Come Sunday, K. Ramanna, a farmer from Kanarpa village, near Mundaje in Dakshina Kannada district, gets up at 4.15 a.m. and drives his four-wheeler to Mangaluru which is about 80 k.m. away. The vehicle is full of vegetables cultivated organically by him and some other farmers known to him in the village. He sells them at the weekly “santhe” (shandy) on Panje Mangesh Rao Road in the central business district of Mangaluru between 6 a.m. and 10.30 a.m. This is his routine for a decade.
Savayava Krushika Grahaka Balaga (which is a group of consumers promoting organic farm products) of Mangaluru has been organising this Sunday santhe since 2013. It is the shandy, now in its 11th year, launched by consumers who want to keep away from vegetables, fruits and other food products grown or made using chemicals and to create a market for organic farmers to promote them.
