Taranjeet Singh Bhamra, a graduate of agricultural engineering from IIT-Kharagpur, was a project manager working for a food manufacturing company in early 2004 when he visited the local mandi in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Working with the company since 2002, he was travelling to different corners of rural India to better understand the issues associated with the agriculture sector. What he saw at Shahjahanpur changed him immeasurably.
“I saw a farmer and his young son come to sell their produce on a bullock cart. I remember seeing the arhitiya (middle man) pushing them away saying their produce lacks quality after barely looking at it. For the next six days, the father and son stood in the sun and rain waiting for the arhtiya to buy their produce. They eventually had to sell it to him at a fraction of the cost. Seeing the middle man break them in this manner hit me hard because no technology existed to accurately ascertain the value of their produce and a family’s livelihood…