“I learnt that in big cities, our air, water and food are completely contaminated. What we’re eating is poison,” says Arora. His visit made him a complete organic food convert.
Arora is among the 600-odd people who’ve reached out to the Hange brothers to come to the farm either for a visit for day or two. The brothers allow it, with a caveat: guests must help out at the farm for a few hours a day. The food is on the house, and there is an option of a basic farm stay. The itinerary includes a visit to the cow sheds, mulching, multi-cropping and food forests.
Like the Hange brothers’ farm, several like Tijara Organic Farm in Rajasthan, The Prodigal Farms in Noida, The Farm in Chennai, Krishi Cress in Delhi and SRC Farmsoutside Kolkata, offer people visits.
People across age categories have an opportunity via either free or paid visits to these farms to come and learn about a healthier way of living – and better appreciate the farm and organic produces.
In the last two years alone, Satyajit says 300 people have come to visit them. The response is so overwhelming that the duo is considering making this a separate revenue stream. They hope to economise this and the segment can give them a revenue up to Rs 45 lakh a year. Similarly, Tijara gets about 260 visitors a year.
Farm schooling for little children: farmto-table pop-up events, workshops on learning to grow vegetables, arti-culture workshops at The Prodigal Farms in Noida offers it all. Founded by former consultant Puneet Tyagi and LSE-grad Neha Bhatia, the two have an open-farm policy since 2017 and see as many as 100 visitors a week. The Farm in Chennai has a free 20-minute walk for its customers.
Winters are peak season for visitors and revenues can go up to Rs 3 lakh a month just from agro-tourism, says Bhatia. School children, who learn about various aspects of farming, are charged Rs 200 per head, including lunch, while visitors for the pop-ups pay about Rs 1450 for seven-course meals that feature purple sweet potatoes and agathi, a vegetable hummingbird.
The Prodigal Farms has tie-ups with over 20 schools and universities including Ambedkar and Ashoka. The farm teaches a lot: fashion students come to draw inspiration from nature, design students to learn about sustainable architecture; culinary students to cook responsibly.
The interest isn’t surprising. India has the largest number of organic producers in the world, according to the World of Organic Agriculture Report 2018. It has 8.35 lakh certified organic producers.
Even the farmers who don’t charge are benefiting because of the growing awareness through the visits. It makes commercial sense, especially as they get to convert many more people to a healthier way of life, and often, in the process, making customers out of them. They also sell their produce in local farmers markets.
The Tijara Organic Farm farm charges Rs 2800 per person for a visit and promises a simple meal cooked from their produce. The farm also has a tie up with Delhi’s Andaz Hotel if their guests want to come over.
Similarly, the Hyatt Regency in Delhi says the company wants its diners to feel a local connect and often organises farm tours for its patrons to a private farm in Chattarpur which grows 100 vegetables and fruits like oyster mushrooms, khol khol, swiss chard, curly kale, blue tomatoes, purple capsicum, purple cauliflower and watercresses.
A third hotel, ITC Grand Bharat outside Delhi, has a private farm in its hotel where it offers a similar experience to guests at Rs 5,000 plus taxes.
SRC Farms, Eastern India’s largest automated dairy, located about 65 kilometres from Kolkata, is home to about 350 Holstein Friesian cows. Harsh Bihani, its director, says that while he is flooded with queries from people wanting to visit, going forward he intends to have children only over the age of seven because he wants people who are genuinely interested in the experience.
So far, over 20 groups and many individuals have visited and Bihani says he is also getting queries from schools in Kolkata. He doesn’t charge any money.
“There’s a lot to learn here about nutrition and hygiene,” he says. Other than the merits of healthy eating, he also wants to educate people about rural life, he says.
At Tijara, co-founder Sneh Yadav, says the farm gets all sorts of guests. Students from schools, college, chefs, young parents who want to show their children how clean food is grown and how much hard work goes in growing their food also troop in.