App by Pune entrepreneurs goals to help small-scale farmers with crop advisories

At a time when small farmers are harried by the growing prices of agriculture inputs and gasoline costs, two agri-entrepreneurs, each sons of farmers from western Maharashtra, have developed a free knowledge-based advisory platform aimed toward boosting farm produce whereas sustaining soil well being on the similar time. 

Pravin Shinde and Vishnu Dhas, co-founders and administrators of the ‘KhetiGuru’ platform, goal to empower small-scale farmers with the best information and know-how – proper from land preparation to the harvesting levels – to spice up crop manufacturing.

The platform, which was launched earlier this month, focuses on crop vitamin and is meant as a ‘preventive’ quite than ‘healing’ useful resource by staving-off crop injury from pests and illnesses to assist the farmer obtain greater yields. 

“KhetiGuru has an professional workforce of fifty agronomists to seamlessly present advisory providers. They’ll help needy farmers, proper from land preparation to the assorted levels of the crop life cycle, be it sowing, flowering, fruiting, or harvesting, along with recommending numerous distinctive merchandise developed by KhetiGuru,” says Mr. Shinde, who hails from an agricultural household in Satara district.

Since KhetiGuru is concentrated on crop vitamin and well being, there will likely be lowered use of chemical-based pesticides aiming to extend soil well being.

From ‘KhetiGaadi’ to ‘KhetiGuru’

The thought for this platform has not come out of the blue: In 2016, the duo had launched ‘KhetiGaadi’ – an agricultural model of OLX – which for the primary time, created an internet eco-system for farm mechanization in India.

The platform, which supplies farmers numerous product choices with detailed specs to purchase, promote and lease agricultural gear, is altering the face of farm mechanization in India. It has already registered a gross merchandise worth (GMV) of ₹1,200 crore in 2019 in 2021-22.

“The super response to the KhetiGaadi initiative, which is being presently utilized by over 50 lakh farmers throughout India and which addresses the challenges confronted by India’s sluggish price of farm mechanization, brought on us to suppose severely in regards to the issues related to crop injury,” says Mr. Shinde. 

Based on Mr. Dhas, KhetiGuru, like KhetiGaadi, goals to “profoundly disrupt the agriculture providers sector.”

“Whereas the present {industry}’s focus is on providing post-disease injury options, we wish to be forward of them by specializing in prevention of crop injury, be they from pests or illnesses. KhetiGuru will supply free advisory providers by certified Agronomists, at a time when the agri-industry fees farmers wherever between Rs. 1,200 and Rs. 4,000 per 12 months,” says Mr. Dhas, whose mother and father labored on farms. 

So as to deal with the problems confronted by farmers, KhetiGuru provides particular kits for numerous levels of the crop cycle similar to an Alawani equipment for drenching, a ‘progress particular’ equipment, a flowering equipment, a drip particular equipment, a pH steadiness and activator equipment amongst different merchandise. 

“With KhetiGuru, we intend to offer full-stack service to farmers, from land preparation to sowing to vegetation to the pre- harvesting and harvesting stage, aimed toward maximizing their crop manufacturing by specializing in preventive care. Farmers may take advantages of specifically designed kits for particular crops together with banana, sugarcane, paddy, soybean, onion and tur,” stated Mr. Shinde.

As within the case with KhetiGaadi, the duo, throughout their interactions with farmers over the previous few years had come to the conclusion that the dearth of correct know-how, know-how, and consciousness had been the prime causes hamstringing most crop yield, particularly within the case of smaller farmers topic to environmental vagaries.

“After working intently with farmers, we discover that deteriorating soil well being, owing to misuse of chemical compounds via fertilizers, weedicides, fungicides, and pesticides. Moreover, there’s the growing price of agricultural inputs and most significantly, farmers should not getting the best steering and recommendation on numerous facets of the crop cycle, therefore the top result’s disappointing,” Mr. Dhas says. 

A watchword of the KhetiGuru platform is to wean the farmer away from indiscriminate use of pesticides to assist him keep soil well being. 

“To this finish, we’ve developed 62 crop vitamin and crop booster merchandise which have been efficiently utilized by 1,000 farmers as a pilot to this point. The expansion and flowering merchandise have been constructed on nano-technology and are available 1 gm packs for a one-acre crop,” says Mr. Dhas.

Moreover, farmers can get required instruments, seeds, fertilizers and crop safety vitamin merchandise home-delivered via the KhetiGuru app. The app is out there on Play Retailer.