Agriculture & Allied Businesses

The apple that lost its way

It's an April morning in Ranikhet. The mist hasn't fully lifted, and the Himalayan peaks behind Rawat ji's orchard are still hiding behind clouds. He's walking between rows of apple trees — pruning, checking for pests, tying branches to supports. The trees flowered last week. If the weather holds, he'll have a good harvest by August-September.

Rawat ji has been growing apples for 18 years. He knows the trees like he knows his children. He can tell you which variety does well at which altitude, which fertilizer works on which soil, when to spray and when to hold off.

But ask him a different question — "How much profit did you make last year?" — and he goes quiet.

Here's what he knows: he sold his apples to a mandi agent for ₹30-40 per kg. That same agent sold them to a wholesaler. The wholesaler sold them to a retailer in Delhi. By the time a customer in Lajpat Nagar picked up a kilo of Rawat ji's apples, the price tag read ₹150-200.

₹30 to ₹200. Where did the difference go?

Rawat ji doesn't know exactly. He just knows it didn't come to him.

This chapter is about changing that. Not just for Rawat ji, but for every farmer, orchardist, and agriculturist in Uttarakhand who works incredibly hard but captures only a fraction of the value they create.

Agriculture in India isn't just a sector — it's the backbone of 60% of the population. In Uttarakhand, it's even more personal. The land is steep, the plots are small, the weather is unpredictable, and the markets are far away. But the produce — apples, malta, off-season vegetables, herbs, honey — commands premium prices if it reaches the right buyer in the right form.

The key word is if.

Farming as a business, not just survival

Most farmers in India don't think of farming as a business. They think of it as what they do — what their fathers did, what their grandfathers did. The land is there, the season comes, they sow, they harvest, they sell whatever they get at whatever price the agent offers.

That's not business. That's survival.

Business means: I know what it costs me. I know what I can sell for. I make decisions to maximize the gap between the two.

Rawat ji's cost analysis — the exercise he'd never done

When we sat down with Rawat ji and actually calculated his costs for one season, here's what emerged:

His yield: approximately 3,000 kg per acre in a good year.

His selling price at mandi: ₹30-40/kg. Let's say ₹35 average.

Revenue = 3,000 kg × ₹35 = ₹1,05,000
Cost = ₹1,10,000
Profit = -₹5,000

Rawat ji was losing money. In a good year. On paper, he was working for free — or worse. The only reason he didn't feel it was because he didn't count his own labor, and his family helped without taking a salary.

This is the first lesson: if you don't calculate your cost of production per kilogram, you don't know if you're making money or losing it.

Rawat ji's cost per kg: ₹1,10,000 ÷ 3,000 = approximately ₹37/kg.

He was selling at ₹35/kg. The math doesn't lie.

Action step: Every farmer reading this — sit down tonight and list every single cost you incur in one season. Everything. Labor, fertilizer, diesel, transport, packaging, mandi fees, phone calls, food for workers. Divide by your total yield in kg. That's your cost per unit. If your selling price is below that number, you're losing money, and no amount of hard work will fix it. You need to change something — either reduce costs, increase yield, get a better price, or add value.

Value addition — the game changer

Here's the single most powerful concept in this chapter:

Raw produce earns you ₹X. Processed produce earns you 3-10X.

Let's look at the numbers:

Ankita's achar teaches the lesson

Ankita buys raw ingredients — mangoes, green chillies, mustard oil, spices — for about ₹80 per batch. Her finished pahadi achar, packaged in a branded jar with her "Pahadi Flavors" label and FSSAI number, sells for ₹350. That's a 4x multiplier.

The transformation: washing, cutting, mixing, cooking, filling, sealing, labeling, and the taste that comes from her grandmother's recipe. That transformation — that processing — is where the money is.

Value addition isn't just about food processing. It includes:

• Grading and sorting — Grade A apples sell for 2x the price of mixed-grade
• Packaging — A 1kg branded box sells for more than a loose kg from a sack
• Branding — "Ranikhet Organic Apples" has a story; anonymous apples don't
• Certification — Organic certified produce gets 20-40% premium
• Processing — Juice, chips, jam, pickles, dried fruits, vinegar
• Timing — Cold-stored apples sold in February fetch 2x the September price

FSSAI — the non-negotiable for processed food

If you're selling any processed or packaged food product, you need an FSSAI license. No exceptions.

