Facts & Myths about Honey

Honey is one of the most misunderstood food items while it remains one of the most adulterated food items in India. I will try to place some less known facts and myths about honey.

• Color, flavor, taste, level of sweetness and consistency of raw honey can never be the same. Each and every harvest will have a different dolor, flavor, taste and consistency. It all depends on the season, the flowers in bloom and also on the type of honeybees. For example, the honey produced by the wild honeybees will be different from those produced by those kept in the boxes, even if they feed on the same set of flowers. Some honey (like that made from litchi flowers) will be thin & aromatic whereas the honey made from teak flowers will be thick and without any flavor. 
• Many people believe that if the honey gets crystalized it is adulterated, whereas some others believe in exactly the opposite of it. Both are not true. It is absolutely normal for honey to crystalize when the temperature goes below certain level which varies slightly with the type of honey. For example, honey made from mustard flowers crystallizes within days whereas the honey made from jamun flowers takes very long to crystalize. Honey can be decrystalized by putting its container in hot water for 10 minutes.
• There is a belief that thicker and non-flowing honey is of better quality. There is no truth in this because the thickness is based on the moisture and nutritional contents of the honey, which, as mentioned above varies with the season, flowers, etc. A few brands deliberately thicken the honey by processing to make its market appeal better. 
• It is said that Honey is a good substitute for sugar. It is true to a large extent due to the nutritional and medicinal value of honey compared to sugar. However it still comes with the bad things of sugar and hence shall be consumed in moderation. 
• Many people think that the conventional methods of testing honey for purity are sacrosanct. This includes methods like putting in water, fire, blot paper test, honeycomb pattern test etc. Unfortunately none of these tests is fool-proof as they only test the physical nature of honey and many adulterants can pass all of these tests. Only lab tests can confirm the purity of honey. The other alternative is to buy it from a known and reliable source. 
• Pure honey never gets spoilt. This is true a large extent. But it is true only if it is properly harvested, handled and stored (in glass containers). Otherwise honey can ferment and produce an acidic smell. Honey also can change color over time which is absolutely normal and safe. 
• Some people are under the impression that the honey extracted from the beekeeping boxes are not good. This impression is mainly because they think that the beehives in the box are man-made and the beekeeper may feed sugar syrup to the honeybees. Both the impressions are not valid. First of all, the honeycomb in the box is also made by honeybees only. And although it is true that the beekeeper may have to feed sugar to the honeybees some times (particularly when there are less number of flowers), honeybees don't store it in the comb in the form of sugar syrup. They still process it and produce honey. Additionally, most of the times, the box honey is handled and extracted in a more hygienic way.  
• Raw honey is healthier than processed honey. This is a much debated topic. Raw honey is the honey which is as extracted directly from the honeycomb whereas the processed honey goes through one or more steps of processing like pasteurization, filtration, homogenization, etc which might involve heat treatment of honey. It is true that raw honey is rich in nutrients as processing leads to the removal of beneficial nutrients like pollens, enzymes and anti-oxidants from honey, making it almost the same as sugar! However, raw honey may contain some bacteria which is harmful particularly for infants. So it is better to avoid giving raw honey to children/infants. 
• Raw honey need not be organic! Many people have the misconception that raw honey means organic too. Both are not really related but you can find honey which is both raw and organic. Rawness of honey is about its processing whereas organic is determined by where the honey is extracted from. There should not be usage of any chemical pesticides and fertilizers within a certain radius  (typically upto a kilometer) from the honeycomb to make it organic.
• Some people believe that if there is beeswax in the honey it is not pure and safe. There are few others who believe that honey should be eaten with beeswax! Both are wrong. Beeswax is edible, and healthy but it should be consumed in moderation (like anything else!), typically with honey. This means that beeswax in honey is generally safe and healthy (unless there is more beeswax and less honey).

Decoding Organic

 "Organic" has become a misused and abused word these days. Many people, including the farmers, sellers and consumers use this word without having much clarity on what it means. And there is a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding on this. On the other spectrum, there are many people who argue that there is nothing called "Organic" because scientifically everything, including our body is a mix of chemicals. They argue that even the water we drink is H2O, which is a chemical! In 2010, Royal Society of Chemistry in UK had announced a cash prize of 1Million Pounds for anybody who makes a product without any chemicals and that prize remains unclaimed till now and it will remain so forever.

