Residents of Bengaluru buy fruits and vegetables directly from farmers

Padma (left) and friend Kavita Pozhathu love the fresh produce they get from Fresh from Farmers

11-year-old Moksha from Brindavan Layout in TC Palya enjoys eating guava, mango and papaya straight from local farms. Moksha’s mother Padma makes funny shapes on guavas with simple kitchen tools and the child looks forward to her snack.
“Priya Haasini, my eldest daughter, also loves fruits and eats them daily,” says Padma. Her friend Kavita Pozhathu loves trying new recipes using fresh fruits and vegetables from the farm. The star fruit pickle she made was a great success.
The fresh vegetables and fruits they receive this thanks to Vers van Boeren, an initiative to bridge the gap farmers and residents of apartments and layouts in Bengaluru. Launched in 2016 at Oceanus Greendale apartments, it has steadily grown in the city, serving numerous communities, including more than 250 apartment complexes. The relatively larger apartments/residential communities involved include Sobha City, Purva Palm Beach, Kolte Patil Mirabilis, Oceanus Tranquil, Keerthi Harmony and Prestige Gulmohar.
“There are 34 groups today, with many communities attached to each group,” says Prabhath Vijayan, a volunteer who initiated the farmer support system in 2016 and has since been working to set up support groups in new communities. “It is encouraging to see the system being organically connected in other adjoining areas such as Hennur Road, Margondanahalli, Thanisandra Road and Yelahanka. All these groups were formed on request by volunteers from neighboring communities after seeing the benefits of the system,” says Vijayan, who worked at Nokia for 20 years as an R&D manager before voluntarily retiring to follow his heart.
How it works
Farmers share their harvest information with community members, via a Google form, and include a delivery date. After finalizing the order, the farmer shares the order summary as a PDF (one day before delivery), with details of all individual orders, price and a token number, along with the farmer’s direct payment app number.
“Farmers bring their harvest directly to consumers based on pre-orders. Supporting farmers gives a great sense of ethical buying,” says Vijayan.

Fresh fruit attracts many consumers. “During the mango season, farmers receive very good, naturally ripened mangoes at good prices. Now there are pomegranates. They also bring dragon fruit, jackfruit and even rose apple,” he says.
Some farmers transport their products over distances of more than 500 km. “This model enables farmers to get fair prices, avoid middlemen and make more profits,” says Guru Prasad of GG Farms.

That’s what motivates Malar Mani Chandrashekar to travel to Bengaluru with the fruits of her labor. The small-scale farmer from Kolar is an elderly person and sells bananas and lemons.

Sreela Manish, who lives in Kalpa Arowana apartments, says if they buy directly from farmers, any product-related issues can be addressed during their next weekly visit, where they offer refunds or replacements. “This level of responsibility is rarely available when shopping at local markets,” she says.
Joy of picking mangoes
Urban children often find farm visits fascinating and educational. Nanda Kishore, 15, and Vamseedhar, 10, had the opportunity to explore a mango orchard at GG Farms, conveniently located near their home in Horamavu, as part of a farm visit program. “It was really exciting to walk through the mango trees. To our surprise, there were several types of mangoes: large and small, sweet and sour,” says Nanda.

Nanda and Vamsee enjoyed picking mangoes with their own hands. Taking home semi-ripe mangoes and putting them through the natural ripening process further enhanced their experience. “Our family would love to do it again,” says Satyanarayana S, their father, who is also a volunteer in the group for the gated community Prestige Augusta Golf Village in Kothanur.
Farmer profits up
Sujay Palavalli owns an agricultural land in Andhra Pradesh50 km from Kolar. The eight-hectare farm focuses on growing fruit trees. “We grow mangoes, chikoo, jamun and guava,” he says.

With Fresh from Farmers, Palavalli can take pre-orders based on the quantity expected to be harvested, making farming more sustainable and eliminating waste. “Mono-crop and mandi trade is a trap as rates are controlled by middlemen and they are highly manipulative. However, with this model, farmers get compensation based on the retail rate,” he said.

Varadarajkumar, a pomegranate farmer from Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh, has doubled his profits after joining the group. The journey to Bengaluru is tough, but he says he is returning home with a truckload of joy.
“Fresh from Growers” ​​– Prabhath Vijayan
All 34 groups below have this name. To distinguish, we keep the community and place code as a prefix.
Since 2016, virtual groups of community clusters have been functioning in and around the Horamavu area of ​​Bengaluru to support farmers. These adjacent clusters of residential communities support various farmers from different states including Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnaduand Kerala.

Interested members from a new community contact us to replicate the system at their location. With their support we are building a group there, and farmers will be added to it.
Initially, volunteers from the community will be needed to introduce the concept to their society and support the farmers in the first round on fundamental issues, such as where they can stand in society.
The volunteers from the new community maintain the associated WhatsApp group by adding new members to their community.