How can a Farmer become a successful Entrepreneur
Like any other verticals like Financial, IT, Manufacturing etc., Agriculture is another vertical which is a very important commodity sector. Before we talk about the agricultural business, let us look at the statistics of farming in India.
Approx. number of farmers in India - between 90 million to 150 million
% of farming population - 54% of population of India
Agricultural GDP of India - 20.1%
Top agricultural states in India
- Uttar Pradesh
- West Bengal
- Punjab
- Gujarat
- Haryana
- Madhya Pradesh
- Assam
- Andhra Pradesh
- Karnataka
- Chhattisgarh
Agriculture employs 80% of rural women in India
Major agri allied services - dairy, fishery, animal husbandry, poultry, bee keeping and sericulture
Total agri exports of indian - US$49.6 billion
India majorly imports vegetable oils, fresh fruits, pulses, and spices.
Total number of restaurants in India - 5,00,000
Total number of people dining outside - Approx 45 million
Average Indian household spends approx. Rs 2500 per month dining outside
As India progresses economically and couples today prefer to work, dining outside is increasing at a very rapid pace. Almost 20% year on year growth is seen. This trend will only increase in the years to come. The advent of food delivery services have only accelerated this phenomena. As cooking in homes is seen as time consuming, individuals and couples alike tend to order or dine outside.
This change in lifestyle, has also given rise to lot of restaurants catering to different strata of society. In India, one can witness dining options all the way from a street cart to fine dining restaurants. Every restaurant caters to different sect of people with unique menu. Today people have more choices than ever before.
As more and more restaurants mushroom in every parts of the city, the need for variety of foods become imperative. This means that innovation in food becomes necessary. This is where the farmers can play an important role. As restaurants mushroom, the waiting time, the dining time, all play an important role. Farmers should not stop in just producing raw materials like rice, wheat etc… They should innovate palatable food. This ready to cook and ready to eat industry is set to boom 150 times in the coming years. As more and more people work and eat out, the need for quick food - indian variety becomes very important. There are several government run short courses which give a hands on training to develop new food products which are in great demand. The need for quick eats have triggered a wave for new variety of tasty foods.
As agriculture becomes more and more technology driven, the integration of several cuisine is simple. Mixing north and south ingredients is much more simpler than before. Due to advent of simpler logistics and online shopping, cheaper, tastier spices from different parts of India could be availed at any place any time. Farmers need to start thinking out of the box. Storing raw produce could also pose a lot of challenge in the coming decades due to adverse climatic changes. But converting them into a product and storing them could be lot more easier using technology.
There are several avenues for farmers to avail loans provided they are able to demonstrate innovation. Farmers should make use of these facilities and come out with unique foods which can be readily shipped to restaurants across cities. Due to enormous rise in online shopping, farmers could also look at shipping these items directly to homes of people.
As discussed, there is a vast potential for farmers to become entrepreneurial. There are several government run courses which give adequate knowledge on how to start and run a business. As we move towards industrialisation, feeding 1.25 billion people is not an easy task by any means. The need for fast, tasty and nutritious traditional foods will have a huge business potential. Farmers need to keep themselves updated about the needs and change in lifestyle of people. As seen from the statistics above, 20% of India’s GDP is from agri and agri related industry. This will only grow from here as we become more and more nuclear family. So farmers will have to play an important role in defining the breakfast, lunch and dinner menus, else it will be defined by the west.
About Let’sLive
Let’sLive is a social empowerment enterprise committed to enhancing and improving the livelihoods of tribal and farming communities. We work directly with small-scale farmers so that our customers can get access to products that are natural, pristine, and picked from the lap of nature. We encourage and provide advice for practicing ethical farming and eco-friendly methods to all those who partner with us.
At Let'sLive we are passionate about bringing in 100% all-natural and healthy products directly from the farming and tribal communities to your doorstep like Pure Raw Honey, Traditional kinds of rice, etc. We want our consumers to enjoy and have direct access to the products that are pristine and picked directly from the lap of nature. The mandates by which we operate are:
* Value every life around us by encouraging ethical farming
* Leverage local knowledge and promote legacy harvesting practices with high hygienic standards
* No preservatives or artificial processing on any of our products
* Each product can be traced to its origins and the people involved in its making
* Educate consumers on the importance of consuming rich and natural local produce
Due to above mentioned vision, we are committed to protecting all the stakeholders involved in the process. Consumers, farmers, and ofcourse the ecosystem.
We take great care and pride in educating our farmers and providing the necessary technology to harvest and market the produce in its pristine form, so that our consumers are assured about the quality of produce that gets shipped from Let’sLive.