Aastha Singh, Founder of Gramshree Kisan
When Aastha and a small team of four began building Gramshree Kisan they started with very little funding, but found an audience on YouTube. Through this platform, not only were they able to build a following, but also earn enough to build upon a training facility. The facility was a success as they began to offer educational opportunities to both government and private organizations.
In the wake of their success, however, Aastha felt that farmers could still benefit from additional training and capacity building. Gramshree Kisan began offering consultation. Farmers then started taking advice on pond construction, bio-floc construction, feed management, farm management, farm mechanization etc. The organization expanded further to cover as many gaps for rural farmers as they could. Gramshree Kisan brings training, trading, treatment, and technology under one roof with the objective of creating employment, entrepreneurship, and business to farmers, youth and women.
The Gramshree Kisan app is an e-commerce platform with the agri market being the heart of the business supported by training, consultancy, and veterinary services. Gramshree has opened entrepreneur-led physical stores to help link farmers to markets. Aditi Das sat down with Aastha to learn more about how she is raising the status of farmers.
Q. What inspired you to start your business?
I am a BTech Engineer with an MBA in Finance (major) and Marketing (minor). I got a job as the City Head for OYO and helped launch OYO in Patna. So the entrepreneurial mindset came from there, as there was no infrastructure and just by strengthening the services, OYO became very big in just a year. After that I got an opportunity to work with the Government of Bihar (Project Management Unit) as a Project Consultant, Department of Fishery & Animal Husbandry. We worked on a lot of schemes there like the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana for 20,000 crores, which also focused on livestock. This is when I realized that the potential of this sector is very high.
We were working on many Government projects and seeing how to make it scalable. But when we did the ground survey we realized the end user was not even able to benefit from it - these services were not reaching the farmers. From there we found a team (Puneet, Pawan, Vipin and I) and we worked on animal husbandry, rural livelihood development projects and doubling the income of the last mile users, the farmers.
So all the founders and co-founders have a deep experience. Puneet has 25 years of experience in World Bank Development Projects, Government Projects, Bihar Skill Development Mission, Women Development etc. Vipin is still working with PMU and takes care of our training, fishery, and animal livestock wing. Pavan is the IT Head and we also met while working for the Government of Bihar. We met there and then we launched this startup. So the motivation came from there.
Most of the farmers have less than a hectare of land and we want to help them best utilize their own land which will empower farmers and help diversify their income.
Q. Is there a personal reason behind your motivation to start Gramshree Kisan?
A very personal reason is being a citizen of Bihar, “a responsible Bihari.” I did my studies from Pune university and then I came back, got married here and started working in TATA. As I started going up to senior positions, like a senior manager there are fewer jobs since there is no industry here. That's when I realised that the per capita income, the unemployment issues, farmers committing suicide, the youth getting de-motivated and going outside the city was a major problem. So what is there in Pune that is not here? It's basically the mindset of the people and fewer resources. I worked in the Telecom industry for almost 10 years since there are no other jobs available. When I wanted to grow and look at other opportunities I realized how difficult it is to find a job in Bihar, even though I am educated. But What about the people who are very less educated and staying in rural Bihar?
The economic status of Bihar and how Biharis are being perceived in other states is disturbing for me. When I was in Maharashtra, laborers from Bihar were beaten and mocked and thrown out of the state. My milkman, tailor, grocer - everyone was from Bihar and I kept thinking why is there such a huge number of Bihari laborers here? The motivation stemmed from here that I wanted to bring a change in the perception of Bihar as a poor state. The only resources Bihar has is land and water and we thought what could be the best utilization of resources with minimum investment and maximum output.
I know I cannot do it alone, but I want to see Bihar come in the top 8 states with the highest per capita income. Bihar has the potential but the educational level is low, the services are very fragmented and the farmers have no access to input supply. The government is working on it but the bandwidth of the government is also not that much. Thus, private investment needs to bridge in the livestock, agriculture sector and fisheries sector.