So what is organic farming and organic food, when everything, including the Jeevamrutha and many other things that are used in Organic/Natural farming are chemical compounds?

Loosely speaking, organic farming is the way of farming where the farm doesn't use any synthetic chemicals. So in this case the farm inputs are sourced from the nature, including plants & animals. In science, molecules containing carbon and hydrogen bonds are called "organic"  Many people argue that there is no difference between "natural chemicals" and "synthetic chemicals" as the plants and/or human body don't care about the source of them. And at the end, all the organic food contains naturally occurring chemicals!

Then why is there so much hype about organic farming and organic food? What difference does it make to anybody? Following are some of the noteworthy aspects:

1. Organic farming, if followed properly, is environment-friendly. I am specifically mentioning "if followed properly" because simply replacing the synthetic chemicals with natural chemicals will not make a farm organic. Because organic farming is expected to support bio-diversity through multi-cropping, inter-cropping, mulching and many more techniques. If these practices are not followed and continue with mono-cropping, there is not much benefit from it either environmentally or related to the nutrition value of the food. 

2. In the long run, organic farming will (and should) increase the soil fertility instead of reducing it. Also the runoff from the synthetic chemicals can leech into the soil and water (both overground and underground) which will have a long term impact. This once again is not true if monocrop is followed in so called organic farming.

3. Another major impact from organic farming is the reduced carbon foot-print if followed properly, because all the farm inputs are expected to be sourced either on the farm or locally. This shall reduce both the manufacturing cost as well as transport cost. 

4. Research has proven that organically grown food has less residues of pesticides compared to the conventionally grown food, most probably due to the animals involved in the process eating more natural food instead of processed food. This definitely makes it more healthy.

There are also arguments that in some cases it is not good and sustainable to get the "natural chemicals" and preparing them in the labs may be the only sustainable option. I have seen the example of the production of "aspirin" pain killer synthetically, although it is there in the leaves/bark of willow trees naturally. Although I am not aware any similar examples related to organic farming, I am sure there will be a few such instances which may or may not be discovered as of now. Anyway that is a topic for another day/another blog!

In conclusion, it is advisable to understand what is the organic farming and organic food and make informed decisions on our choices both as farmers and consumers. However it is true that organic farming and organic food definitely offers lot of benefits to the health of us and our environment. 

Challenges in Agri-Tourism

We have been running Agri-Tourism at Chiguru Farm since 2016. It has been a lot of fun educating children and adults alike about agriculture, interacting with people from different strata of the society and helping first-generation farms setup their own farms. We also got to learn many things from our visitors/guests about agriculture and we have been immensely benefitted through these interactions. We have been making sure to share these learnings with others. The entire process has been transformative and enriching the farming community. However it has not always been a smooth ride! Here I would like to list down the challenges faced in Agri-Tourism which can help others who want to start an Agri-Tourism venture.

1) Biggest challenge is the clarity about Agri-Tourism. This is lacking among all the stakeholders  including the person who runs Agri-Tourism and his/her staff, people in the Govt departments who make policies and those who execute it, the travel operators/aggregators, and the prospective visitors/guests/target audience. 

• There are many instances where regular resorts are masquerading as Farm Stays due to this lack of understanding. We should realize that Agri-Tourism center is NOT any of the following: Resort, Home Stay, Hotel, Eco Tourism, Rural Tourism. However there are some overlapping aspects of all of them in Agri-Tourism and there is more to it. Particularly the emphasis on "Agri" should be the key differentiator from all of them.
• Most of the guests have never been to an Agri-Tourism space and many of them have not even been to a farm. But most of them have already been to a resort, home stay, etc and they will have similar expectations. Even if you try to set these expectations prior to the visit, there will be some misunderstandings.

2) Next big challenge is to plan how to keep our  guests engaged (need not be "busy") during their visit/stay. There should be enough varieties of things to showcase/participate so that the visit becomes meaningful. (However there is also another, small category of visitors who want to visit and spend time in nature without really doing anything). Showcasing and participating in activities need not be parallel activities and multiple days stay can help in this.

3) All said and done, we should realize that Agri-Tourism is a "Business". Most of the Agri-Tourism centers are run by farmers themselves. Their financial-literacy will be low and this makes it difficult for them to keep track of the accounts, cash flow etc which are absolutely needed for any business.

