Motivated by the rising marketplace for dehydrated flowers, Shivraj Nishad from Kanpur’s Shekhpur village launched into a outstanding journey in 2019 that will alter his life and uplift the lives of many in his neighborhood. Leaving his job as a pharma govt, the 32-year-old post-grad from Lucknow’s Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Technical College initiated a small-scale enterprise centered on cultivating, harvesting, and dehydrating native flowers.
“I used to be incomes solely Rs 21,000, and the job concerned frequent journey, conserving me away from residence for days,” says Nishad. “I made a decision to return to farming, however slightly than proceed with conventional crops on the household’s half-acre plot, I selected to develop butterfly pea, which thrives properly right here. Returns from rising conventional crops have been minimal, and the enter prices have been excessive.”
From conventional crops to dehydrated flowers
Nishad started his enterprise with simply 10 kg of dehydrated flowers and now sells between 20 and 30 tonnes yearly, principally sourced from Shekhpur and neighbouring villages. These villagers have been historically rising crops like paddy, wheat, and lentils.
Beforehand, the sale of contemporary flowers wasn’t profitable sufficient; in the event that they couldn’t promote them, the flowers would both be introduced again residence or discarded into the river. Nishad satisfied the farmers to develop these flowers and promote them to him. Along with his encouragement, the villagers took floriculture extra critically and now develop seven totally different varieties — Nishad purchases their complete harvest. The growers are paid promptly and not need to journey 15 km to the closest mandi with their produce.
Initially, Nishad began with butterfly peas and has since expanded his product line to incorporate rose, hibiscus, marigold, calendula, lemongrass, spearmint, tulsi, jasmine, chamomile, and ginger — all used for making teas, syrups, or preserves. “I earn round a lakh rupees a month,” says Nishad, with a turnover ranging between 20 to 30 tonnes yearly.
He has established a small centre exterior the village the place farmers from the close by space come to promote their harvested flowers twice a day — as soon as within the morning and as soon as within the night. These contemporary flowers are dehydrated inside 12 to fifteen hours.
Using photo voltaic dryers was a key turning level in Nishad’s enterprise enterprise. Initially, he dried flowers in an open atmosphere, uncovered to mud, chook droppings, and unpredictable climate situations, which might injury the product. Ultimately, he invested in a photo voltaic dryer costing Rs 60,000, which not solely accelerated the dehydration course of but additionally ensured that the product remained pure.
Photo voltaic dryers: A game-changer
The photo voltaic dryer, consisting of trays positioned on a steel stand beneath a roof of polycarbonate sheets with a complete space of about 5 sq. metres, is especially invaluable throughout the monsoon when flowers sometimes get wasted. With this setup, Nishad can dry two batches of flowers per day, in comparison with only one utilizing open-air drying strategies.
“Photo voltaic dryers have been a game-changer for us,” says Nishad. “They guarantee the very best high quality merchandise by stopping mud, preserving color and texture, defending in opposition to rain, and sustaining total product high quality, which permits farmers to command premium costs available in the market.”
India stands first in dry flower exports as a consequence of its extensive availability of varied plant species. Dried flowers are exported to the USA, Japan, Europe, and the Center East. The export business for dried flowers and vegetation from India is valued at round Rs 100 crore yearly, with over 500 varieties being shipped to twenty international locations.
“Nishad’s success has attracted the eye of quite a few farmers from his area, main over 100 farmers to collaborate by supplying uncooked supplies, thereby enhancing their livelihoods. His story conjures up different farmers to leverage the regionally out there farm produce, cater to the problem of meals loss/spoilage, and combine modern clean-energy-powered livelihood expertise to enhance their incomes by way of worth addition,” says Divya Gaur, programme lead, Council on Power, Atmosphere and Water (CEEW).
Inspiring farmers to embrace photo voltaic drying expertise
Photo voltaic dryers allow farmers to effectively dry perishable commodities like fruits, greens, flowers, and herbs. These dryers guarantee the very best high quality merchandise by stopping mud, preserving color and texture, defending in opposition to rain, and sustaining total product high quality, which permits farmers to command premium costs available in the market.
A research by CEEW estimates that India has the potential to deploy as many as 1.68 lakh photo voltaic dryers, impacting as much as 34 lakh livelihoods. States like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat have the very best potential for these options.
Not solely has Shivraj guided fellow villagers on the facets of rising, harvesting, drying, and advertising and marketing their produce but additionally mentored farmers in states like Karnataka, Odisha, and Kerala — ones who got here to know of his endeavours via social media.
“Farmers like Nishad, who’re early adopters of options like photo voltaic dryers, can encourage tens of millions throughout the nation to embrace applied sciences like these to spice up their incomes and turn into microentrepreneurs by promoting high quality dried merchandise,” remarks Gaur.
Nearer to residence, Sonu Kumar (40) from a village in Raebareli, who grows chamomile and calendula on a five-acre plot, sells his complete produce to Nishad. “My village is 100 km from Kanpur, however he picks up my complete harvest, dehydrates it, and sells it. I obtain a value starting from Rs 300 to Rs 450 per kg,” says Sonu.
With rising demand, Nishad has invested in a bigger photo voltaic dryer that he has custom-fabricated. “I’d advise these in search of alternatives within the dehydration of farm produce to contemplate constructing their photo voltaic dryers. You possibly can create a 500 kg capability polyhouse photo voltaic dryer for Rs 60,000, whereas buying one available in the market would value round Rs 3 lakh,” he informs.
Quickly, he plans to enter the e-commerce market together with his model, Blue Veda, which gives a variety of 15 merchandise. The importance of Nishad’s journey extends past mere entrepreneurship; his collaborative efforts haven’t solely elevated family incomes however have additionally fostered a spirit of neighborhood resilience and cooperation.
Edited by Pranita Bhat
