Man quits MNC job to help 800 Kinnaur apple farmers 2X their income

Among the many predicaments of Indian farmers, the dearth of receiving fair prices for their harvests stands as one of the largest. A farmer uses his land (or works on someone else’s), puts in his resources to grow a crop, takes the risk of weather conditions, and finally produces a harvest that doesn’t receive its due. Middlemen also eat up a lot of their margins.

They’re often forced to remain stuck in this vicious cycle, with no alternative sources of income. 

Enter Government schemes and Indian agricultural startups.

And things immediately start to look better.

Take Kinnaur for example. Around 800 farmers’ lives have changed because of one man - Ashish Negi.

SMALL BEGINNINGS

Ashish comes from a small village called Huri in the Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh. He grew up around ancestral apple orchards - but as time passed, they got barren.

In an interview with Startup Pedia, Ashish says, “There was no youngster to look after the orchards and take up apple farming again. My father was in the army and often stayed away. As for me, I moved to Chandigarh for my education.”

Ashish did his engineering degree from Chandigarh and ultimately moved to larger cities for work. He worked in multiple MNCs but always longed for his village back home.

“While I was working, I would always keep thinking about the orchards. Their quality was quickly diminishing - that’s how unkempt they had become. I would remember how my grandfather would often tell me that apple farming had a lot of potential and that I could always come back and start it from scratch. Some of my cousins were already doing it,” he adds.

Finally, Ashish decided to quit his job and move back to Huri - his home, his village.

Upon returning, he was shocked. 

“Apple farmers were struggling to make ends meet. They weren’t getting the prices they deserved from the mandis and middlemen were hogging up a lot. As I delved deeper, I only uncovered more and more malpractices. I knew that this problem needed an organized, structured solution,” he tells Startup Pedia.

That’s when Ashish decided to prepare his ancestral orchards again and allow farmers to work on them and grow apples. 

INITIAL CHALLENGES

Initially, Ashish Negi started his operations in the B2B realm. Under this, he would collect batches of apples from the farmers and sell them to corporations or companies.

He explains, “I knew what I was getting my hands into. B2B was a tough game to crack. The market was biased towards the buyers and our farmers often didn’t get payments in time. That is when I and team started involving ourselves on the ground level and ensured a fair treatment of farmers.”

It took a while to challenge the system and change it to benefit farmers.

Eventually, once the B2B chain was firmly established and working smoothly in everyone’s interest, Ashish switched to the B2C model.

When asked about the hiccups in the B2C model, Ashish opens up and says, “This was a different playing field altogether. Lots of e-commerce dealers and DTDCs weren’t operating in fresh fruits. The reason was simple - fruits carry a burden of spoilage. They need to be transported and sold within a specific time period.”

It took Ashish a lot of time and effort to convince e-commerce partners and make them see merit in transporting Himachali apples.

Alongside, he set up a strong Facebook page where he’d take orders and supply directly to consumers.

After some time, all of this paid off and the urban demand for fresh, pesticide-free Kinnaur apples grew. As a result, the likes of Amazon and Flipkart also enhanced their supply chain to accomodate the same.

GROWTH & SUCCESS

When Ashish Negi started out in 2012, he had only 8 farmers and 2000 boxes of organic apples. He had clocked about Rs 25 lakhs in revenue at that point of time.

These went straight to Bombay and Pune.

He structured his business processes further and launched Kayang in 2019. The word ‘Kayang’ comes from the traditional dance of Kinnaur, which symbolizes the celebration of life.

Fast-forward to 2024, and 800+ farmers from over 350 villages have joined the startup.

Kayang definitely celebrates life and how!

Talking about quantities with Startup Pedia, Ashish says, “This year we packed and sent 50,000 boxes of the freshest, juiciest apples across India. Our farmers get paid fairly in time and lots of them have even doubled their income. Connecting them with direct consumers has been more fruitful than I can tell you.”

Today, Kayang takes orders directly from various websites, Instagram page, and Facebook page.

“Honestly, transportation still costs us a bomb. But I am very hopeful that as we start managing larger quantities, we will be able to bring these extra costs down,” Ashish adds.

LOOKING AHEAD

Kayang’s future looks very bright for everyone - consumers as well as farmers.

Ashish Negi wants to continue realizing his vision of helping farmers form direct contact with customers, while eliminating middle men. He firmly believes that this is great for both producers and sellers.

When asked about expansion plans, Ashish responded with, “There’s one thing on my mind - and it is to help apple farmers discover more sources of income. This will diversify their earning streams and help them reap the benefits of selling other products. Kinnaur and its neighbouring areas have great soil with lots of potential.”

Kayang will also be expanding their SKUs into 100% organic products like black cumin, white honey, and apricot oil.

Additionally, Ashish plans to enter food processing and ultimately work in the space of energy through spring waters.