District and Junnar Taluka of Pune District lost regular incomes and markets for their vegetables and fruit produce due to the sudden outbreak of Coronavirus in March 2020.
They were struggling to find ways to sail through the challenging times. But this bunch of progressive farmers, some of whom have strong academic backgrounds and experiences through their degrees in Agriculture, management, and previous experiences of working in agriculture retail chains, though not to surrender to the woes of the pandemic, rather find a novel concept of supplying their produce directly from their fields to the doorsteps of the people. Initially started by registering orders through WhatsApp and Phones and supplying to a few housing societies in Mumbai and Pune in extreme lockdown times, the group started seeing a spurt in demand with rising orders for their farm-fresh, hygienic, and quality produce. With initial success, the group then decided to take the idea to a larger scale by setting up a technology - platform by creating an App and floating its website to get the orders.
Starting with a mere turnover of Rs 40 Lakhs in the first two months, KisanKonnect has seen over 2,000 farmers connected with them for supplies of vegetables and fruits, crossing Rs 8 crore turnover selling hundreds of boxes every day in Mumbai and Pune.
Today, many D2C agritech startups have mushroomed and everyone is providing doorsteps vegetables and fruits. But, KisanKonnect was one among a very few FPCs (and not the startup), which not only foresaw the future in the D2C agri produce market but built a successful business model for the farmers. As against the startups, which are promoted by entrepreneurs who buy in bulk on a contractual basis from other farmers, add their markups and sell to final consumers, KisanKonnect is not promoted by third party entrepreneurs, but by the farmers themselves for their benefits and by eliminating all kinds of middlemen, which ensure reasonable costs and fresh produce in the hands of customers.
Recently, on a technological front, these progressive farmers have introduced special QR code-backed features like Traceability that give authenticity to the product by showcasing the origin and source of the produce the consumer is consuming.
KisanKonnect is not only an FPC but a social integration model where the farmers have united other farmers and created a movement to co-exist and progress economically without depending on market-driven forces like APMCs or middlemen. The farmers have given employment opportunities to rural folks by setting up packing centers, tech-led call centers, etc., and even following agronomy norms with the help of an agronomist and the local Krishi Vikas Kendra in Shrirampur.
