The covid-induced lockdown has clearly exposed the vulnerability of our highly centralised food system, all the way from production, transport, storage to distribution. While farm produce made for centralised markets is rotting in the fields, and godowns with grains are inaccessible, millions are starving across the country.
Contrast this with farmers-market communities across India where farmers grow a variety of crops in just enough quantities, and reach them to the consumers that they personally know, and are supported in return. Gurgaon Farmers Market is one of the more successful farmers markets in India.
Manas was invited to join a group of concerned citizens who co-founded GOFM five-and-half years ago. It is a weekly market that hadn’t missed operating even a single week in all these years until the lockdown. This initiative connects about 12-20 organic farmers around Gurgaon with over 500 families living in Gurgaon. With the lockdown, the market went online where customers could place order and have their baskets door-delivered.
The success of the market has been the enthusiasm among the volunteers to show up consistently and run the market, its having remained a profit-free and fully voluntary effort, its selling only plant-based food (largely for ecological reasons) besides others. GOFM has a charter that keeps the process transparent and unambiguous, which volunteers find easy to follow.
The farmers are mostly local, and not essentially small or marginal ones. Any authentic organic local farmer who is willing to sign up for the values of GOFM, becomes part of the market. The market has both farmers and aggregators (organic stores) set up stalls.
The pricing is not particularly high or low. The prices are determined by the farmers themselves and the market doesn’t interfere in the matter. When asked for help in pricing products, the volunteers merely facilitate the process.
Verification of the products being organic is done by volunteers and some enthusiastic customers, who take turns to visit the farms regularly and build a relationship with them. GOFM does not believe in or encourage organic certification, and works merely based on trust. There have been cases where farmers have cheated and had to be asked to leave. But in general the incentive to remain organic is so high that these cases are extremely rare.
Manas is happy to support anyone who would like to start their own farmers market or strengthen an existing one. He also co-manages an online group farmers-markets-india@googlegroups.com of those already running farmers markets or interesting in starting one. He can be reached at manasarvind@gmail.com
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