Taru Naturals, a company working with small scale farmers and 10,000 tribal communities across India. Encouraging age-old wisdom and sustainable agricultural practice, Taru Naturals, a start-up company, aims to establish market linkages for farmers. Founded in 2016 by a Mumbai-based entrepreneur Ruchi Jain, it ensures a steady source of income, and also brings farm fresh organic products to our tables.
Taru Naturals was among the three India-based enterprises that won UN’s global competition of ‘Best Small Businesses’. By providing inspiring, diverse and impactful solutions for improving access to healthy and sustainable food, the start-up gained a lot of popularity.
Taru Natural’s Development Model
The company’s development model includes a complete process of sourcing and distributing.
- At first, a leader within the farming community is identified as a point of contact. Farmer meetings are held for future training sessions.
- Farmers are then trained for three days on regenerative farming, agriculture business models, marketing, value addition, farming techniques. Along with technical training they are also taught leadership skills, resilience, meditation, yoga, nutrition and health.
- The farmers are then assessed on the basis of their training and learning and then the documentation and information for organic is collected. All the certification procedures are done by Taru executives.
- Post the training programme, community leaders start working with farmers and brief them about sustainable agriculture practices. The farmers are made aware of the mobile technology and are taught how to use a smartphone.
- Market linkages are built and monthly stakeholder meetings are conducted for follow ups.
- Slowly the procedure moves towards making farmers independent by doing various activities and making them aware of the climate adaptation, agriculture business models, self-sufficiency, community living, etc.
- At the final stage of the development model a farmer producer organisation is established for the farmers group to get an on-ground experience of scaling their market and coordinate the supply chain.
‘‘
Taru Naturals not only focuses on sourcing organic products but also connects the small-scale farmers with the market and empower them to earn a steady income.
How Taru Naturals is Bringing Green Revolution?
The entrepreneurial goal of Taru Naturals is to promote sustainable living and bring a change in the society. By empowering and safeguarding the small-scale farmer communities, the start-up has already achieved many of the sustainable development goals.
The organic food market has seen a rise in the market over the past few years. This has led restaurants to collaborate with firms like Taru Naturals and zama organics to bring the fresh food and staples on the table. Taru Naturals partnered with Cafe Zoe and made the organic products affordable for the masses. By building a farmers’ market and providing farmers with resources and technology to enable organic farming, the start-up is bringing another green revolution in India.
Projects and Product Line
Taru Naturals initiated Project My Organic Gurukul to incorporate a healthy and sustainable way of living as part of their education curriculum. Under this project young minds are taught about the core values of nurturing, nature, resilience, sustainability, and compassion. The project is a step towards providing a healthy, organic, and sustainable future with Taru products.
The start-up’s product line includes sweeteners, whole grains, pulses and millets, heirloom rice, spices and herbs, oils, nuts, seeds and ghees, premium flours, breakfast flakes, cereals and mixes (as Taru Breakfast), immunity boosting teas, jams and honeys, and much more. It also deals in kitchen garden essentials for keeping your garden organic and pesticide free.
Insights For Other Startups in This Space
Startups in the organic farming space should take away a major quality of promoting sustainable living from Taru Naturals. It not only focuses on sourcing organic products but also connects the small-scale farmers with the market and empower them to earn a steady income. The start-up focuses on educating the farmers and making them smartphone ready. Taru Naturals is building a self-sufficient value chain ecosystem for farm produce, interfering with climate resilient agriculture practices, clean post-harvest technology and value-added products.
