ORGANIC FOR CLIMATE

The barriers in organic farming adoption are -

• The absence of a proper market and crops are not credited with worthy prices - leads to discouragement and fraud. 

• Lack of policy support, cheaper credits, and advocacy.

• Heavy Procurement costs - Often small and marginal farmers end up borrowing from middlemen and loan sharks at higher interest rates.

• Unavailability of food processing near farm-gate - Procurement costs such as extra service and transportation charges lead to less revenue per produce.

-    Climate change - Food security, poor soil conditions, and crops laden with pesticides. 

What solutions Organic for Climate offer -

•  A platform for all organic shareholders to share knowledge and awareness.

• Digital Transformation: For e-marketplace to all sustainable/organic products, create GPS based directory provider for organic buyers and sellers.

• A single-window knowledge domain.

•  Research and development: To create organic crop advisory/consultancy.

•  Asset Creation: Providing farm-gate processing units. 

According to a report by the International energy agency, India accounts for 7 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Out of which, agriculture and livestock account for 18% of national gross GHG emissions. A study by the International Maize and wheat improvement center reported that India has the potential to reduce 18% of agriculture GHG emissions by adopting efficient use of fertilizers, zero tillage, and adopting sustainable farming methods. To reduce the impact of certain agricultural practices, OfC team members have decided to help small and marginal farmers and learners in organic farming adoption. According to the World of Organic Agriculture 2018 report, India is home to 30% of the total organic producers in the world but accounts for just 2.59% (1.5 million hectares) of the total organic cultivation area of 57.8 million hectares. The main reason behind India's poor presence in organic farming is the lack of awareness and disequilibrium between demand and supply-side for organic products.  Our mission is to transform the organic sector. We will work to transform this farmer’s detrimental mindset of excessively using fertilizers and pesticides in crops. 70% of all farmers of India account for less than 1 hectares of land. Conventional farming of major crops like wheat and rice is not feasible on small landholdings. Although organic farming is not so restrictive when it comes to landholdings. Our goal is to enhance both the productivity and profitability of the outputs by the farmer while keeping in mind all the externalities.

Organic for Climate aims to become a solution platform for organic farming, which can offer services like certification, connect producers to market, consultancy for queries about organic agriculture, bring credit support to the small and marginal farmers, research organic farming sector, and promote sustainability. 

Organizing the supply chain for organic products is rather challenging. However, small-scale farmers produce 70% of our food. They are disadvantaged in our global food system. That’s why we provide the digital tool - connect for organic. Connect for organic assists small and marginal landholders farmers in managing their procurement costs. It reduces costs and allows better market access. We will provide an online tool for certification and this tool will not only guide the certification workflows but also reduce the procurement costs and frauds. This tool will encourage more farmers to believe in organic farming.  It saves time and makes the certification procedure more flexible. The unavailability of proper organic market access discourages organic producers. Organic for Climate offers an e-marketplace for all organic products verified by certification data and ensures more credibility to the consumers by avoiding fraud in organic products.

Organic for climate is working at the grassroots level- the origin of the problem. We believe the farmers are the main shareholders and closer work to farms can bring us close to the solution faster. We are targeting to bring more and more people into sustainable farming. We want to make sustainable farming more accessible and more inclusive. There is this cliche idea that farming is for rural areas and development is for urban areas. But farming can go hand in hand with development irrespective of the demography of the area.  This year, around 10 persons were Padma Shree awardees. These people are from the tribal communities and from the area where any technology reaches last. They have a very unique approach towards farming. All we need is inclusive development for them. A share of resources and funds in exchange for knowledge and acknowledgment. That is what aspire to do. We want to involve these communities in policymaking and guiding the masses to the right way of sustainability. 

The CEO & Founder of Organic for Climate is Priya Yadav. She is leading the entire team.

Most marketplaces are focused on just the supply chain side. While Organic for climate is working on becoming a one-stop solution for all sustainable food system methods. We are giving entire freedom to organic shareholders to communicate the right rates for their product by ensuring maximum benefits. And not only we are providing the platform, but we are also giving them access to expert consultancy, just in case if they have any queries. Our agenda is focused on doubling farmers' income by 2025 by keeping in mind SDG 2030 Goals.

By developing an accessible platform through asset creation and digital transformation. We provide an e-marketplace for all sustainable/organic products and provide farm-gate processing units. 

The gap between the demand and supply sides is one of the significant challenges behind organic farming adoption. The unavailability of food processing near farm-gate leads to procurement costs such as extra service and transportation charges, leading to less revenue per produce. To ensure the proper functioning and timely access to the food commodity market, Organic for Climate is developing an 

integrated value-chain network and e-marketplace for sustainable products. This platform will be a GPS-based directory provider for organic buyers and sellers. Organic for Climate will ensure the reliability and fair value of the product.

Our mission is to transform the organic sector. We will work to transform this farmer’s detrimental mindset of excessively using fertilizers and pesticides in crops. 70% of all farmers of India account for less than 1 hectares of land. Conventional farming of major crops like wheat and rice is not feasible on small landholdings. Although organic farming is not so restrictive when it comes to landholdings. Our goal is to enhance both the productivity and profitability of the outputs by the farmer while keeping in mind all the externalities. We are building a network of entrepreneurs, farmers, experts, scholars, social workers, and other promotional organizations related to organic farming. Together we aim to fight against climate change and bring positive social and behavioral change. Organic for the climate is closely working for SDG 2, 3, 9, 12, 13, and 17. We have aligned our targets on similar lines of the 2030 sustainable development agenda. The ultimate vision is to make people accustomed to eco-friendly living and build environmental consciousness.

The SDGs we are focusing on - 

SDG 2 - Zero Hunger,

SDG 3 - Good health and well-being, 

SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and infrastructure, 

SDG 12 - Responsible consumption and production, 

SDG 13 - Climate action, 

SDG 17 - Partnership for the goals

Our efforts to combat climate change will have to focus on mitigation and adaptation efforts across all sectors. For agrarian countries, the task will be to ensure increased production without increasing the environmental footprint of agriculture by enhancing the knowledge and skills of our farmers. We want to reach out to at least 10000 farmers by the end of 2022. 

We are measuring our progress by the number of farmers we have reached. So far we have not come up with any method to track the progress. I am sure this platform can guide us in that path. 

Mostly financial. I am unemployed and my team members are volunteers. But in the end, we need finances to work and make the organisation grow. 

By entering in scholarship programs like this.

For now, we have 10 team members and 70+ country volunteers working in different countries on advocacy programs. 

We have agriculture consultants in the team who guide us to design any activity. For communication, we have a volunteer program. And rest members focus on other operations. Other than agriculture consultants, our team is from diverse backgrounds. We brainstorm ideas and we learn them if we lack skills for them. 

I have prioritized all the roles for the underserved candidates. 

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