The company said it will use the funds to expand distribution, invest in marketing and brand-building, strengthen its team, and build a full-stack technology infrastructure. The capital will also be deployed to improve supply chain efficiencies and deepen category penetration.

Nitin Puri, Founder & CEO, KisaanSayIn this conversation with Adgully, , shared insights on how sustainable agriculture practices contribute to long-term public health much more.

KisaanSay operates on a unique co-brand and co-profit model. How does giving farmers a stake in the branding and final profit change their approach to supply chain compared to the traditional 'sell-and-forget' mandi system?

KisaanSay's co-brand/co-profit partnership model with farmer enterprises is indeed unique. This is the first time a private-sector food company is sharing profits with farmers while also giving a name & face to the respective farmer groups on every pack. This proposition introduces a sense of responsibility among farmers whose enterprises pack these products in their processing units. This approach also instills a sense of pride & ownership regarding food safety, hygiene, and quality in the minds of the farmers who pack these products.

Consumers are increasingly sceptical about the organic or natural labels they see on shelves. How does your tech-enabled traceability allow a mother in a metro city to verify that the pulse or grain she’s buying is actually safer for her family?

Consumers have become increasingly skeptical of third-party certifications, given the opaque system of agricultural supply chains and certification on the ground. But Consumers are also aware that the quality of any food product is a direct function of its place of origin. The unique soil, water & climate of every place make it conducive to grow specific crops in that area. This concept has been well tested and proven globally over the years for many agricultural products. At KisaanSay, we have identified these clusters for specific crops in mountains, valleys, tribal areas, forests & drylands where natural farming is a way of life. Farmers who have grown traditional crop varieties indigenously over generations in these specific clusters can produce crops with superior taste & health benefits.

KisaanSay is the first food brand in India to display the Seal of Origin on every pack, so consumers can trust the products they buy for their homes. Further, with a QR code-based traceability system, consumers can also access additional information for each product, including its lab test report, providing scientific validation. Consumers are looking for this fact-based trust more than third-party certification.

FPOs have traditionally focused on collective bargaining for seeds and fertilisers. How is KisaanSay pivoting them to act as sophisticated quality-control hubs that can meet international food safety standards?

The FPO ecosystem in India has evolved over the past 10 years, with institutional capacity-building and infrastructure established across 10,000 locations. The aggregation & processing infrastructure, in particular, is valuable in enabling FPOs to add value to their produce and sell packaged food products in mainstream retail markets. KisaanSay has an elaborate QA & QC system: defining SOPs for operations, implementing product & process standardisation initiatives, periodic training, audits, and periodic lab testing of products from the best labs in India. We are also preparing to begin exports to the US & Middle East markets.

We often talk about food systems and healthcare as separate silos. From your perspective, how much of India's long-term public health crisis, such as the rise in lifestyle diseases, could be mitigated by the transparent, cleaner sourcing practices you are implementing at the farm level?

Food plays a very critical role in preventive health care. Over the years, we have been consuming food with questionable supply chain integrity, while high-end processing has further compromised nutrition & taste. Unless we know where our food came from and how it was handled throughout crop growth & post-harvest, how can we be sure of what we are consuming and what it's doing to our bodies? This makes transparent supply chains critical, requiring 100% visibility into the product's source, variety, farm practices, and post-harvest handling.

Furthermore, India is well-endowed with a wide range of indigenous varieties superior to the regular products available in the market. For instance, the Gorakhpur Kalanamak Rice variety is naturally resistant to many pests and does not require pesticides the way commercial hybrid rice varieties do, making Kalanamak Rice a healthier and safer choice than regular hybrid rice varieties, including Basmati. Kalanamak Rice is also naturally richer in protein and minerals, and has a low glycemic index, making it suitable for diabetics as well.

Or take the case of our Kashmiri Walnuts and Mamra Almonds: because of the indigenous seed varieties and pristine climate & soil, these wild varieties are richer in oil content and omega fats versus imported hybrid nuts. Unlike imported nuts that are heavily processed, our Kashmiri nuts are completely natural & unprocessed. This makes our indigenous nuts sweeter, tastier & healthier. There are many other such examples of forgotten food varieties in India that are healthier for consumers- and more and more consumers are demanding them.

With a ₹34 crore investment from NABARD, the stakes are high. What is the most significant bottleneck in India’s current agri-value chain that this capital is specifically targeted to 'break' or bypass?

We will deploy this capital to build our distribution network, enhance our tech footprint, and market our products more aggressively. Market access remains the key missing link for farmers in India. A typical Indian farmer gets only 30% share of the consumer pie. We are taking this to 50%+ through our unique marketing model, so that farmers benefit from the power of value addition and access to mainstream retail markets.

What specific data points are you capturing at the farm level that actually translate into a better, fresher, or more nutritious product by the time it reaches the consumer's fork?

We have complete traceability at the pack level for each of our products. The source of the product, packaging details, and batch-level information give our customers complete transparency, thus ensuring they receive fresher, 100% single-origin products, direct from the source.

Food supply chain integrity remains a massive challenge in the Indian ecosystem. How does a direct link between FPOs and consumers eliminate the 'middleman' opportunities where food quality is often compromised or diluted?

Large-scale commercial factory models are designed to optimise for efficiency, wherein quantity matters- quality does not. Also, multiple legs & actors across the supply chain further complicate this integrity. Versus the industrial economy, a distributed manufacturing setup with farmer enterprise units spread across ensures that the supply chain integrity of products is preserved, and consumers are able to get location-specific/variety-specific food products, minimally processed and packed in small batches at source, so they can completely trust these products for their taste & nutrition benefits.

Five years from now, do you see traceability remaining a premium feature for niche brands, or will KisaanSay’s model become the baseline requirement for the entire Indian food industry?

KisaanSay is built on the promise of trust & authenticity. Every KisaanSay product comes to you with the assurance that it is from a specific region where the product grows best. Further, the small batch minimal processing into the final consumer pack ensures that the health & taste benefits remain intact. Consumers increasingly want to buy food products whose authenticity is certain- and they are ready to pay a premium if they can be assured of the same. I am sure KisaanSay will set a precedent for many more brands to cater to this trust-based demand phenomenon among Indian Consumers.

Read More - https://www.adgully.com/post/15613/consumers-are-looking-for-fact-based-trust-more-than-third-party-certification-nitin-puri

Consumers Are Looking For Fact-Based Trust More Than Third-Party Certification: Nitin Puri

KisaanSay, a direct-from-origin food brand, has raised Rs 34 crore in a funding round led by NABVENTURES through the AgriSURE Fund. The round also saw particip