Shashi Kumar, founder and CEO, Akshayakalpa Farms and Meals Pvt. Ltd.
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Karnataka-based natural dairy participant Akshayakalpa Farms and Meals Pvt. Ltd. is all set to enter the markets of Pune and Mumbai in Might 2023, and 50 cities of southern States within the subsequent three months.
It just lately began procurement of milk from farmers in its new processing cluster in Chengalpattu in Tamil Nadu to service the Chennai market.
Through the area go to, Shashi Kumar, founder and CEO, Akshayakalpa Natural, instructed The Hindu that new processing crops can be arrange in Haveri district to faucet the natural milk market within the north Karnataka area and in Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh.
In Karnataka, T.N.
Akshayakalpa, which processes and sells natural milk and milk merchandise by means of a community of licensed farms, presently has two manufacturing clusters – one every in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
A contemporary know-how processing plant processes natural milk and a number of different merchandise, together with natural curd, paneer, butter, ghee, cheese, buttermilk, yoghurt, batter, honey, bread, and coconut oil. The agency has an annual turnover of ₹200 crore.
In its Channarayapatna cluster, close to Tiptur, the agency has 850 licensed farms, the place near 11,000 cows are tagged and managed utilizing the herd administration system. The plant processes 75,000 litres of milk day by day and largely caters to the market in Bengaluru.
Together with veterinarian and social entrepreneur the late G.N.S. Reddy, Mr. Kumar based the corporate with the monetary help of 27 know-how professionals in 2010, to make farming a sustainable and economically-viable livelihood choice. At the moment, the corporate caters to over 50,000 households in three cities of Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad.
In drought-prone areas
The corporate largely works in drought-prone backward areas the place farming communities exist. “We work intently with younger farmers who’ve discontinued farming operations owing to financial non-viability. We groom them to be farmer entrepreneurs by offering financial institution linkages, extension outreach, technical providers, and market entry,” says Mr. Kumar.
The corporate is managed by engineers Mr. Kumar and his spouse Shilpa with a staff of about 800 staff, together with 200 area employees and 16 veterinary medical doctors.
Adopting a holistic and multi-cropping methodology, farmers have elevated their earnings 3-4 instances for the final seven years, declare the couple. “On a median, a farmer earns near ₹1 lakh a month. Even after all of the deductions, they get round ₹40,000 in hand,” Mr. Kumar defined.
“The corporate pays us ₹38 per litre,” stated farmer Siddalingaswamy, who owns greater than a dozen cows and a 10-acre plot. He has put in a gobar fuel plant and makes use of slurry for the farm.
Moreover milk, farmers have began beekeeping, poultry farming, and rising greens and different crops. “We got coaching for the final three years and we’re seeing the actual transformation now,” stated farmer Girish Mudigere, who earns a median of ₹90,000 a month. He has 10 cows and four-acre land.
Farm tourism
For bringing aspiration again to farming, the corporate has been selling farm tourism. “Near 200 farmers with their household go to the farm each week, staying in a single day to know what it takes to provide natural meals,” stated supervisor H. Manjunath.
The corporate presently covers villages in Tumakuru, Mandya, Mysuru, Hassan, Chikkamagaluru, and Chitradurga districts of Karnataka. It has raised funds ₹40 crore in 2019 and ₹117 crore in 2022 for increasing enterprise.
Akshayakalpa takes again plastic milk sachets from shoppers for recycling.