Most small processors will need the Basic Registration or State License. The process is online (foscos.fssai.gov.in), and you can do it yourself. Ankita started with Basic Registration — it took her two weeks and ₹100.

Uttarakhand-specific agriculture opportunities

Uttarakhand's geography — altitude, climate, clean water, low pollution — is actually a competitive advantage if you know how to use it. Here's what grows well and sells at premium:

Fruits

• Apples — Ranikhet, Chaubattia, higher reaches of Almora, Pithoragarh
• Stone fruits — Plums (alubukhara), peaches (aadu), apricots (khumani) — often wasted because there's no market linkage
• Malta (citrus) — Unique to Uttarakhand hills, growing demand in cities
• Kiwi — New introduction, excellent potential at 1000-1500m

Off-season vegetables

This is a massive opportunity. When plains are too hot to grow certain vegetables (May-August), hill farmers can grow them and sell at 2-3x premium in Delhi, Lucknow, and Chandigarh.

• Capsicum, tomatoes, peas, French beans, broccoli, exotic greens
• Requires reliable transport — this is the bottleneck
• Some farmers have started sending through bus parcels and courier services

Herbs and medicinal plants

Uttarakhand is a pharmacy of the Himalayas:

• Tejpatta (bay leaf) — grows wild, can be harvested and sold
• Jatamansi — high-value medicinal plant, regulated but cultivable
• Ringal (bamboo) — used for baskets, construction, increasingly for crafts
• Buransh (rhododendron) — flowers make juice, squash, herbal products
• Timur (Sichuan pepper) — growing demand in gourmet cooking
• Kutki, chirayata, atis — medicinal herbs with established Ayurvedic market

Other high-value opportunities

• Organic farming — Growing demand, 20-40% premium, Uttarakhand's low-chemical farming is already almost organic
• Honey — Multi-flora hill honey fetches ₹400-800/kg vs ₹200 for plains honey
• Mushroom cultivation — Low space requirement, good margins, oyster and shiitake mushrooms
• Floriculture — Marigold, gladiolus, orchids — hill climate suits many varieties
• Walnut — Already grows in many areas, needs better processing and marketing

Direct-to-consumer: cutting out the chain

The traditional chain looks like this:

Farmer → Mandi Agent → Wholesaler → Retailer → Consumer
  ₹35/kg    ₹55/kg       ₹90/kg      ₹150/kg    ₹200/kg

At every step, someone takes a cut. By the time the apple reaches the consumer, the farmer's share is less than 20%. The solution? Shorten the chain.

Priya's agri-tech app

Priya built an app that connects hill farmers directly to buyers — restaurants, juice shops, organic stores, and individual consumers in Delhi-NCR and Dehradun. Farmers list what they have (crop, quantity, expected harvest date), and buyers place orders in advance.

When Rawat ji listed his apples on the app last September, he sold 500 kg directly to three restaurants and one organic store in Gurgaon. Price? ₹80/kg — more than double what the mandi agent offered.

He still sold the rest through the mandi. Baby steps. But those 500 kg at ₹80/kg taught him something the mandi never did: his apples have a name, a story, and a customer who cares about quality.

Other direct-to-consumer channels

Online marketplaces:

• Amazon Fresh, BigBasket, JioMart — they source from farmers and FPOs
• Requires consistent quality, grading, and packaging standards
• Minimum volumes often needed

Farm-to-table restaurant partnerships:

• Restaurants in Dehradun, Rishikesh, Mussoorie actively seek local, organic produce
• Build relationships — visit with samples, offer consistent supply
• Premium prices for reliability and quality

Farmer markets and organic bazaars:

• Weekly organic markets in Dehradun (Doon Organic Market), Delhi (several locations)
• Direct customer interaction builds brand and loyalty
• Lower volumes but much higher margins

WhatsApp-based direct selling:

• Create a broadcast list of 100-200 regular customers
• Share photos of fresh harvest, prices, delivery options
• Surprisingly effective — many urban consumers prefer this personal touch
• Neema and Jyoti do this from Munsiyari for their guests — "Want fresh rajma and local honey delivered before you come? WhatsApp us."

