Vijaya Pastala

Vijaya Pastala

Vijaya Pastala is the founder & CEO of Under The Mango Tree (UTMT), a social enterprise that brings a variety of agricultural products to the market to support rural livelihoods. While helping in relief work after a devastating earthquake in Latur, Maharashtra, Vijaya noticed that a lot of trade between farmers & buyers happened simply under a mango tree. Many a times, farmers were not able to find the right buyers, and on certain occasions, the farm produce was very less leading to limited income for them. With a long career in the agricultural space, Vijaya realized that bridging this gap could help improve lives of poor farmers’ lives and their families, tremendously. This idea led to the birth of Under The Mango Tree.

Initially, Vijaya struggled to acquire funding for UTMT. However, after dipping into her savings and receiving help from a few friends, she managed to scrape together an initial sum of Rs 9 lakh. Soon after, she started training small and tribal farmers about UTMT’s innovative Bees-for-Poverty-Reduction programme to add beekeeping to their livelihoods. Improved bee pollination increased agricultural productivity for farmer’s crops and created about 25% extra income for farmers in a month, allowing them to sell beeswax and honey to generate income. Additionally, UTMT provided access to bigger markets to all farmers who came from small tribal communities. Until now, UTMT has provided market access to over 3,000 people from 6 states across the country and positively impacted almost 15,000 rural lives. Vijaya’s innovative technique has inspired more women to get involved in farming and increased confidence of the small tribal farmers immensely.
Vijaya holds a master’s degree in regional planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has also with a number of non-profits like DFID & Aga Khan Foundation on natural resource management and livelihoods enhancement programs.
Vijaya Pastala’s passion lies in developing community based, pro-poor approaches for environmentally sustainable economic development in India. With a long career in the agricultural space, she realized that long-term linkages with poor farmers improve quality of life of communities, tremendously. Her dream enterprise Under the Mango Tree (UTMT) improves incomes for primary bee producers by enhancing their capacity to access markets and through value addition. Since 2009, UTMT has provided market access to over 3,000 people from 6 states across the country and positively impacted almost 15,000 rural lives.