Padma (left) and her friend Kavita Pozhathu love the fresh produce they get through Fresh from Farmers.

Moksha, 11, from Brindavan Layout in TC Palya, enjoys eating guava, mango and papaya sourced directly from local farms. Moksha’s mother Padma carves fun shapes into guavas using simple kitchen utensils and the girl looks forward to her snack.
“Priya Haasini, my eldest daughter, also likes fruits and eats them daily,” says Padma. Her friend Kavita Pozhathu enjoys trying new recipes with farm-fresh vegetables and fruits. The star fruit pickle she made was a big hit.
He fresh fruits and vegetables they obtain are thanks to Fresh from Farmers, an initiative to unite farmers and residents in Bengaluru apartments and designs. It opened at Oceanus Greendale Apartments in 2016 and has grown steadily throughout the city, serving numerous communities, including more than 250 apartment communities. The relatively larger residential/apartment communities involved include Sobha City, Purva Palm Beach, Kolte Patil Mirabilis, Oceanus Tranquil, Keerthi Harmony and Prestige Gulmohar.
“Today there are 34 groups, with many communities attached to each group,” says Prabhath Vijayan, a volunteer who started the farmer support system in 2016 and has since been working on creating support groups in new communities. “It is encouraging to see that the system is organically connected in other adjacent areas like Hennur Road, Margondanahalli, Thanisandra Road and Yelahanka. All these groups were created at the request of volunteers from adjacent communities, after seeing the benefits of the system,” says Vijayan, who worked for 20 years at Nokia as an R&D manager before voluntarily retiring to follow his heart.
how it works
Farmers share their harvest information with community members, through a Google form, and mention a delivery date. After order closure, the farmer shares the order summary in PDF format (one day before delivery), which will have details of all individual orders, the price and a token number along with the payment app number direct from the farmer.
“From pre-orders, farmers bring their harvest directly to consumers. Supporting farmers gives a great sense of ethical purchasing,” says Vijayan.

Fresh fruits attract numerous consumers. “During the mango season, farmers get really good, naturally ripened mangoes at good prices. Now come the grenades. They also bring dragon fruit, jackfruit and even rose apple,” he says.
Some farmers transport their products from distances greater than 500 kilometers. “This model allows farmers to get fair prices, avoiding middlemen and making more profits,” says Guru Prasad of GG Farms.

That is what motivates Malar Mani Chandrashekar to travel to Bengaluru with the fruits of his labor. The small farmer in Kolar is an elderly person and sells bananas and lemons.

Sreela Manish, who lives in Kalpa Arowana Apartments, says that when buying directly from farmers, any concerns related to the product can be addressed during their next weekly visit, where they offer refunds or replacements. “This level of responsibility is rarely available when shopping at local markets,” he says.
Joy of plucking mangoes
Urban children often find farm visits captivating and educational. Nanda Kishore, 15, and Vamseedhar, 10, had the opportunity to explore a mango orchard at GG Farms, conveniently located near their home in Horamavu, as part of a farm visit programme. “Walking among mango trees was really exciting. To our surprise, there were multiple varieties of mangoes: big and small, sweet and sour,” says Nanda.

Nanda and Vamsee loved the experience of plucking mangoes with their bare hands. Taking half-ripe mangoes home and taking them through the natural ripening process further enhanced their experiences. “Our family would love to do it again,” says Satyanarayana S, his father, who also volunteers at the Prestige Augusta Golf Village gated community group in Kothanur.
Farmers’ profits increase
Sujay Palavalli owns an agricultural property in Andhra Pradesh50 km from Kolar. The eight-acre farm focuses on growing fruit trees. “We grow mangoes, chikoo, jamun and guava,” he says.

Fresh from Farmers allows Palavalli to place pre-orders based on the amount expected to be harvested, making farming more sustainable and avoiding waste. “The monoculture and mandi business is a trap as the rates are controlled by middlemen and they are very manipulative. However, with this model, farmers will get compensation based on the retail price,” he says.

Varadarajkumar, a pomegranate farmer from Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, has been able to double his profits after joining the group. The journey to Bengaluru is arduous, but he says he returns home full of joy.
“Fresh from the producers” – Prabhath Vijayan
The 34 groups under it have this name. To differentiate, we maintain the community and locality code as a prefix.
Since 2016, virtual community cluster groups have been functioning in and around the Horamavu area of ​​Bengaluru, supporting farmers. These co-located residential community groups support various farmers from different states including Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnaduand Kerala.

Interested members of a new community contact us to copy the system to their location. With your support we will form a group there and farmers will join there.
At first the support of community volunteers will be needed to introduce the concept to their society and support the farmers in the initial round in basic aspects such as their position in society.
New community volunteers maintain the associate WhatsApp group adding new members to your community.