4) Visitors/Guests can belong to any part of the country/world and they may not know your language. Being capable of explaining things in English/Hindi or any other language becomes very important. But the Agri-Tourism center may not have resources to employ staff for the same. In that case one person - most probably the owner himself (or herself) will have to take up this role. This has the risk of the project becoming fully dependent on one person and shall be shut when this person is not available. Another risk with this is that the farm work can take a beating if the person gets busy with entertaining the guests.

5) Showcasing the day-to-day farm life and getting interested guests to participate in these activities is one of the big challenges. 

6) Our Agri-Tourism project can be of no-star to five-star standard. But many of the target audience will have an attitude that "farm is cheap" and "farm food is free". Therefore deciding on a convincing tariff is always a challenge. 

7) We should keep in mind that the expenses of maintaining a farm house to the likings of your guests is quite expensive. For example, the essential services like plumber, electrician etc come at more expenses compared to those in the cities. This is because they have to travel longer distance and spend more time even for small work. But we still have to pay whatever they ask for (unless we can do these things ourselves!) so that the work gets done when you want. This cost obviously gets transferred to your guests, which means that the amount you charge your guests will have to take this also into consideration.

8) As mentioned earlier, "Agri" should take priority over "Tourism" in Agri-Tourism. It SHOULD take place in working farms only. Otherwise the focus diverts to the hospitality and tourism aspects and farming will suffer. This may mean taking priority calls on whether to entertain guests under certain circumstances so that farming is not impacted. For example, 2024 summer was severe due to draught situation for an year and we at Chiguru Farm took a conscious decision to stop all the tourism activities in order utilize the water for farming purposes. We should always keep in mind that a true Agri-Tourism project cannot survive if the "Agri" aspect is ignored.

9) Helping hands from family/well trained staff in handling guests and maintaining hygiene and cooperation from fellow farmers are necessary. 

10) Lastly, any farm is an integral part of the rural landscape it is part of and therefore taking the local villagers into confidence is also a big challenge but it is very important. Wherever possible, it should contribute to the improvement of life of the locals.

I think I have covered all the challenges I have come across but there could be some more which I have not encountered. I am ready to listen and update it here.

Some myths about farmers in India

There are many misconceptions and myths regarding the farmers in India. Here I will try to bust some of them.

Myth#1. Farmers don't pay any tax.

Reality: Farmers, like anybody else, pay all the taxes (like GST for the items they buy, including the things used for farming), except Income Tax. However, 99% of the farmers (I mean the farmers who don't have any other source of income) don't make enough profit to pay income tax. There still are a few farmers who earn more. They fall in the following three categories:

1) Farmers who make large profit occasionally - like during the spike in the price of tomato/onion etc. In this case we don't hear about the losses they incurred in many previous years from the same crops (when the tomato was sold on the streets at one rupee a kilo). Most of the times farmers themselves are unwilling to disclose this bitter truth so that they can bask in the current glory!

2) Farmers who make honorable profit through cash crops (like arecanut, etc). Such farmers also go through the cycle of price crash once in a while but nevertheless they are mostly in the pink. But most of these crops take at least 10 years to reach this stage and they would have suffered significant losses till then and the later profits offset the losses carried forward. (Caveat: This is not applicable to those who simply inherited old farms where cash crops are already doing well). In any case, these profits don't turn out to be too significant to attract income tax.

3) Politicians who are in the guise of farmers and parked their money (black or white) in farm land. We have already heard about some famous politicians (one from Maharashtra and a few from Karnataka) who have disclosed crores of profits from agriculture. These politicians also run other businesses and have other sources of income and this income is routed through agriculture to avoid income tax. 

Myth#2: Farming is highly subsidized and there are many monetarily beneficial schemes for them.

Reality: Partially true. Many farming tools, fartilizers, seeds and other farm inputs are available to farmers at subsidized prices. But there are three problems with this.

1) There is not unlimited fund for subsidies. I have had many instance where when I approached in April, I was told that the funds were not yet released, and when I approached again in June I was told that the funds were exhausted.

2) Most of the subsidies are meant to be "loopback system" for the politicians (in the guise of farmers) to take the money from the government. It is the politician who parks the money in farm land, announces the schemes for farmers and takes the money from the govt departments through these schemes using their connections. The really deserving farmer is left with taking loans from unscrupulous entities and suffer for years.

