Agriculture industry is undoubtedly the largest employer in India, contributing close to 17 percent towards the GDP of the country. Despite being one of the major pillars of Indian economy, illiteracy and lack of awareness amongst farmers about recent developments in agricultural field often leads to continuously decreasing agricultural productivity. For a farmer, production means money making and market means those who are buying from him, however, Indian agricultural system being fabricated into various sections, there are number of middlemen playing crucial roles in deciding the quality and pricing of the final product introduced to the customers. As a result, the complex supply chain neither benefits the farmers nor the buyers. An agri industry veteran, Praveen Varier recognized the stumbling blocks within the agricultural industry. With a vision to bridge the gap between farmers and consumers, Praveen established SEED Agritech – a firm which was set up with the objective of Social, Environmental and Economical Development empowering the farming community by eradicating the middlemen

and directly sourcing the produce from the farmers to the consumers with Co-Founder Bobby Devarajan, a Farming specialist, who is in the agri industry for the last 20 years.

Set up in 2015, SEED Agritech is primarily engaged in farming and processing of Organic/Pesticide residue screened and conventional spices in Kerala and other regions of India. The firm also vests its focus on dealing with Fresh/Dehydrated vegetables, Value added Spice products, Herbs which are cultivated and processed in its project locations. Keeping up with their inception ideology, SEED Agritech avoids middlemen interference in the field of spices by implementing direct procurement system and producing healthy spices which are free of chemicals, heavy metals, and adulterants and pass on the maximum benefits to both farmers and end-consumers. The firm practices organic farming methodology for its speciality spices including Turmeric, Clove, Cardamom, Nutmeg, Dry Ginger and Black Pepper; while it opts for direct farming to cultivate premium quality - Alleppy Finger Turmeric - a turmeric grade with highest Curcumin percentage that only grows in Kerala. Producing close to 500-600 tonnes of dried turmeric, today, SEED is one of the largest producers of Alleppy Finger Turmeric across Kerala which is also highly preferred by foreign markets including Europe and US.

“With 1200 farmers spread over 8-7 districts across Kerala, we continuously strive to produce Alleppy Finger Turmeric. Most local buyers or middlemen mix different variety of turmeric to achieve the

final product but we at SEED Agritech are eradicating this malpractice by clipping the middlemen. We are working with local farmers as well as tribal groups in Western Ghats for extending the cultivation of Ginger and Turmeric in non-traditional but virgin and high fertile soil. Our aim is to get the good produce from the farmers, bring it to the consumers and make a real value addition for the produce. As a firm powered by professionals and farmers engaged in farming, we constantly work towards supporting the farmers by giving them better returns for their produces, avoiding the middlemen and passing maximum cost and quality benefits to the buyers by pruning the wider and complex supply chain roots while also believing in environment friendly cultivation and promoting the farming by natural ways,” shares Praveen. Apart from this, SEED Agritech has also engaged in leased land cultivation of Alleppy Finger Turmeric with High Curcumin and High Volatile Oil Cochin Ginger.

As a young firm, SEED Agritech has already proved its mettle by touching a turnover of 30 crores. Looking ahead, Praveen says, “In the years to come, we are planning to expand our field activities into seed spices across the central portion of India and we will offer Technical support for post-harvesting processes in North-Eastern regions. Also, we have a mission-2020 project which is aimed at establishing an extensive organic processing factory allowing product traceability for consumers. We are also planning to enter the retail market of pesticide free spices in coming days.”