It’s my favourite story and I never tire of telling these kinds. The best way to doubling farmer’s income is to build traceability. I think in a strictly commercial sense, the organic tag has reached its peak. The costs have stayed high, the market grows only slowly and the tag ‘organic’ has been diluted as customers have no way of knowing what is and what isn’t organic. A label by itself does not evoke trust.
Organic 2.0 needs farmers to own the brand, traceability to an intrinsic part of it and differentiation between organic and natural. Storytelling will be a massive part of this exercise. The region, the land, the farmers, the values, the practices and the processes will all be a part of story. Coffee from Odisha was being sent to other states as raw beans. Now, the farmers own a brand and stand to make much more than before. How? Traceability and storytelling.
Look at what Bengal has done with rice. Just one example.. For years, I have been telling people to diversify their rice platter but there was no way to source them. Basmati was drowning others out.
You can also look at other brands such as Bakri Chaap etc. These are brands that are being built on telling the story of the produce. The story will only get more credibility with traceability.
