This Founder Is Tackling Food Wastage By Connecting 2K+ Farmers To Local Consumers

Even half a century after the Green Revolution, farming remains an unviable livelihood option for small farmers, which Farmers Fresh Zone is looking to solve.

Pradeep PS saw his uncle abandon farming due to abysmally low market prices of fresh produce from his bottle gourd farm. But technology and a differentiated market focus have helped him create an agritech venture with a social impact. He decided to bring farm-fresh produce to consumers through a digital platform, while also enabling growers to earn sustainable income.

Backed by technology that helps predict the demand based on past sales data and marketing data, FFZ’s fresh produce value chain ensures adequate supply flow to all the regions it operates in. The startup has scaled fast and clocked a 40% rise in gross margin and 15x revenue growth in the past two years. But FFZ is particularly proud of the social impact where it has created 200+ jobs and helped 2,000+ farming families raise their incomes by 15%.

FFZ’s business model has evolved around two core concepts: local farmers producing for local consumption and demand-driven cultivation to cater to a larger consumer base. In Kerala, fruits and veggies roughly travel 1,200 Km to reach one’s home. But with FFZ’s network of 2,100 small-scale farmers serving nearby markets, this so-called food mile has come down to 250 Km in many areas. More importantly, the average delivery time has been reduced from 48 hours to 16 hours.

The concept of eating local is not new. But FFZ’s network of farms has reduced the average food miles by 80%, solving three critical issues. First: Total food safety due to the freshness of food. Second: Reduction in food’s carbon footprint – the less the travel from farm to plate, the less the emission. Finally, minimum waste of green produce. Also, online selling and demand-driven farming mean targeted production, optimum sale and a sizable boost in farmers’ income. The number of SKUs has increased to 75. And it is currently supplying high-quality fresh produce to five main cities in South India. Waste of green groceries is another critical concern, but with a supply chain built for efficiency and fast delivery in place, FFZ has seen it dip from 25% to less than 5%.

Customer retention is crucial for consumer-facing businesses, and FFZ is currently working on raising its retention level to more than 70%. In the next three years, it will scale its D2C offerings pan-India, and aims to help 20K farmers become profitable through its farm-to-fork network en route to growing into an INR 500 Cr business.