Aneesh Jain, a former consultant at Mckinsey & Company, sought to understand the challenges faced by people on the ground.

The IIT-Kharagpur engineer quit his job to work on a Gates Foundation-funded project in Rajasthan.

At 25, the struggles of small, marginal farmers including low yields, high costs, and poor returns plaguing the agricultural supply chain, gave him a new purpose in life.

“Every industry knows where they are sourcing their raw materials or parts from. They can trace back the origin in case of any issues. This is not possible in case of an agricultural supply chain,” he explains.

Aneesh spent the next two years studying the agricultural market, credits, and policies. With a mission to connect farmers with large institutional buyers, he founded Gram Unnati in 2013.

The basic idea is to help create a system where the producer, the farmer, knows what the customer wants and grows according to the specifications. How do they do it?

Their 100-member team first identifies a new location where they wish to work. A few members of the team then spend around three to six months on the ground to understand the farmers’ challenges and build relationships with them.

After identifying the farmers, the company designs a cropping profile and starts conducting experiments on small portions of their land by adopting a few changes.

“We first understand what the demand is, where it is coming from, and then work with the farmers to help them produce accordingly. The next step is to ensure that they use the best seeds, build the supply chains around them to ensure that they receive a fair price for their produce,” he adds.

Gram Unnati works in two ways — first, they make slight tweaks in the existing crop by changing the variety, sowing or harvesting windows. In the second case, they introduce farmers to new crops which might be suitable for that climate zone.

Essentially, they work like consultants, guiding farmers through the production phase, helping them with the best seeds, best time to sow, and more.

In the past decade, the company has worked with over two lakh farmers across seven states, providing better quality produce to buyers and increasing the incomes of farmers.

Gram Unnati is working in eight states across 18-20 different commodities like cereals, oilseeds, pulses, spices, fresh fruits and vegetables. Their target is to reach a million farmers in the next two years.

The venture earned a turnover of Rs 50 crore in the last financial year.