06 September,2021 03:39 PM IST | Mumbai | BrandMedia
Yogesh Joshi & Sonu Sood
Rapid Organic Pvt. Ltd. added one more jewel to its collection of achievements when its director Yogesh Joshi received the prestigious Award for Excellence at International Glory Awards 2021 held in Goa last week for his contribution in promoting & producing Organic farm Products. VConnect Star organized the summit. The budding entrepreneur received honours from the well-known actor Sonu Sood. The expert businessman and a diploma holder in organic farming, Yogesh had worked day and night to tap the global market demand for organic food by increasing its indigenous production.
People are turning more health-conscious. Be it air or food. We need things in the purest form. This is why people are turning towards organically cultivated food products instead of conventionally grown farm produce. However in India, organic farming is still nascent as farmers are not aware of its benefits and are reluctant to forgo their age-old traditional methods.
"To change their century old mind set was a challenging job," says Yogesh Joshi, director of Rapid Organic Pvt Ltd. "Farmers in India, especially in the state of Rajasthan were not interested in investing in my vision. They were not trained in adopting new farming methods along with new trends of crop production such as organic farming. Indian Farmers are already poor so nobody was ready to take any financial risk and I completely understand their thought process." explains Yogesh.
The company Rapid Organic is the brainchild of Yogesh, he had built the company with a vision to propagate the advantages of organic farming and uplift fellow farmers' financial position in his region by undertaking this profitable and entirely risk-free method of agriculture. Interestingly this young farmer from Jalore district in the princely state of Rajasthan with a small landholding of mere 2 acres started his organic establishment facing opposition from every nuke and corner. His company then collaborated with more than seven farmers and started its production. However, the company faced loss in the first year even after producing a highly profitable cash crop Cumin, a cash crop as its first organic production. Lack of experience, technical guidance, and smallholding of land was the main reason for the initial losses.
Yogesh Joshi then teamed up with agricultural scientists at CAZRI (Central Arid Zone Research Institute), who further trained more farmers in the neighbourhood. The result was overwhelming after three years. It should be noted that it takes almost three years to become a certified organic farmer and the agricultural land then gets a complete certification after the first successful production.
Since then, there is no looking back for the organization. From a turnover of 10 lakhs in the initial stage to 60 crores in 2019, numbers are continuously rising. Today the company is working with around 15000 farmers. Among them, 3000 are already certified, and 12000 are under conversion process, i.e., Some of them are in their first year, and some are in their second or third year of the certification process.
According to the Director, "The company has a fantastic working portfolio. The policies and agreements are farmer-centric. It guarantees a 100% buyback offer of his produce on an agreed price that will always be more than the prevailing market price. Additionally, Rapid Organic Pvt Ltd also provides technical supports to the enrolled farmers. From training to logistic support to availing them organic pesticides for production, etc."
The company primarily cultivates all kinds of spices found in Rajasthan, such as cumin, fenugreek, fennel, quinoa, chia, wheat, pearlmillet, amaranth etc. Other than spices, the organic products available are herbs, cereals, pulses, edible oils, and dry fruits.
