How a Mysuru entrepreneur built a dairy that pays women 40% above market rates – Firstpost

In the villages around Mysuru, milk has long been more than a daily staple — it has been a source of quiet financial power for women and households.

Now, a local entrepreneur is attempting to restore that equation.

Kamalesh Mandya, who grew up in Neelamane village about 30 km from Mysuru, has built a dairy enterprise that pays women farmers 40 per cent above prevailing market rates, while using technology to bring transparency to the supply chain, according to a report by The Better India.

His venture, The Farming Buddha, currently procures over 500 litres of milk daily from villages in the region and supplies more than 300 urban families through a subscription model.

A career path abandoned

Kamalesh was the first in his family to attend college. He completed his BE in civil engineering in Mandya and later earned an MTech from BMS College in Bengaluru on scholarship. He went on to teach at Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering and cleared the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) examination in 2016–17.

But as reported by The Better India, he declined to take up the government role after being asked to pay a bribe.

Instead, he returned to his village.

“I wanted to try dairy farming in a different way to create more impact and better livelihood opportunities in the village. Dairy farming puts money in the hands of women. It is the women who take care of cows in villages,” he told The Better India.

In mid-2022, he incorporated The Farming Buddha. Operations began the following year.

Rewriting the economics of milk

The enterprise’s central promise is straightforward: pay farmers more — and pay them on time.

It took six months to convince the first farmer, Mangalamma, to supply milk. But once others learnt that she was receiving 40 per cent more than the market rate, word spread. Today, over 50 farmers work with the company, 38 of whom are women. Another 150 are on the waiting list as the enterprise plans to expand, according to The Better India.

Mamatha, a 32-year-old farmer from Ballenalli village, told the publication that she now earns Rs 15 more per litre compared to earlier arrangements and benefits from regular payments — a change that has allowed her to pay school and college fees for her daughters, purchase additional cattle, and invest in household assets.

The company also facilitates veterinary care and conducts farmer training in partnership with BAIF Development Research Foundation, focusing on cattle nutrition and preventive healthcare.

Technology as trust

India’s dairy supply chains have long been plagued by concerns over adulteration and opacity. The Farming Buddha’s response has been to digitise the journey of milk.

As reported by The Better India, the company uses IoT-enabled systems to track milk from farm to consumer. Each time milk changes hands — from farmer to pick-up agent to bottling unit — quality parameters are tested and recorded. Subscribers receive daily adulteration test reports through an integrated platform.

The decentralised model ensures milk travels no more than 30 km before reaching customers, sharply lower than the distances typical in large-scale dairy networks. Lower logistics costs, the founder argues, create headroom to pay farmers more.

Backing and the road ahead

The Farming Buddha has won TIDE 2.0 under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s Technology Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs programme and was selected under ELEVATE Karnataka. It was incubated at NSRCEL, the startup hub of Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.

Kamalesh told The Better India that early mentorship from NSRCEL played a critical role in shaping the business.

The next phase includes expanding into healthy food basket subscriptions featuring country chicken eggs and vegetables, and sourcing traditional snacks from nearby homes.