3) Corruption in the system is so high that  even those who benefit from the schemes will get less than 25% of the actual amount they were supposed to get even after too much of running around.

Myth#3: Farmers get free electricity.

Reality: In most of the country, farmers get free electricity for pumpsets only. Otherwise for their domestic purpose they still pay for their usage. Even the free electricity for pumpsets comes with a lot of trouble, making it useless and sometimes dangerous. For example, there will not be any power during the entire day when the farmer is working and looking to water the plants. Many times this free power is given past midnight and the farmer has to be awake and get into the fields at these ghostly hours, exposing them to dangers like snakes, etc. Many farmers have found a workaround for this. They leave the pumpsets always open so that the fields get watered whenever there is power. This is leading to too much wastage of water and sometimes overwatering too. Many sensible farmers have started demanding "paid power" for their pumpsets so that they can get power when required and use it wisely.

Myth#4: Farmer is "Annadata" (Giver of Food) and therefore he/she should not sell "Anna" (i.e. food).

Reality: This very old and noble concept doesn't hold good in the new age. But still there are many people who are sticking to the same expectation when they visit a farm. They want to take away a varieties of things free of cost. 

Interestingly, there are many farmers who strongly believe in this principle and practice it. Of course, there is nothing right or wrong about this and it is left to themselves as long as they can sustain it.

Myth#5: Farmer has a lot of free time.

Reality: Once again in the current age, farmer, apart from doing farming activities, will also have to take care of keeping the accounts, marketing, selling, processing/value addition, etc. and each of these is time-consuming and also costs money. Still many people simply drop in and expect them to be taken around the farm (and give freebies).

I am sure there could be some more such myths and I will keep on updating this as and when I come across them. 

Self-Appraisal after a decade into farming

#TenYearsOfChiguruFarm @Chiguru Farm

What an incredible journey it has been...

Now it is a full decade since I started farming and 8 years since I quit my job to take up farming as my full-time profession. It is seven years since we ventured into Agri-Tourism. 

Started off with many dreams and fulfilled quite a lot of them.

Converted a chemical farm to organic farm and slowly turned into Natural Farm. (If you are not sure about the differences, you can read my earlier blog about this).

Seen the transformation taking place in front of our own eyes. Improved soil quality, diversification of crops, increased birds and insects population, reduced human intervention, improved ground water, improving yield over the years, to name a few.

Chiguru Farm has now turned out to be a "showcase farm" for many first-generation farmers to start organic farming, without having to do much trial-and-error.

I did write my experience with farming when I had finished six years as full-time farmer.

I also wrote a self-appraisal before that, six years after I started farming.

Obviously I don't want to repeat whatever I wrote earlier. This blog will only have anything new or that has changed since then. 

Just a reminder (for myself) of the long-term goals we set out for:
   1) Start organic farming in order to grow healthy food for ourselves.
   2) Stay connected to nature
   3) Prove that chemical-free farming can be sustainable, so that more people are encouraged to take it up. Be an example for the farmers in the vicinity.
   4) Spread the knowledge of chemical-free farming among the locals and city-folks, school kids and families and sensitize them about what it takes to grow healthy food.
   5) Generate some local employment and trigger a "reverse-migration" from cities.
   6) Get integrated with the local village community and carry out activities that shall help them.

Here we go on the status/progress/achievements...

1) Our efforts with rain water harvesting are showing results now with improved groundwater level and one of the dried up borewells started functioning three years back. Even our rain water harvesting ponds are now turning into Natural Ponds with water staying almost through the year and we have started seeing guppies/fishes and turtles too, which have emerged in them naturally.

2) We can notice the change in the soil as it looks more carbon-rich now. We started with a carbon content of 0.8% and improved to 1.3% in seven years. Another soil test is pending now to confirm that it has further improved in last three years.

3) #GrowWhatYouEat has been our focus. We are reaching 85-90% self-sustenance in terms of food in the farm, as Paddy got added this year. When I say self-sustenance in food, it is not only for ourselves, but includes all our guests which is a significant number. Having Desi cows has helped us in this to a large extent.

