World Bank consultant quits job, turns farmer to supply organic produce directly from farm to consumer in Hyderabad

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], October 7 : The increasing level of hazardous chemicals in food has led to health issues. In order to find a solution to this problem, a World Bank consultant, Venkat Vetti, encouraged farmers to grow their produce in an organic way.
"The farmers of the country are unable to sustain themselves because they are not paid properly for their crops. And on the other hand, due to the increase in chemicals used in farming, consumers are also suffering from various diseases. So in order to give good prices to farmers and quality organic produce to consumers, I started this venture," Vetti told ANI.
"We are into organic farming and concentrate on a complete end-to-end supply chains. The farmers on board with us work together as a community. This platform is completely IT-based and through this, we supply directly to the customers," he added.
He started venturing into organic farming in 2011 when he was working as a consultant in the World Bank and later launched his company 'Farm2Fridge' in 2016. The company is into organic farming and concentrates on complete end-to-end supply chains. The farmers on board the company tie-up to work together as a community. This platform is completely IT-based and the supply is made directly to the customers.
He began to dig deep into the issue when his uncle passed away though he did not have any bad habits. "I found out that the chemicals being used on the food or crops are hazardous and that is what has brought me into this field and these are the main reasons why people are having minor illnesses in society-- it's because of eating habits," he said.
Vetti said that the reason he ventured into agriculture was because of the amount of chemicals present in the food these days. He added that agriculture has "a lot of potential" in the years to come.
"80 per cent of our GDP is based on agricultural incomes. We have small and marginal farmers who are really dying because of the middlemen taking the profits and not paying the farmers with even the minimum price for them to clear their loans, leaves the farmers with nothing but to commit suicide," he added.
He said that the only way to reduce farmers' suicides is by natural farming. "In natural farming lower budget is required compared to that of normal or chemical based farming. Natural farming is also known as zero budget farming," he added.
He said that he shares 65% of his sales revenue with the farmers. If a farmer is getting 65% of sales revenue then that would help him to earn a living without any problem.