Our story

Barahnaja Organics focus on traditional local produce farmed traditionally in the Himalayan region. 

Barahnaja Organics is born out of immense love for the Himalayan region and its people. With its base set up in a quaint little Himalayan village of Manjkholi of Pauri Garhwal district right in the heartland of Uttarakhand. Our reach extends to the farthest regions of the state.

The remote valley of Bhagirathi is home to one of the best naturally grown apples in the world. The majority of the farmers are marginal owing to the fact that the land holdings is small and the produce is less. The big contractor takes advantage of it and buy the produce in bulk in low cost. 

The Barahnaja organics apples agglomerates and finds a fair market for fruits produced by farmers in the Bhagirathi valley of Uttarakhand, India.

 

 

Nurturing All, Nurturing You

  • Farming Community

    We consider development should always be mutual. As the community and the ecosystem prosper, we as an organisation prosper. Barahnaja Organics is the cumulative effort of the people of the rural Himalayan region.

  • Environment

    We at Barahnaja Organics believe in keeping intact the sanctity of himalayan agriculture.

    Almost on the verge of passing into oblivion due to tough terrain, harsh climate and tough market , we help farmers adapt to traditional farming practises of the hills, but also will keep a check on migration from the hills for livelihood by offering better business opportunities.

  • Your Health

    Enroute leading the change towards a better future for farmers of rural Himalayan region, we would like to bring to our family the benifits of wholesome Himalayan produce that are grown in a chemical free environments.

The Beginings

Our curiosity and love for mountains took them on explorations to the farthest regions of the state. What hit us the hardest was, rusty locks in broken homes which were once a part of a thriving biosphere.

What could have possibly gone wrong?

Our observation and study led them to the conclusion that the major factor contributing to the plight of the people in most of the regions was lack of employment opportunities. Agriculture, the lifeline of most regions, became harder due to the following reasons:

  • Lack of irrigation facilities and scarcity of water: Many regions are dependent on the forest- fed rivers for their water requirements. Loss of forest resources and water- storage infrastructure forced people to leave their villages and travel to plain areas in search of livelihood opportunities.

  • Threat from wild animals: One of the most important reasons behind outmigration is a threat from wild animals. Animals like wild pigs, deer, monkeys and Himalayan black bears raided the fields resulting in loss of crops catalyzing in villagers leaving their farms and migrating to cities in search of livelihood. People involved in animal husbandry are also facing threat from an increasing number of wild animals.

  • Lack of awareness about government policies: There is no dearth of supportive policies for people but unawareness drives them to hopelessness. People mostly do not know about the support and help available to them from the government. They can get monetary as well as technological support if only they knew. This makes it super easy for middlemen and certain corrupt officers to take advantage of all the resources that were meant for the people.

  • Scattered landholdings In the hilly areas: The agricultural land is small and fragmented. It becomes very difficult for the farmers to work and manage any agricultural activity and processes to enhance productivity. The joint family structure which has caused the landholdings to smaller in size through consecutive generations making it difficult to carry out large scale production.

Vision

Barahnaja Organics aims to promote a sustainable and secure food culture. We believe in giving back more to the community and nature than we take.

Join us in our mission

  • Conducting training workshops in villages about modern agricultural practices to increase the yield of a farmer yet taking care of nature in a most sustainable way and in the process giving farmers a market to sell their produce at a competitive price so that they can sustain themselves.

  • Conduct skill development and Employment generation workshops in collaboration with government and experts in respective fields to enhance the skills of village communities to work on local employment generation so that the problem of outmigration can be addressed.

  • Conduct awareness campaign about government policies to villagers and in the process helping the people to avail certain government benefits to improve the quality of life and livelihood.

Write an email to sustainability@barahnajaorganics.com for more information and volunteering opportunities.

Founding farmer

First generation farmer Ritesh is a graduate in Automobile engineering . He has worked in the Automobile sector for few years before he returned to his roots i.e Himalayas and started travelling and farming. Ritesh oversees the farm operations along with product designing and is founding farmer at Himalayan harvest.