swamyraj kulkarni 40 had never sown a plant in his life but the yearning for fresh chemicalfree subzi made the it professional turn farmer in march the experience has been eyeopening he says now i know what i eat and grow what i eatbut kulkarni didnt quit his job and take to the plough he simply signed up with the startup farmizen and rented a 600sqft plot near his home in north bengaluru to grow organic vegetables every fortnight he visits the farm with his fiveyearold daughter and eightyearold son to work with his farmerpartner prithvi who looks after the crops in his absence theres also an app that lets him track the status of his crops and barter excess vegetables with members living nearbya number of other initiatives are also taking the headache out of farming in delhi kapil mandawewalas startup edible routes which helps people set up kitchen gardens has started offering a 2400sq ft farmlet with a free workshop and fortnightly veggie delivery for six months for rs 29992 a terrace is never going to be enough to grow the majority of your food requirements he points out this also creates a community of likeminded people who are conscious about how they live and eatgurugrams mayuri sharma signed up with edible routes after being unsuccessful in growing vegetables at home due to lack of sunlight it is not easy to access organic food yet and this is also more costeffective in the long run says sharma 35 also having spent her childhood amidst kitchen gardens she wanted her threeyearold daughter to grow up knowing the delight of getting your own gajar and moolilaunched last july farmizen has a small but growing subscriber base of over 800 members spread across 14 farms founder shameek chakravarty who hit upon the idea after his own stint with farming says the biggest draw for customers is trust in a survey 67 of our customers said they didnt trust what was being sold in the market this is directly farm to fork says chakravartysocial enterprise indian superheroes is also planning to launch a similar farm app in chennai after getting an enthusiastic response to farming workshops in coimbatore where participants could rent a farm for a trial monthsince models and prices vary its difficult to tell whether these services are actually cheaper than buying organic produce subscribers of farmizen pay a monthly fee of rs 2500 in return for leasing a 600sq ft plot which yields an average of 56kg of vegetables every weekfor rs 60000 a year delhis organic maati provides a oneacre plot for a year and a supply of organic pulses grains and vegetables divided equally between the subscriber and the startupyet deepak gupta a banker who founded organic maati in 2016 says that urban farmers are also drawn to the experience itself it is about the joy of farming in its raw form with fresh air the sound of birds chirping no gadgets highrises and industries and plenty