Ajay Gopinath, a Citigroup banker, started studying microgreens because he was intrigued by them. Microgreens are vegetables, cereals, and herbs that are harvested when they are still seedlings, meaning that only their seed leaves have formed. Ajay, quit in December 2020 and went back to his hometown of kochi to cultivate microgreens. With an office in Ernakulam, he filed "Grow Greens" as a proprietorship. He grows microgreens using exclusively organic seeds. Eventually, a friend in the UK gave him the fundamentals of microgreens, and he used trial and error to do his own study.
Harvested seven to ten days after sprouting, microgreens offer several health advantages. Though some elites have been eating them and five-star hotels frequently include them in salads, there is a lack of knowledge and they have not been sufficiently adopted into our diet, laments Ajay.
Investment and Returns
"I questioned whether the price was the primary deterrent to using this superfood. To make microgreens accessible to the typical middle class, I decided to start growing them commercially at that point," he says. From his funds, ajay spent about Rs5 lakh (6,024 USD) on R&D, buying organic microgreen seeds and manufacturing supplies. At the moment, he purchases organic seeds from srinagar and uttarakhand farmers.
Microgreens start at Rs 150 (1.81 USD) and come in boxes weighing 80–100g. "To maximize nutrition, we do mix different varieties in one box," he explains. According to Ajay, the most expensive types are amaranths, corn, broccoli, red cabbage, and beets, which cost Rs250 (3.01 USD ) per box, while the cheapest ones are sunflower, radish white, and mustard green, which cost Rs150.
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