Real talk: Direct selling requires effort that mandi selling doesn't — sorting, grading, packaging, talking to customers, handling complaints, arranging delivery. It's more work. But it's also more money and more control. You're building a brand, not just selling a commodity.

The middleman problem — and how to solve it

How the APMC mandi system works

India's Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC) were created to protect farmers by ensuring fair, transparent auctions. In practice, the system often works against farmers:

1. Farmer brings produce to the mandi
2. Commission agent (arthiya/dalal) is the mandatory intermediary
3. Agent takes 5-10% commission
4. Loading, unloading, weighing charges add another 2-3%
5. Payment is often delayed — sometimes weeks
6. Farmer has no bargaining power — it's a buyer's market
7. If produce is perishable and the farmer traveled far, the agent knows the farmer can't take it back

The system isn't evil — it provides market access to millions of farmers. But it's inefficient, opaque, and captures too much of the value that should go to the producer.

Solutions that are working

eNAM (Electronic National Agriculture Market):

• Online trading portal connecting APMCs across states
• Farmers can see prices across mandis before selling
• Reduces information asymmetry
• Register at enam.gov.in — it's free

FPOs (Farmer Producer Organizations): This is perhaps the most important concept in this chapter for small farmers.

An FPO is a collective — a group of farmers who come together, register as a company, and operate as one unit. Instead of 50 individual farmers negotiating with an agent, the FPO negotiates as a single entity representing 50 farmers' produce.

Benefits:

• Collective bargaining — Better prices through volume
• Shared costs — One cold storage, one vehicle, one set of equipment
• Direct sales — FPOs can sell directly to retailers, exporters, processors
• Government benefits — Many schemes specifically target FPOs
• Credit access — Easier to get loans as a collective

The government is actively promoting FPOs. There's a scheme to create 10,000 new FPOs across India, with up to ₹18 lakh equity grant per FPO.

If there's one thing you take from this chapter: if you're a small farmer, join or form an FPO. Alone, you're a small voice in a loud market. Together, you negotiate from strength.

Direct marketing licenses:

• Some states allow farmers to sell directly without going through the mandi
• Uttarakhand has provisions for farmer-to-consumer direct sales
• Check with your local agriculture department

Government schemes for agriculture

There are more government schemes for agriculture than for any other sector. The challenge isn't finding them — it's knowing which ones are relevant and actually accessing them.

Key central schemes

PM-KISAN:

• ₹6,000 per year, directly in your bank account, in three installments
• For all landholding farmer families
• Registration: pmkisan.gov.in or through your gram panchayat
• You should already be getting this. If not, apply immediately.

Kisan Credit Card (KCC):

• Cheap credit for farming expenses — interest rate 4% (with subsidy)
• Available from any bank
• Credit limit based on land holding and crop
• Can also be used for allied activities: dairy, poultry, fisheries
• This is the cheapest loan a farmer can get. Use it wisely.

PM Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY):

• Crop insurance at very low premiums
• Farmer's premium: 2% for Kharif, 1.5% for Rabi, 5% for horticulture
• Government pays the rest
• Covers yield loss, prevented sowing, post-harvest losses, localized calamities
• Enroll through your bank or CSC center before the cutoff date each season

Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM):

• Subsidy on farm equipment: 40-50% for general, up to 80% for SC/ST/small farmers
• Covers tractors, power tillers, processing equipment
• Apply through your state agriculture department

Uttarakhand-specific support

Hill Agriculture Development Schemes:

• Special subsidies for terrace farming, irrigation in hilly terrain
• Support for polyhouse/greenhouse cultivation (up to 50-80% subsidy)
• Uttarakhand Organic Commodity Board promotes organic farming

Cold storage and processing subsidies:

