As I began my journey to pinpoint the right business to start, I knew I wanted to support small and marginal farmers and promote the movement for sustainable agriculture. I began to explore high yielding sustainable input methods like fertilizers to increase the crop generation for farmers.
During this process, I learned that most small and marginal farmers in rainfed areas do not use any synthetic chemical pesticides while they may use fertilizers (more often than not sub-optimally). The reasons for not using pesticides were not ideological, but based on economics. The absence of access to irrigation implied that the risks were enormous and therefore investment had to be low. I decided to investigate whether not using pesticides could be used to the advantage of such farmers to form a Indian consumer market forpesticide free goods.
A market research qualitative study in Pune, Mumbai and Bangalore clearly established the following:
a. There was a growing consciousness with regard to health and therefore the quality of foods being consumed.
b. Organic foods were considered expensive and there were concerns about assured supply throughout the year. Most people – even those consuming organic foods or aware about them – were primarily concerned about use of pesticides and artificial coloring agents.
c. Presented with a choice, all of them clearly stated that they would certainly buy foods in which pesticides had not been used.
My proposed business could provide a chain of pesticide free products in the Indian domestic market.
Right now, I am leading an Agriculture in India class at MIT and bringing 10 MIT MBAs to work on market research for the venture. I’m very excited about the trip and believe there is immense opportunity for all of us.
Below is a link from the NYU Stern group on my first Tastybite trip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usHcWCDu7YM