Aapno Anaaj:
Branding and Packaging
Building a brand to empower rural farmers in Rajasthan
TIME FRAME
2 months
LOCATION
Jodhpur, Rajasthan
CLIENT
Aapno Paani Project
SCOPE OF WORK
Branding, Packaging
ABOUT
Aapno Anaaj is a branding, packaging and marketing project done to empower the farmers of Luni village of Rajasthan, to help bring their products, i.e., different kinds of millets, to the market. Although they have been producing millets for sustenance and local sales, they were unaware of the possibility of selling them online and making a profit. NABARD has been working towards creating hygienic sources of water consumption for the village under the Aapno Paani, meaning 'Our Water' project.
Aapno Anaaj, meaning 'Our Seeds' was thus an off-shoot of this project, thereby creating an ecosystem in which farmers consume clean water, and also use it to grow their produce and sell it.
CONTEXT
This project is set in the context of one of the most arid regions of the country. Water scarcity due to unhygienic storage of water, lack of rainfall, and extreme climate has resulted in farmers adapting their lifestyles around the availability of water. This scarcity of water is what makes millets an ideal foodgrain for the farmers of Rajasthan, as it requires less water for production and serves the dual purpose of food for the farmers and fodder for their cattle.
Apart from the context of scarcity, we found that the farmers were largely unaware of the possibilities of online channels for their sales. There was a huge gap in awareness about the importance of branding, current market trends, and how they have the potential to reach a national audience.
THE
SOLUTION
Aapno Anaaj took a shape against this dismal background. The villagers were organized into a formal group. Their staple foodgrain productions, which were jowar, bajra, and moong, were selected to be marketed and sold under the 'Aapno Anaaj' brand.
Branding solutions were developed to capture the essence of where the products were coming from and to highlight the important role the women farmers played in the production of the crop. Community mobilization efforts were made with a determined focus on brand ownership.
THE
BRAND
For the Aapno Anaaj logo, the brand needed to communicate a sense of community and a shared vision for growth. To depict this, I combined concentric circles with the millet form.
INSPIRATION
The intent of the packaging was to communicate to the buyer that the products were coming directly from farmers, and purchasing an Aapno Anaaj product would benefit the farmers without the profits going to any external entities in the middle.
There was a special emphasis on depicting that the women farmers of Luni play a major role in the farming processes, and their labour of love has resulted directly in the fruition of this project.
In rural Rajasthan, women traditionally cover their face in the presence of male members of society as a sign of respect and dignity. Due to this, we couldn't use their photographs directly on the packaging. To address this, illustrations were made of actual women from the village using colours and fabric textures indigenous to their culture.
Additionally, I wanted the packaging to make the product look like it had always been a part of the buyer's kitchen. There is something very homely about Indian kitchens, and I wanted the packaging to compliment that. Image credits: https://mytriphack.com/indian-kitchen-essentials/
PACKAGING
Above: Photographic representation for the seamless integration of the product in a typical Indian kitchen. Kindly note that the above photographs are not my property. They have been taken from the internet for creative representation purposes only.
CURRENT STATUS OF PROJECT*
The project is currently underway, in collaboration with Innoterra, an international developmental platform for agri-centred businesses.
Products are to hit retail shelves soon. It is currently in process of being uploaded to Amazon for selling within India.
*as on 08/03/2022
Above: Product packaging trials.
thank you.