Q. What is the impact that you want to create in the lives of people through Gramshree Kisan?
Right now we have 2,500 farmers with us, out of which 1,100 farmers have reported an increase in income by 200%. 500 new farmers have started doing dairy, poultry and fishery as an income diversification and the rest of the 900 farmers have leveraged the access to input supply and veterinary services through our physical and digital platforms.
We want to change the lives of 10,000 farmers, youth or women, year on year, retaining our existing farmer base and keep adding to it. Also, income diversification will give them socio-economic empowerment, raising the status of the farmer both economically and socially.
Q. Is there anything that doesn't let you sleep at night?
I'm so engrossed in business all the time, thinking on how to expand my operations and how to increase the numbers, from 5 to 500. This is always on my mind. On how people are being benefited, the feedback and testimonials from the farmers. When we get one testimonial, I get very excited as I've changed the life of one person! To bring the same change in another 10 people tomorrow and improve the lives of 10 more people tomorrow. So what I have already changed doesn’t let me sleep and what I want to change doesn’t let me sleep either!
Q. Is that a particular story or someone's life event which has possibly affected you?
Our journey to a 600 square feet pond is a story! There is a farmer, Chandan, who was doing contractual farming on a very small piece of land. After each harvest he only had ₹10,000-15,000 left and he was not able to provide education to his child. His child has passed 10th grade and was taking the free DDUGKY (Jeevika) training from us. So through his child, when he took the training, we guided Chandan to go back to his village and dig a pond which is 600 square foot deep and then we gave him ₹5,000 as a credit support. So on video call we consulted him on the size of the pit and told him to put 1,500 fish seeds. He also continued growing his crop. After culturing 1,500 seeds in 600 square feet he said the fish will die as it is very high density. So we told him about a fish that is easily cultured but he was still not convinced but agreed to try it out. My fishery agents visited him once or twice in a month and we continued to advise him. In ₹5,500 we also got him an aerator which ensured his fishes didn’t die. We also taught him proper feed management.
We also gave him a water testing kit to check the alkalinity, pH value, turbidity and salinity of the water. By the end of the seventh month, the fish weighed 750 grams and he could sell it in the market for ₹110. Overall he got a profit of ₹50,000 in 7 months from 600 square feet of land. This model became very successful. We gave him even more tips about how to get a better harvest along with other allied activities and now he has bought one acre of land for himself with the income increase. He has become an entrepreneur who is culturing fish, selling it and earning well every month. His child is now studying in Patna and this one model was replicated in the whole village. This is how we are dominant in Patna and Nalanda, through word of mouth. Now he is my brand ambassador!
Q. Are there any key insights that you have gained by particularly working in this sector or something that you would want to share with us?
The sector has huge potential and there needs to be innovation and efficiency in processes and services, and if this is fixed this sector will bloom. There's low cost to this sector and low maintenance. If you want to start a goatery, you can start just with 10 goats and an investment of ₹50,000 and you can earn ₹1,50,000.
The first insight is that it has the potential to double your income not only by 200% but by 600%, if somebody is there to guide initially. To become an engineer or a doctor you need four years of proper education. Vocational agriculture and animal husbandry should be introduced as a part of the education system, because Andhra Pradesh is one of the richest states all because of fishery. Dairy is an industry in Punjab. Fishery is an enterprise in West Bengal. So there should be a change in the education system. Agriculture and allied activities should be added in the education curriculum.
Gramshree Kisan is like the aggregator of the Zomato/Amazon model for animal, husbandry, and fishery to give last mile delivery of products and services to the end users!
Q. Are there any unique experiences that you have faced being a woman entrepreneur?
I feel empowered. There is a certain growth on the personal front being a woman entrepreneur. In your family your value increases multifold. On the business front, I feel it is the same whether you are a man or woman entrepreneur. We talk about, feminism but not manism since women have to fight for equal rights but men enjoy it from birth so being a business woman gives a lot of empowerment in terms of financial inclusion, in terms of social inclusion, and in terms of equality.
But You need men to support women to come to the front. My boss, my co-founders, my husband, my family members, you need all the men to support the woman to become an entrepreneur at that level.
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