A set of images where fruits and vegetables can be seen kept inside trolleys arranged in a warehouse is being shared on the internet with a claim that they show a supermarket set-up by farmers in Bengaluru, and that the new farm laws will allow farmers in Punjab and Haryana to participate in similar ventures.
However, we found that the images have been lifted from the website of a Bengaluru-based agricultural start-up, Humus, and are not from any supermarket set-up by farmers.
THE CLAIM
The aforementioned images are being shared on Facebook and Twitter with the same misleading claim which reads: “कर्नाटक के किसानों ने बेंगलुरु शहर में जगह लेकर अपना सुपर मार्केट तैयार कर लिया है। लेकिन यह पंजाब और हरियाणा में भी ऐसा कुछ प्रयोग किसानों के द्वारा मिलकर किया जाना चाहिए। इससे किसानों की आय दुगनी होगी और खरीदार को भी सस्ता और अच्छा मिलेगा। यही चाहती है मोदी सरकार,ताकि किसान का भला हो।”
(Translation: Farmers in Karnataka bought land in Bengaluru and started their own supermarket. Farmers in Punjab and Haryana should also follow this model. This will double their income and benefit buyers. This is what the Modi government aims to do, keeping in mind the interest of the farmers.)
WHAT WE FOUND
In one of the images, we noticed a board which had ‘Humus’ written over it.
So, we looked up Humus on Google and found that it is a Bengaluru-based agricultural startup. On the website of the organisation we found the same images which were used in the viral post.
Next, we visited the Facebook page of Humus and found similar images.
A side-by-side comparison between the images can be seen below.
We also found several reports on the start-up published on different websites. According to a report by Entrepreneur India, Humus was founded in 2019 by Manjunatha TN and Shilpa Gopalaiah.
Another report by VC Circle points out that Humus is an agricultural technology startup focussed on addressing issues in fresh produce supply chains.
Clearly, images from the website of an agri startup were used by several people to insinuate that with the new farm laws in place, farmers in Punjab and Haryana will also be able to set-up their own markets to sell their produce.
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