Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd’s Farm Equipment Sector (FES) division has introduced its ‘Farming as a Service’ business model in Karnataka by deploying Krish-e centres in five district locations throughout the state.
The Krish-e centres established in five districts Jamkhandi, Mysore, Bijapur, Bidar and Gulbarga provide farmers with a range of solutions, including agronomy advice, access to advanced farm machinery and equipment rentals and new age precision farming methods, the company said during a press statement.
Other than Karnataka, Krish-e centres are now operating across all major states, including Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
‘Krish-e is a new innovative vertical business, conceptualised with the idea of a new digital world of agriculture in India. It aims to change the lives of farmers by enabling them to adopt more effective farming methods and techniques powered by Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT) and digital solutions that are accessible and affordable, opening the way for increased productivity and profitability,’ says Hemant Sikka, President, FES, M&M Ltd.
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Ramesh Ramachandran, Senior Vice President, FES Strategy & FaaS, M&M, said: ‘Through Krish-e, we have already had an impact on more than 1 Lakh farmers, with solutions tailored to show impact on crop costs, crop health and productivity.’
‘Krish-e presently has around 1,900 demo plots, where we work side by side farmers to demonstrate real effect through a combination of agronomy inputs and advanced computerization solutions,” he stated.
Tap AI & IoT
M&M is trying to leverage its investments in entities such as Resson – a Canadian predictive analytics company, Gamaya – a Swiss hyperspectral image analytics company, and Carnot – an Indian Agri IoT-enabled company to develop and deliver farm solutions.
The Precision of Krish-e Agricultural solutions use a wide range of farm drone, satellite and farm equipment sensors and cameras to collect soil sample, crop and machine data. AI algorithms transform this data into user-friendly and insightful field maps, enabling farmers and agronomists to run variable-rate farming operations using smart machines. Such operations are already helping potato, grape and sugarcane farmers to reduce their cultivation costs and improve their yields.
Krish-e has launched three applications to provide consultancy and rental services in a differentiated and farmer-oriented manner. The advisory services are crop and farm-specific. They include a customizable and flexible crop calendar and a real-time treatment plan and response time of pests and diseases, according to the release.
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The rental app optimises an AI-powered IoT kit that tracks equipment and works. Aimed for rental contractors with a fleet of machinery, the tool kit is designed to be Plug and Play, straightforward to use and extremely affordable. The kit, which has already been used by almost 2,000 rental contractors, enhances the productivity and profitability of the rental operational activities.
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