The quiet economics of fair trade for a small farmer

A farmer in Uttarakhand sells a kilo of rajma to a local trader for around ₹85. The same kilo, by the time it reaches a metropolitan grocery shelf, is priced anywhere from ₹420 to ₹560.

Most of that gap doesn't go to the farmer. It goes to a chain of middlemen, each taking a small but cumulative cut.

Cutting that chain — and paying the farmer directly — is the single most important thing a marketplace like Prajnaa does.