• PM Kisan Sampada Yojana: subsidy on food processing infrastructure
• NHB (National Horticulture Board): 35-40% subsidy on cold storage construction
• NABARD refinance for cold chain projects

Organic farming incentives:

• Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY): ₹50,000/hectare over 3 years for organic conversion
• Cluster-based approach — easier if a group of farmers converts together

How to access schemes: Go to your nearest KVK (Krishi Vigyan Kendra), district agriculture office, or a well-run CSC center. Carry your land records, Aadhaar, and bank passbook. Be persistent — government schemes exist, but accessing them requires patience and follow-up. Priya's app also lists current schemes and helps farmers apply.

Cold chain and storage — the invisible profit killer

"India grows enough food to feed every citizen. But 30-40% of fruits and vegetables rot before reaching the consumer." — This isn't a statistic from a textbook. Walk through Haldwani mandi on any summer afternoon and you'll see it: boxes of overripe peaches, bruised tomatoes, malta juice running out of crushed crates.

Post-harvest loss is the silent killer of farmer income. In Uttarakhand, where the terrain makes transport slow and rough, losses can be even higher.

The cold chain solution

A cold chain isn't just a cold storage room. It's a connected system:

1. Pre-cooling at farm gate — Bringing produce temperature down quickly after harvest
2. Pack house — Sorting, grading, cleaning, packaging in a controlled environment
3. Cold storage — Maintaining produce at the right temperature until sold
4. Refrigerated transport — Keeping the chain unbroken during transit
5. Last-mile cold storage — At the retail end

What's realistic for a small farmer?

You don't need a ₹2 crore cold storage facility. Start with:

• Evaporative cool chambers — Simple, low-cost structures using bricks, sand, and water. Cost: ₹5,000-10,000. Can extend shelf life by 5-7 days.
• Shared cold storage — Several farmers pool resources. A small 5 MT (metric ton) cold room costs ₹6-8 lakh. Split among 10 farmers, that's ₹60,000-80,000 each. Government subsidies can cover 35-50% of this.
• Timing your harvest — Sometimes the best cold storage is not picking the fruit until you have a buyer.
• Processing — If you can't store it, process it. Turn perishable apples into non-perishable dried apple chips.

Allied businesses — beyond the field

Agriculture isn't just about growing crops. Some of the most profitable agricultural activities happen off the field.

Dairy farming

• Uttarakhand's hill cattle breeds produce less milk but richer, creamier milk
• Sell fresh milk locally, or process into ghee, paneer, curd
• One cow producing 5 liters/day × ₹60/liter = ₹9,000/month
• Add value: 1 kg ghee requires ~25 liters of milk. 25 liters × ₹60 = ₹1,500 worth of milk. 1 kg ghee sells for ₹600-800 (regular) or ₹1,200-1,500 (branded, A2 ghee). Branding matters.

Poultry

• Kadaknath and local hill breeds fetch premium prices
• ₹300-500 per bird for desi/free-range chickens vs ₹120-150 for broiler
• Eggs from free-range hens: ₹10-15 each vs ₹5-6 for regular
• Low initial investment: 50-100 birds can start from ₹30,000-50,000

Trout farming

• Uttarakhand is one of the few states where trout can be farmed — cold, clean, flowing water is essential
• Rainbow trout sells for ₹800-1,200/kg
• Government provides fingerlings and technical support
• Requires flowing water and specific temperature range (10-18°C)
• Location-specific but very profitable where feasible

Beekeeping

• Multi-flora Himalayan honey is a premium product
• Investment: ₹5,000-8,000 per colony (box). Start with 10 colonies: ₹50,000-80,000
• Each colony produces 15-25 kg honey per year
• Market price: ₹400-800/kg for natural, unprocessed hill honey
• Additional income from beeswax, pollen, propolis
• Government training available through KVKs

Sericulture (silk farming)

• Uttarakhand has oak forests — ideal for tasar silk
• Government promotes through Sericulture Directorate
• Supplementary income alongside agriculture

Agri-tourism (farm stays)

• Combine your farm with tourism — let visitors experience rural life
• Neema and Jyoti already do this from Munsiyari: their guests pick apples, milk cows, cook local food
• A working farm that also hosts visitors earns from both agriculture and hospitality
• Growing segment — urban families want "real" experiences, not just hotel rooms

Organic certification — is it worth the investment?

