In a world where organic food is finding many takers, especially in metropolitan cities where one would otherwise need to blindly trust the vegetable vendors, Jiyo Organic comes at the right time. It lets you order fresh groceries and other organic lifestyle products at the click of a mouse through its website JiyoOrganic.com. Shilpy Goyal, an NMIMS alumnus and the leading force behind Jiyo Organic, is supported in her pursuit to popularise the organic lifestyle, by like- minded friends. We interviewed Shilpy and asked her a few questions about what the organic movement can do for healthy living in India.

What made you feel the need of organic products in the Indian health market? 
As a mother of two growing kids, horror stories of insecticide-laden products or chemically grown & ripened foods forced me to look at other options. Organic products were the obvious answer. But, these products were very hard to procure. In conversations with friends and family, I realized that general awareness about organic foods was there, but most faced the same problems. Travel great distances to lay your hands on organic products or pay very high prices for daily products that would shake the monthly budgets.

Also during our research on organic foods we came across a survey according to which, India was one of the top ten countries where health food, including organic food was demanded by consumers. That’s how the need in the Indian market for tastier, healthier, easily available and reasonably priced organic products was felt. 

How do you plan on spreading the organic movement beyond certain Mumbai localities?
We want to reach out to as many people and spread the awareness and benefits of organic produce as an investment for physical and mental health. And that’s precisely the reason we have no minimum delivery order, so as to cater to those people who just want to try out organic samples before actually turning organic. We intend to showcase every type of organic product from fruits, vegetables, groceries to lifestyle products. We want to work with the farmers / producers of organic produce and join the organic revolution on a global footprint.

What mindsets have you faced amongst your clients in Mumbai, with respect to organic living?
In our opinion, few people understand the need of adopting an organic lifestyle and the values attached to it. There are significant numbers of people who have just a base knowledge. However, a significant number of others just don’t want to look at the ill effects of chemical laden food.

The media has been very active in pointing the harmful practices in the food industry.  But, most people are just not aware of the difference between organic and natural. They pick up products labeled natural assuming them to be organic. Natural food is one which is ripened naturally but is still cultivated using chemical based fertilizers. Organic food has no contact with chemicals in the whole cultivation and ripening process.

How do you plan to contribute to the growth of organic living in India? 
Organic living in India can only grow through awareness and access to knowledge. Even where there is knowledge, a lot of people, especially the youth, will ignore the risks of unhealthy foods in the name of ‘being cool’.  People should know that going organic is cooler and it will keep you cooler along with the environment for longer period. Jiyo Organics’ approach will be to provide access to 100% organic products, nurturing an eco-friendly way of life and promoting organic farming through consumption.

We encourage our customers to let us know their requirements for organic living and we will go that extra mile to make it available. Jiyo Organic will also be contributing with NGOs which are engaged in organic farming to provide farmers the visibility and acceptance to take their farms the organic way.

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