Noida-based agritech company Leads Connect Services launched a pilot project called ‘SIGMAA’ with the help of 200 farmers in two villages in the Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday. If the government is interested, the company plans to expand the project to the whole state in the future.
‘The project in these two villages will take place over four seasons and two years, starting this Kharif. Navneet Ravikar, Chairman and Managing Director of Leads Connect Services, said, The module has two parts: one is a demonstration, and the other is advice and supervision.’
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He said that the company has rented 20 acres of land where the Pusa 1,509 Basmati variety will be grown in a lab that is scientifically similar. The yield and quality will be measured and compared with the same produce grown by partner farmers.
‘We haven’t told the farmers what to grow. Our choice of crop is based on what has been grown here before. However, the choice of Basmati is also supported by a crop suitability analysis that uses technology to find the best crop for the area. The only difference is that we will run everything on our farm, but farmers will have to run theirs based on our suggestions,’ Ravikar said, adding that the company would provide key inputs like seeds, fertilizer, and pesticides.
Different kinds of technology were used
A company executive involved in the pilot project said that after figuring out the Agricultural Credit Score (ACS) for each farm and farmer, Lead Connect will give them seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides based on what experts say is best.
Real-time monitoring will be done on-site and through the one-stop digital platform during the life cycle of the crop. The executive said that satellites and IOT/UAV will be used to collect data all the time.
Ravikar said that Bareilly has the potential to be a market linkage hub because it is close to India’s commercial hubs and has a thriving urban community. Both of these things are necessary for building a sustainable value chain.
Lead Connect has also told the farmers that if they want to sell, it will buy their goods at the current market price. If they don’t want to sell to Lead Connect, they can sell their goods anywhere, even at the mandi.
‘We know that agrimarketing is the most important way for farmers to make more money. It’s just the start. If the results look good tomorrow, companies might be interested in contract farming. Since it is a global problem for agricultural products to have more pesticide residues than allowed, Ravikar said, We are sure that our farmers’ Basmati will not have this problem, and it may become the first choice for exporters.’
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Good value for money
The goal of the Seamless Digital Implementation and Ground Monitoring Platform for delivering end-to-end AgriTech Analytics (SIGMAA) study is to find and develop crop varieties for each district that will give farmers high-value returns.
During the launch event, Lead Connect showed the farmers of Tulia village how to use drone technology. It was also said that the company would use this technology to spray fertilizer and pesticides on fields.
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