Doorstep delivery of vegetables is a boon for busy professionals. More so if delivery is timely and without wilted surprises.

Start-up Vegebasket, a Jamshedpur-based social enterprise under ASBS Foods and Spices, launched by state food minister Saryu Roy on Sunday at a city hotel here, promises farm-fresh vegetables procured directly from Patamda farmers.

Started by Jamshedpur entrepreneurs Sanjeev Kumar Singh, Brajesh Kumar and Arundhati Ghosh with an investment of Rs 15 lakh, Vegebasket also aims to educate farmers about organic farming and help them increase their profit without middlemen. A lot like M’ma Farm, the brainchild of agro-entrepreneur and founder Santosh Sharma, here, the focus is not on vegetables and milk, but only vegetables for now.

Also, unlike M’ma farm, which grows its own organic vegetables and sends messages to customers on what’s available, Vegebasket procures vegetables from farmers, which are not organic right now, and lists the stock on its website.

The trio of Singh, Kumar and Ghosh, however, have introduced innovative conveniences for customers.

Customers can book vegetables through the website www.vegebasket.co.in anytime between 8am and 5pm. More conveniently, customers can give a missed call to 9667623377 for a call back from the company and place their order over phone in the same time slot. Delivery will take 24 hours but customers can choose their time slots by calling up. One can pay online or choose Paytm or cash on delivery (COD) options.

At present, the Vegebasket website has 28 variety of vegetables grown by 50 farmers of Patamda with whom the firm has tied up.

The website will also deliver fruits but those will take three to five days as fruits aren’t locally grown.

“We are also building an app,” said Singh. “We are encouraging our farmer partners to reduce pesticides from Day One. We will go completely organic in two years.”

He added their main aim was helping farmers get buyers conveniently. “These farmers come to Jamshedpur thrice a week but get peanuts for their produce. The bulk of their profits is grabbed by middlemen. We are eliminating that so that farmers and customers get a better deal.”

Contacted, a Patamda farmer who has tied up with Vegebasket, Luvkishore Mahto said he hoped the venture would do well as it had the potential to change their lives.

Roy appreciated the start-up. “Farmers produce food but they eat less. They need better earning opportunities so that they and their children aren’t malnourished,” he said.