4) Self sustenance in farming is one of the key things in Natural Farming. We bring only a few things like neem cake, traps, etc from outside. Other than that, there are no external inputs for farming. No external inputs like cowfeed too. We grow our own green grass and dry hay is from ragi and paddy. Our cows graze out in the field (controlled grazing) and therefore they are healthy too, without needing much attention to their health.

5) Further move towards sustainable living with domestic power completely on solar, hot water through solar geyser. Grey water filtering and recycling this water is also fully functional since four years.
6) Food-forest is functional and thriving with more than 40 varieties of fruit trees and many other forest trees. We have created a more bio-diverse farm now through multi-cropping which are mostly cultivated as inter-crops between the trees.
7) Local employment... we have 12 locals working in the farm full time and another 5 almost full time. Another 5-10 people work in our farm for at least 150 days in a year. These numbers exclude the indirect employment generated through our Agri-Tourism.
8) Agri-tourism and direct-selling are helping us achieve self-sufficiency in farming. With these, we are able to break-even consistently, which is a big achievement for any farmer.
9) We have touched close to 12000 people in these seven years including school kids, through our niche initiatives like experiential farm outings and stay, fruit picking, nature camps and star-gazing events. Schools have started noticing the value add from our educational farm tours and nature camps and they keep coming back, while new ones get added although it is difficult to make them understand in a crowded market of Resorts masked as Farms.

We have consciously kept Agri-Tourism low-key so that it doesn't result in straining the natural resources and divert our focus from farming.

10) Sailed through the CoVID crisis which threw in big challenges of selling our produce apart from closing it for guests for extended period. It was difficult to survive. Thoughts had crossed our minds to quit farming and agri-tourism activities. There were attempts to sabotage us and pull us down, but our own passion kept us floating.

This also worked as a blessing for us as we were able to spend almost two years in the farm and get ourselves convinced that what we are doing is right and we really want to take this forward. We were also convinced that we can definitely settle down in the farm whenever we want without any hesitation.

11) Where alcoholism is rampant and ruining families in the surrounding villages, our "no-alcohol" policy has been driving home the ill-effects of alcoholism, without any preaching.
12) Many city folks have started farming (part-time or full-time) after visiting Chiguru Farm and these new farms are modeled after Chiguru Farm and they, together with us, form #ChiguruFarmCommunity. 

13) Started Farm Consultancy to help first-generation farmers to setup their own organic farms, starting with the design of the farm, based on our own experience of ten years.

14) Taken a bigger step in the past one year towards helping larger sections of the society. This includes active participation in the community initiative of setting up Kanakapura Organic Producer Company to encourage more farmers to take up organic farming and help them get direct access to the market at fair price. (Note: I have no intention of hijacking the enormous efforts put in by the youngsters who are driving this initiative. I would rather appreciate and support their efforts in whatever way I can). Also started participating in workshops across the state to help farmers to start their own Agri-Tourism projects.

Everything looks rosy? Why not? As long as it brings a lot of joy and satisfaction, everything IS rosy!!! Of course it takes a lot of commitment and determination, paired with passion. Added to that is the support from family, friends, well-wishers and many like-minded strangers. 

Continuing the journey of self-sustenance... #AtmaNirbhar #VocalForLocal

Chiguru Farm Produce and Products

Here is a list of things that we produce and sell. Of course, everything is seasonal and we may or may not have them in stock at any point of time. Price also varies from time to time and therefore I have not listed down the prices here.

Fruits

- Sapota/Chikku

- Banana - G9/Robusta/Pachbale

- Guava (Allahabad Safed)

- Mango (Alphonso, Totapuri, Raspuri, Suvarnarekha)

- Litchi

Oils

- Regular coconut oil

- Cold pressed coconut oil

- Cold pressed groundnut oil

Pickles 

- Turmeric pickle (in mustard oil)

- Amatekayi (Indian hogplum) pickle - oil free

- Raw mango pickle - oil free

- Lemon pickle with red chilly powder - oil free

- Lemon pickle with green chilly - oil free

Other

- Turmeric Powder

- Fresh turmeric

- Ragi 

- Ragi flour

- Unpolished toordal

- Unpolished rice (Ratnachoodi)

- Honey

- Drumstick leaves

- Banana stem/flower

- Togarikayi

Some genuine chemical-free produce sellers (online, offline and direct)

Here is a compilation of genuine sellers of chemical-free produce either through online or offline shops or even directly to customers, without any shops. This is apart from our own Chiguru Farm, whose seasonal produce are mostly sold directly. The list includes those who sell raw/fresh products, those who make end products and sell, those who sell seeds, plants, natural soaps, cleaning products, etc.

