Richa Gadia is a Rajasthan prodigy who now lives in Gurgaon. After ditching her successful career to give all the time to her two kids, Richa decided on a new venture that would not only benefit her family but the entire locality.

Richa started VGrow, an organic farm where vegetables are grown naturally without using any chemicals. What started as a curiosity to provide her kids with healthy food, soon turned into a profitable venture. Once her neighbors started ordering farm-fresh veggies from her, she realized that this new career is sure to give her both appreciation and handsome money.

Read the excerpts from our tête-à-tête with her soon after she finished delivering gem-talks at the SIDART-UN conference:

IndianWomenBlog: What amazes us the most is that how a hobby was turned into a business venture.

Richa: Call it a mother’s concern. No mother wants to feed her kids with unhealthy food. I was sick of the news revealing how vendors color the vegetables and inject chemicals into baby veggies to grow them at a rapid speed.

IndianWomenBlog: Did you start with a kitchen-garden? Just curious.

Richa: As a matter of fact, I did. I still grow vegetables in my home garden. When I started getting bulk orders, I decided to take a 2-acre farmland on lease on the outskirts of the city.

IndianWomenBlog: How does it work?

Richa: I have employed few farmers who help me in the cultivation. We mostly grow salad veggies, and fresh manure is used as fertilizer. The composting is done at the site itself. I use Indian cow-dung and remains of the land produces to generate healthy manure.

IndianWomenBlog: This also means that you’re not only making agriculture a sustainable effort but also helping the farmers get employment.

Richa: More than anything, I think it’s helping farmers earn the deserving money that generally gets vanished when many wholesalers and retailers appear in the chain. At VGrow, there is no negotiation; and farmers get their desiring and deserving prices.

IndianWomenBlog: What is the most important thing to take care of?

Richa: I believe that to grow a healthy plant, you must make the soil healthy. It must be very nutritious.

IndianWomenBlog: So what happens after you get the order?

Richa: I pluck the veggie from the farm, pack it and deliver it. There is no cost in delivering since I am only supplying in my locality currently.

IndianWomenBlog: How has been the response?

Richa: I’ve got 5,200 customers in just four months. People tell me how the taste of farm-fresh green veggies differs from what they buy in the sabzi-mandi. Recently, a woman sent me pictures of broccoli salad and strawberry sandwich that she’d prepared using VGrow’s cultivation. The food did look healthy and beautiful.

Inspiring, eh? Richa’s green venture is supported by Krishi Vigyan Kendra & Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, New Delhi. Excellent job, Richa!

Photo courtesy: Pallav Bhargava

This article was first published on December 28, 2015.