In the village of Malu, in Gujarat’s Chhota Udepur district, Riteshkumar Patel made a decision in 2018 to stop farming with chemicals. Since then, everything on his land has been fed and protected the natural way.

His soil runs on jeevamrut, a fermented mix of cow dung, cow urine and jaggery that brings the soil to life. To keep pests away, he uses what grows around him: dashparni ark, a brew of ten bitter leaves; buttermilk sprays; amla powder; and traditional sweet and ash-based preparations. When he needs anything more, he uses only Ecocert-approved inputs.

His care doesn’t stop at harvest. His brown chana is cleaned by hand, not by machine, and stored the natural way, with no chemicals or storage powders added. His farm is registered with GOPCA, Gujarat’s organic certification agency, and holds C1 status, the first official stage of organic certification. The certificate is available with his lab reports.