"Organic" is a powerful word in today's market. Urban consumers pay 20-40% more for organic produce. But getting certified isn't free — and the process has real costs.

Two paths to certification

Path 1: NPOP (National Programme for Organic Production)

• Full third-party certification
• Required for export and for using the "India Organic" logo
• Cost: ₹15,000-30,000 per year for small farmers (group certification is cheaper)
• Process: 2-3 year conversion period where you farm organically but can't sell as certified organic
• Annual inspections by accredited certifying bodies

Path 2: PGS-India (Participatory Guarantee System)

• Peer-based certification — farmers in a group verify each other
• Much cheaper: ₹1,000-3,000 per farmer per year
• Accepted for domestic sales (not for export)
• Recognized by FSSAI for organic labeling
• Ideal for small farmers selling locally or in domestic markets

The math: is organic certification worth it?

Let's run the numbers for Rawat ji's 1-acre apple orchard:

The yield drops, but the premium price and lower input costs more than compensate. And in Uttarakhand, many hill farmers use minimal chemicals already — the conversion is easier than in the plains.

Reality check: Organic farming works best when combined with direct-to-consumer selling. If you sell organic produce through the regular mandi at regular prices, you bear the cost of organic inputs but don't get the premium. You need to find buyers who value organic and will pay for it.

Challenges and realities — let's be honest

This chapter would be irresponsible if it painted only a rosy picture. Hill farming in Uttarakhand faces real, serious challenges, and any honest book must acknowledge them.

Weather dependency

You can plan everything perfectly and one hailstorm in April can destroy the season's apple crop. Climate change is making weather more unpredictable — unseasonal rain, delayed winters, warmer summers. The apple belt is slowly moving higher. Varieties that grew at 1,500 meters now need 2,000 meters.

Crop insurance (PMFBY) helps, but it doesn't replace a year's income.

Water scarcity

Despite rivers, many hill villages face acute water shortage. Springs are drying up. Glaciers are receding. Irrigation infrastructure is poor. This directly limits what you can grow and how much.

Wild animals — the unspoken crisis

This is perhaps the most emotionally draining problem for hill farmers:

• Monkeys destroy entire fruit harvests in hours
• Wild boar uproot crops overnight
• Leopards kill livestock
• Deer and porcupines damage vegetables

Farmers spend nights guarding their fields. Some have simply given up farming because the animals destroy more than they can protect. Government compensation is inadequate and slow. Fencing is expensive. This is not a minor problem — in many villages, it's THE reason people stop farming.

We won't pretend there's an easy solution. This is a deep, systemic issue that needs policy intervention, wildlife management, and community-level protection measures. What individual farmers can do: invest in solar fencing (subsidies available), grow crops animals don't eat (like medicinal herbs, flowers), and work collectively for village-level protection.

Migration of youth

Young people are leaving villages for cities — for education, jobs, and a life that doesn't involve the backbreaking labor and uncertainty of hill farming. This is rational. Nobody should be guilt-tripped into staying.

But it means the farming population is aging. The average age of an Indian farmer is 50+. Who will farm these lands in 20 years?

The answer isn't "young people should stay in villages." The answer is: make agriculture profitable enough and dignified enough that staying becomes a choice, not a sacrifice.

That's what value addition, direct selling, technology, and collective action can do. Not for everyone, but for enough people to keep the hills alive.

Climate change and the shifting apple belt

Rawat ji has seen it firsthand. Winters are shorter. Snowfall is less. The "chilling hours" that apple trees need to fruit well are declining. Some orchards that produced abundantly 15 years ago now give mediocre harvests.

