Siddhagiri Math, nestled on a hill in the village of Kaneri in the Kolhapur district has always been a place where people come to learn and practice spirituality. This culture has been carried forward by the ‘Guru Shishya’ parampara for over 1350 years. Betterment of the society is value that has always been a part of all works by the Math and the seer heading it.
Over the past 30 years Swamiji has been working towards creating models to solve some key problems faced by the rural people. While on one hand, he initiated social works in healthcare, education and rural development, he has been a pioneer in creating models for farmers through organic farming and animal husbandry.
The problem to be solved:
One such problem that Swamiji, set out to solve was rooted in the fact that a particular taluka in Kolhapur has close to 30000 cancer patients. The prime reasons for this on observing closer has been the over use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers by farmers in their fields. Apart from this most farmers did not even grow produce they required for their own family but relied only on selling sugarcane to factories.
The process to solve the problem started with motivating farmers to breed Desi/ Indigenous cows who by the virtue of their cow dung and urine have been a base for practicing organic farming in India. Gau-Parikrama Yatras were carried out across Kolhapur and north Karnataka.
This led to a lot of farmers beginning to breed Desi cows. Swamiji conducted free organic farming workshops and promoted multi-cropping farming as well which were attended by over 10000 farmers. This led to farmers practicing organic farming and starting to farm vegetables and fruits for their own homes as well. While farmers exposure to chemical fertilizers and sprays reduced and they started to consume healthy food at home, they were unable to get a fair price for their produce in the market. This started demotivating them from practicing multi-cropping organic farming consistently.
A platform was needed to help farmers sell their produce and get a fair price. Swamiji thus came out with a first of its kind model where a fixed rate for vegetables and fruits throughout the year was decided by farmers for the farmers. A lot of farmers came together in support of this initiative and gave inception to Siddhagiri Farmers Producer Company.
A team of Grahak Mitras and Krishi Mitras was assembled. While the Grahak Mitras would help create awareness and deliver farm produce to customers, the Krishi Mitras would verify if all the farm produce is being grown naturally and guide the farmer in practicing natural farming techniques as well. This team of farmers, Grahak Mitras and Krishi Kitras took one stride after another, creating a group of 1000+ organic farmers, 10000+ customers and completing 1 Lakh+ deliveries. Today Siddhagiri Naturals delivers through its online platform, exclusive stores, retail stores and organic on wheels as well across several locations.
