Yogesh Baliyan, a farmer from Muzaffarnagar, embarked on his natural farming journey in 2015. He established a mobile food van that runs on solar energy. Today, he earns between Rs 5 to 7 thousand daily. Moreover, he also extends his help to other farmers who express interest in making similar vehicles to establish another source of income.
Muzaffarnagar: Have you ever tried tea sweetened not by sugar or jaggery but with sugarcane juice? An entrepreneur from Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, is garnering significant popularity for making a variety of beverages and other treats including coffee, herbal tea, and kulfi using sugarcane juice. These healthy alternatives to caffeine-based drinks are being immensely loved. He transformed a tractor-trolley into a mobile food van; this vehicle is powered by solar energy. Let’s delve deeper into his story of coming up with an interesting concept of preparing beverages with sugarcane.
Journey as a farmer
Yogesh Baliyan has been engaged in natural farming practices for 8 years. For the last 7 years, he has been selling jaggery, sugar, and other products in the market. During his journey, he realized that he could not make enough profits with natural farming as the yields were low. Determined to increase his profits, he decided to experiment with making kulfi, coffee and other items from sugarcane juice. Fortunately, he was able to boost his income with the diversified product range.
Designing the vehicle
Yogesh Baliyan was aware of the market practices that involved selling sugarcane juice with added ice, which raised concerns about hygiene. He decided to come up with an innovative method that would not require adding ice to the juice. He and his team designed 16 feet long and 7 feet wide vehicle at a cost of approximately Rs 7 lakh. They installed a freezer and other necessary equipment inside.
Yogesh extracts juice from sugarcane, cools it in the freezer, and then serves it to his customers. This innovative approach eliminates the need for adding ice to the sugarcane juice. The vehicle is also equipped with a two-kilowatt solar panel.
Daily sales
Earlier as a farmer, Yogesh could only make a decent earning from selling products from the season of Diwali to Holi. However, with his new venture, products made from sugarcane juice are sold from Holi to Diwali, contributing significantly to his increased income. He shares that today he earns between Rs 5 to 7 thousand daily. Moreover, he also extends his help to other farmers who express interest in making similar vehicles to establish another source of income.
How did it all begin?
In the year 2000, Yogesh earned his BSc degree in Agriculture. Subsequently, he worked on a project at the Agricultural Science Centre in Muzaffarnagar for three years. Once his mother fell seriously ill, and medical reports suggested that those were the effects of unhealthy eating habits. This realization prompted him to question how as a farmer himself, he was not able to consume nutritious food. Motivated by this, he embarked on his natural farming journey in 2015. Initially, he cultivated grains for his family on one acre of land, and later he expanded his natural farming endeavours.
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