Adaptation strategies:

• Low-chill apple varieties (Anna, Dorset Golden) for lower altitudes
• Diversifying to crops better suited to warming climate — kiwi, avocado, pomegranate
• Water harvesting and micro-irrigation to manage with less rainfall
• Agroforestry — combining trees, crops, and livestock for resilience

Rawat ji's plan — from commodity seller to brand builder

Over several conversations — some over chai, some while walking through the orchard — Rawat ji developed a plan. Not a business plan with fancy projections, but a practical roadmap for the next three years.

Year 1: Know the numbers, fix the basics

• Calculate exact cost of production per kg (done — it was an eye-opener)
• Grade apples: A, B, C. Sell Grade A directly, Grade B to mandi, Grade C for processing
• Join the local FPO (Kumaon Apple Growers FPO)
• Register on Priya's app. Start small — sell 500 kg directly
• Get PGS organic certification started (his orchard already uses minimal chemicals)

Year 2: Add value, add channels

• Set up small processing unit: apple juice and dried apple chips
• Get FSSAI registration for processed products
• Brand name: "Rawat's Ranikhet Orchards" — simple, honest, place-based
• Sell through Priya's app, WhatsApp direct, organic bazaars in Dehradun
• Explore partnership with Ankita — she knows D2C branding and can advise

Year 3: Scale and sustain

• Expand processing to include apple cider vinegar and fruit preserve
• Work through FPO to aggregate other farmers' produce — become a processing hub
• Target online platforms: Amazon Fresh, BigBasket
• Invest in small cold storage (with NHB subsidy)

Total additional investment over 3 years: approximately ₹3-4 lakh (partially covered by government subsidies)

Expected outcome: Revenue per acre going from ₹1,05,000 (all mandi) to ₹2,50,000-3,00,000 (mix of direct sale, processed products, and mandi for remaining produce).

This isn't a fantasy. Farmers in Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir are already doing this. The infrastructure and market access are improving. The gap is knowledge and confidence — both of which this book aims to fill.

Community farming initiatives — you don't have to do it alone

Across Uttarakhand, small experiments are showing what's possible:

• Van Panchayat collective farming — Communities managing forest produce (tejpatta, ringal, herbs) collectively and selling together
• Women's self-help groups running pickle and preserve units — Mahila Mangal Dal groups in several districts
• Youth-run agri-startups — Young people returning from cities with market knowledge and technology skills, connecting village produce to urban markets
• Village-level micro-processing units — Small juice plants, drying units, honey processing centers set up with NABARD or government support

Neema and Jyoti in Munsiyari have started something interesting. Their homestay guests loved the local rajma, fresh honey, and homemade pickles. So they started a small side business — packaging and selling these products. They buy from farmers in their village (fair prices, paid on time), add packaging and branding, and sell through their homestay, through WhatsApp, and at farmer markets in Nainital. It's small, but it's changed how the village sees its own produce — not as subsistence food, but as products people will pay good money for.

Practical checklist for agriculture as a business

If you're a farmer or thinking of starting an agriculture-related business, here's your starting checklist:

• Calculate your exact cost of production per unit (per kg, per litre, per piece)
• Identify at least one value addition possibility for your produce
• Get FSSAI registration if you plan to sell any processed food
• Join or form an FPO in your area
• Register on eNAM and at least one direct-selling platform
• Check if you're getting PM-KISAN (if eligible)
• Get a Kisan Credit Card for cheap crop credit
• Enroll in PMFBY for crop insurance
• Visit your nearest KVK for technical guidance and scheme information
• Start a simple notebook tracking all income and expenses — every rupee

What's coming next

Agriculture is deeply connected to food — but taking that produce and turning it into a restaurant, a cloud kitchen, a packaged food brand, or a catering business is a different game with different rules.

In the next chapter, we look at the food and restaurant business — where Ankita's pahadi pickle meets the customer's plate, and where margins are thin but opportunities are enormous if you get the operations right.

Rawat ji stands in his orchard as the evening light turns the mountains gold. He's just gotten off the phone with Priya — his first direct order for the coming season. Thirty boxes of Grade A apples, delivered to an organic store in Gurgaon. ₹80/kg. He does the math in his head and smiles. It's not going to change everything overnight. But for the first time in 18 years, he knows his numbers. And knowing is the beginning.