Founded in 2016, Aranya is a Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO) comprising a group of smallholder farmers belonging to the forests of the Aravalli Hills in eastern Gujarat. ‘Aranya’—which translates into ‘forest’ in Sanskrit—was formed by the tribal communities in the region, and is supported by DISHA, a not-for-profit organisation that has been working towards supporting marginalised communities in Gujarat since 1985.
With a focus on creating sustainable food systems, Aranya engages with local farmers, helping them improve their farm yields by employing agro-ecological techniques like vermicomposting and multi-cropping, and making their produce available on their online shop. Aranya’s vast range of organic products—grown without any chemical inputs—include seeds and grains, indigenous varieties of rice, Ujjala Sharbati wheat, spices, and nuts.
Aranya aims to address discriminatory pricing that marginalised farmers often encounter by assisting them in producing sufficient output from their fields. By doing so, their families’ nutritional needs can be met, while also creating a surplus to sell in the local market, in urban centres, as well as Aranya’s online shop. Today, Aranya works with around 2,500 farmers, mainly from the Bhil, Garasiya, and Rathwa communities, across seven districts in Gujarat. From providing seeds to buying their produce at higher rates, Aranya endeavours to help farmers at each step of the way.
For Aranya, preserving indigenous food heritage and protecting the environment are of utmost importance. To attain this, they have established a seed bank through which they promote the use of indigenous, organic seeds. Each season, they preserve seeds of grains and vegetables which are then exchanged between farmers within the community. This facilitates sharing of traditional cultivation methods among younger generations of indigenous communities.
Aranya operates three farms in Dahod, Sabarkhantha, and Gandhinagar in Gujarat, where they experiment with various farming techniques, plant saplings and seeds, and grow different types of produce—all while keeping the climate crisis in mind. These methods are shared with farmers who then replicate them on their own farms. Earlier, many farmers grew only monsoon crops, but Aranya now encourages them to grow winter and summer crops too. This provides farmers a more robust source of livelihood, and alleviates food insecurity in the region.
The Locavore Bite
TL Bite offers a glimpse into how a partner producer runs their operations, and reflects their core principles and values. The idea is to provide insights into their practices and highlight their positive efforts descriptively. We have identified seven key areas of assessment – origin and source of ingredients, composition and integrity of the products, workforce policies, production practices, community-related initiatives, approach towards preserving or celebrating traditional knowledge and the materials used in packaging. While this assessment may not be entirely comprehensive, we hope it helps you make an informed decision about why you might want to support them, and the ways in which to do so.
The information below offers you a snapshot of where Aranya stands on these parameters. We have put this together based on several rounds of conversations with Paulomee Mistry. Click on a piece of the pie below to find out more.
Why We Love Aranya
- Financial support for women farmers: To assist women farmers, Aranya provides them with financial support in the form of credit. Women use this credit to purchase seeds, fertilisers, or any agricultural inputs they may need. Aranya also actively promoted savings among women. They offer an interest rate of 7 percent per annum on savings deposits, thereby encouraging women to save more.
- Capacity building for farmers: Aranya organises regular meetings and workshops for farmers to train them on organic and sustainable methods of farming, and educate them about multi-cropping. They facilitate training sessions on using these fertilisers, and other organic farming techniques like multi-cropping. They also provide farmers with soil- and water-testing kits, which help farms ensure soil health and receive good yields, thereby reducing the need for farmers to migrate to urban areas. Additionally, Aranya encourages farmers to supplement their income through poultry farming and goat rearing, for which they conduct workshops on livestock care and breeding techniques.
- Preserving indigenous food traditions: Aranya meticulously documents and promotes indigenous recipes using local produce including millets, sun-dried ginger powder, pink garlic, raw peanuts, and forest produce like wild honey and Mahua. They are mindful about preserving food traditions of local communities, and to showcase the diversity of the same, they spotlight producers and their recipes at various local events and food festivals.
What does preserving food heritage and culture mean to you, and why is it important?
Rural and Adivasi communities in India have always had to face marginalisation, with food and eating habits as the basis for such discrimination. Misinformation has also prevailed around Adivasi and rural cuisines.
We realised that food heritage and culture as identity markers, are rarely a part of the conversation whilst addressing economic and social marginalisation. To counter this, the preservation and sharing of food heritage and culture is an integral part of our work.
Along with disseminating information about farming techniques, we also began to document recipes and traditions around food. Every year, in the Dahod district, we organise a Dhol Mela to celebrate Holi. Here, our members prepare traditional recipes using seasonal crops, which are then shared and documented.
— Paulomee Mistry, CEO, Aranya
Products We Recommend
Black Chana
Magic Mahua Extract
How to Buy
If you would like to learn more about Aranya, or try their products, check out their website. If you’re interested in supporting them in other ways, please contact us at connect@staginglatest.thelocavore.in.
At The Locavore, we strive to keep the practices of a producer transparent and honest across all forms of partnerships.
