As soon as the labour-intensive sowing of the crops and irrigation, farmers are sometimes seen flocking to their farms with giant 20-litre tanks of pesticides on their backs.
This guide train of spraying pesticides on the crops is hazardous not solely to the farmers’ well being but additionally to the soil’s because the spray will get all over the place.
Within the course of, a number of farmers additionally bear excessive labour prices that immediately impression the earnings generated from the crop.
To counteract these points confronted in a troublesome occupation, a Bengaluru-based startup known as Niqo Robotics is utilizing robotics and synthetic intelligence to make this environment friendly and cost-friendly for farmers.
Launched in 2015 by a Bengaluru-based man Jaisimha Rao, the agri-tech startup is on a mission to construct accessible and dependable robots for long run and sustainable farming.
In August 2023, the corporate launched its ‘AI-powered spot spray robots’ that selectively spray agrochemicals solely on the plant, thus limiting chemical air pollution of the soil and the farm’s ecosystems.
As of now, greater than 500 farmers in Maharashtra and Karnataka are utilizing land-based robots to cut back their enter and labour prices.
Making precision agriculture a actuality
Born in Tamil Nadu and raised in Kuwait within the Center East, Jaisimha accomplished his commencement in electrical and laptop engineering from Carnegie Mellon College, USA. Thereafter, he joined an organization in New York and labored for seven years until 2014.
“I used to be in my 20s, so it was enjoyable working overseas. However by that point, I realised how my future within the company job was going to be and so I needed to discover entrepreneurship,” the 37-year-old tells The Higher India.
On the age of 28, he give up his well-paying job within the USA and got here again to his household to settle in Karnataka. Whereas his friends advised he discover fintech entrepreneurship given his expertise, he didn’t need to restrict his decisions.
It was solely when he went to a espresso plantation on the outskirts of Bengaluru that he understood his goal.
“In the future, my father dragged me alongside to a espresso plantation that he wished to buy. Whereas conversing with one of many caretakers, I acquired to know that farmers undertake common, blanket spraying wherein chemical compounds are unnecessarily seeped into the soil,” he says.
“After I questioned the standard strategies, the caretaker mentioned that that is how they’ve been doing it for the final 50 years and proceed to take action. This got here as a shock to me. I didn’t get any scientific rationalization,” he provides.
After some analysis, he rapidly learnt that the meals rising practices in India had been largely guide, and important enter choices had been made primarily based on conventional knowledge and never scientific knowledge.
“What struck me was how farmers in these plantations and different conventional crops spray on the complete farm with none regulation. By way of soil well being, every a part of the farm is completely different. I needed to work on an thought to determine specific elements of the farm that want spraying,” he provides.
With the appearance of cameras and synthetic intelligence, Jaisimha needed to make use of a technique to make precision agriculture a actuality. So, in 2015 he began Niqo Robotics outfitted with a imaginative and prescient of revolutionising Indian agriculture by way of innovation.
See, Choose, and Spray
For the primary 4 years, working with farmers throughout the nation, Jaisimha used drones to take photos of various sections of the farms that had been contaminated with pests. He would then present an analytical report to those farmers.
“Whereas the analytics had been useful for the farmers, sadly, they didn’t discover it helpful sufficient to pay for it. For them, it was good to have a report however it wasn’t essentially essential,” he says.
Realising what was wanted, he additional labored on land-based robots that not solely enable farmers to analyse actions on the farm but additionally to take motion.
The corporate launched these AI-based robots final 12 months for trial within the Akola district, Maharashtra, approaching cotton farmers of the area. Final month, they formally launched 50 such robots to be used.
Utilizing three steps – see, choose, spray – Jaisimha’s robotic sprayer makes use of a special occasion and night-vision digital camera to see every plant. It then makes use of high-speed and in-built computer systems to determine the crops to spray on the fields. Thereafter, it makes use of precision nozzles to ship the proper dose of pesticides immediately on the plant.
“Our core expertise is the digital camera which is hooked up to the sprayers. The cameras differentiate between a plant and soil. The digital camera recognises the placement of a plant and alerts the nozzles to spray. The nozzle shuts wherever there may be soil,” he provides.
Over blanket spraying pesticides, Jaisimha says, farmers can considerably save as much as 60 p.c on pesticide prices.
However how did the farmers obtain it?
On the village stage within the Akola area, the Niqo Robotics crew facilitated demos for farmers in June final 12 months.
“We might hold claiming massive outcomes however the farmers gained’t consider it until they see it. They’re used to seeing this train being performed by machines and tractors,” Arha Padman, chief advertising and marketing officer, tells The Higher India.
Speaking concerning the response of farmers after they first see the robotic sprayers, Arha says that it could very properly be a magical second for them. “Initially, they thought that this can be a common machine, however as soon as our 10m lengthy sprayer increase opens, cameras activate, and the nozzles go on and off, the farmers see its potential.”
She provides, “And after the demos are performed, farmers ebook the robots for a spraying session.” As per the corporate’s working mannequin, farmers lease and ebook the robots from them for spraying. For this, they’re charged Rs 350 per acre.
“For instance, Yogesh Raut, a farmer who grows cotton and soybean crops, was very sceptical about us initially. However after the demo, he booked the robotic for one spraying session. As quickly as he noticed the outcomes, he booked the subsequent session,” she says.
Sharing his expertise with The Higher India, Yogesh who owns a 30-acre farmland says, “When one among my buddies listed the benefits of utilizing these robotic sprayers, I couldn’t consider him. It was solely after the 2 classes on my crops that I realised he was not mendacity.”
He provides, “Normally, we manually spray our crops which prices Rs 1,200 per acre. With these robots, my work is getting performed in half the quantity and moreover, we’re saving on the pesticide prices too.”
“Aside from this, we’re additionally capable of save time. Labourers employed for this job take a whole day to do it. With these robots, we’re capable of safe the fields inside two hours. I’m very grateful to the corporate for fascinated by us farmers,” provides the 42-year-old farmer.
Like Yogesh, 500 farmers throughout Karnataka and Maharashtra are utilizing the robotic sprayers on lease.
As of now, the expertise is designed to spray pesticides on crops like cotton and chilies somewhat than paddy fields.
Highlighting the challenges the corporate faces on the grassroots stage, Jaisimha says, “Though farmers are prepared to just accept the expertise, they consider that the extra you spray, the upper yield you get. It’s a little difficult to make them perceive the significance of selective spraying.”
This 12 months, the crew has sprayed over 1 lakh acres of farmland to this point. Jaisimha intends to scale the expertise to extra areas for a similar crops.
Understanding that his expertise helps a few of Indian agriculture’s most urgent points like labour scarcity and useful resource effectivity, this complete endeavour has been extraordinarily fulfilling for Jaisimha. He’s additionally glad that he’s doing one thing for his countrymen somewhat than working overseas.
“Now we have helped farmers optimise their operations, enhance return on funding, and minimise agriculture’s environmental footprint by way of our revolutionary robotics options,” he provides.
“Our journey has solely simply begun, and we’re devoted to persevering with our work on this sector and past, pushing the frontiers of what’s potential with robots and automation,” he says.
Edited by Padmashree Pande. All photographs: Niqo Robotics.