Note: 

1) I am consciously using the word "chemical-free" as the word "organic" has become controversial and getting misused. 

2) There is no specific order in the list and it is just a random jot-down.

3) I have listed only the sellers whose produce I buy either regularly or once in a while or tried out at least one of their produce. Most of those who made it to this list have at least one person who is personally known to me and deeply involved in their venture. 

Navadarshanam - one of the oldest farming communities close to Bangalore, which inspires many sustainable living enthusiasts like me. Their products are available in many outlets in Bangalore and they also have a few pickup clusters in Bangalore.\

Subhiksha F2C A noble initiative by Savayava Krishi Parivara started by visionary progressive farmer Purushottama Rao near Tirthahalli decades ago. Disclosure: I am one of the shareholders of this initiative.

A Green Venture Making Sustainable Living Accessible by Kavya Chandra. Offers a range of products, services and experiences directly from farms.

Akkadi Roots Passionately run by my good friend Ravi Arehalli, just to help the farmers out.

Greenpath run by Mr. Jayaram, one of the pioneers of chemical-free farming near Bangalore. He has organic shops, restaurants, wellness centers, etc.

Abhay Farm Flagship BaKaHu (raw banana powder) apart from many other genuinely organic products

NGV Natural  Ready to cook banana stem, banana flowers, raw banana, raw jackfruit, bamboo shoots, for busy professionals and many other things from enterprising Naveen G V.

Jaivik Sattva (Whatsapp 8431540724) by Kanakapura Organic Producer Co. Ltd. (Insta: @jaiviksattvaorganic) A group of Small and Marginal Farmer practicing Sustainable Organic Farming. A recent player in the block. Disclosure: I am one of the shareholders of this initiative and part of the Advisory Board

Gaustuti from Prof. Srinivas Abhilash

Thara Naturals run by my friend Harish Yadav Bala

Jagdeesh Natural Farms run with missionary zeal by Shri Jagdeesh Reddy, one of the ardent followers and proponents of Natural Farming

Kaulige Foods Bangalore's Millet Hub run by Arun.

Desiri Primarily making waves in varieties of cold pressed oils, although they have many other genuine quality products on sale.

Sahaja Organics one of the oldest and professionally run farmers collectives. Great for food items as well as heirloom (Nati) seeds

Farmizen run by Shameek is helping several farmers get exposure to the market and sell their products at a reasonable price.

Jivabhumi Run by Lakshminarayan by genuinely verifying the source of each product. He also runs Bettada Budada Thota in Kanakapura Taluk

Buffalo Back run by Vishala who also runs Buffalo Back Collective which works with the local community.

Akshayakalpa India's first certified Organic Milk. Shashikumar has been highly innovative with different milk-based products and passionate about recycling. Apart from enabling several dairy farmers keep cows in a sustainable way, they also have launched several new products which can be ordered through their app.

Hariyalee Seeds varieties of seeds, including exotic ones, from Dr. Prabhakar's Aditi Farms

Hooga Native Seed Keepers Collective run by Sowmya Balasubramaniam and team

Ethical Tribes by Dhanu Kumar mainly for cow ghee, cold pressed oils, etc

HNP Swadeshi Marukatte by Nataraj at Basaveshwarnagar, Bangalore for groceries

Farmers Market at Bangalore Creative Circus

Weekly farmers market at Ragi Kana meeting hotspot of many genuine chemical-free farmers

Teja Nursery & Farms Bangalore's only Organic Farm, run by Shri Shivanapura Ramesh, who can also offer you advice on plant care.

Soil & Soul by Priti Rao and team of women

Eco 3R products by Brics (Biological Research Innovation Centre and Solutions) Bio - Natural Home Care and Personal Care products

Honeyday Bee Farms by Apurva for authentic honey, bee products and trainings in beekeeping

Nirmal Nisarg in Savadatti, Belagavi District, from Santhosh Rayappa Kittur (82175 97075). Mainly for natural jaggery

Subhash (95918 55678) from Chamarajanagara for jaggery, honey, cow ghee and many other products