Mr. Benjamin Raja
Founder and CEO
Farmagain Agro Private Limited
Low agricultural productivity in a land blessed with the best of climate, soil and sunshine
seems like a puzzle to figure out. Mr. Benjamin Raja, through his research, concluded
that the missing piece of the puzzle is lack of precision agriculture.
“Our first attempt in precision agriculture initially was great but didn't go well in the long
run. We did a root cause analysis to understand why we were failing, we figured that the
repeatability of the process which was very diligently done in other countries was
lacking in our farms. An absolute repeatable precision is only possible with intelligent
automation. That’s why we indigenously designed and developed GroTron®. Machine
Learning and Artificial Intelligence are the building blocks of GroTron®; it ensures
Precision Agriculture in a farm with no human intervention, therefore making a farm
totally autonomous.“
Benjamin brings with him a wealth of knowledge from the automation industry and so
decided to build some technology to ensure there is least amount of manual intervention
required for the repeated routine processes. After about 4 years of investment into
research and development - building sensors, calibrating them and making sense with
the sensors with the context of precision agriculture – in 2018, came up with a solid
product line to get data from any sensor - soil moisture sensor, temperature, light
sensor, EC, pH, NPK, etc..
“GroTron® ensures that this real-time data that we receive from the sensors were put
into right use in terms of taking decisions like when to irrigate, which area needs to be
irrigated, what fertilizers need to be given when and how much, etc. and we were able
to see the benefits as well. The reduction in water usage was at least 50%.”
Another goal they had was avoiding soil infertility.
“Last 2 years of our laboratory tests, we are able to see that the contamination of soil is
coming down and in the long run we believe the soil contamination can be completely
eliminated by ensuring precise fertilization to the extent that the plants require.
We also see that the younger generation is now showing interest in farming because of
predictability that comes with the use of modern technology.”
What are the features of GroTron® you have built?
1. Irrigation and fertilization gets automated.
2. The system has the ability to neutralize the irrigation water pH.
3. For protected systems, like poly houses and net house, the system has the
ability to sense the humidity and temperature within the structure and operate
the respective equipment implemented in that farm to maintain the balance
between the humidity and temperature set to the right ratio.
4. There are some modern farms that have implemented generators. So, our
system has the ability to automatically switch off the generator whenever
required.
5. The system tells the farmer, based on his requirement, which fertilizer he needs
to buy a month in advance including where he can buy it and the price at which
it is available. This information also goes out to the neighbouring buyers. They
can be mandis, corporate retailers etc.
Who are your target customers?
We are working with farmers who have farms between 5-10 acres. Most of the farmers
dealing with us is in the Tamil Nadu area. We have a small presence in Karnataka as
well. In the next one month we will also be penetrating into Telangana and Andhra
Pradesh regions.
As of now, we are largely present in Tamil Nadu and the crops are regular plantation
crops and vegetables.
How user-friendly is your product?
Using the product doesn’t demand technical knowledge. If you can use a smart phone
you can use this our product too. Even if one cannot use a smart phone, the farm is
configured.
For example, if it is cane in Guntur and the soil moisture requirement is say, 45% and if
there is a fertigation programme we feed it into the system. That is pretty much it.
From there, the farmer doesn't even have to log in to a smart phone. The farm pretty
much runs on its own. Specific information will be sent to the farmer in several
languages. These can be notifications like, tanks holding urea is empty, etc.
Are these sensors wireless?
The sensors are wired to a device that is wireless. There is a small solar device to
which the sensors are wired. The wiring will be at the max 5 meters.
Are we talking of fertilization by liquid fertilizers?
Yes - organic or inorganic fertilizers in liquid form.
On an average, how much would the installation cost?
The cost depends on the number of valves and their sizes. However, on an average,
the cost of implementation will be at the range of 2 and half lakhs on a 10-acre farm.
This includes the cost of the valves. We make the valves work using solar power with a
small power backup with no wiring required. We provide the battery back up as well.
What kind of warranty period do you offer?
We give a one-year warranty and the farmer can choose to take extended warranty as
well.
What is the minimum land dimension required for installing your system?
There is no minimum dimension. We can install it even on a say, one-acre plot.
Does the system demand any kind of annual maintenance procedures?
There could be some requirements since it is an electronic equipment. But, in the last 2
years, we haven't seen much. So we don't charge any Annual Maintenance Cost (AMC)
to farmers as of now.
Is your product available across India?
Right now, it is available only in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. We are shortly moving
towards Andhra, Telangana and Maharashtra.
In another 6 months we are looking at penetrating into the Western side of India all the
way up to Punjab.
Are there enquiries from places other than Tamil Nadu and Karnataka?
Yes, we are getting lot of enquiries from the Western part of India and that is why we
have decided to expand up to Punjab and Chattisgarh. Having said that, we have done
almost 10 pilot projects in Maharashtra. But we haven't done any after
commercialization of the product.
Do you provide any kind of training to the people who buy your product?
Yes, we do. We have tied up with 6 agronomists who train the farmers. This training
entails not just usage of the product but also about precision agriculture. We pay for this
training. Framers who require constant support are provided with continuous support.
First one year of hand-holding is done without charging the farmers.
Can farmers avail any subsidy for this product?
No, not yet. We have started working with the Central and State governments. We
expect something to shape up in course of time.
Have there been any challenges that has been reported by those who have used
your product?
If the solar panel gets covered with too much of dust, then the valve operation gets
impacted. There are places where we have had issues that way.
Another one we have come across is, in farms they have a tendency of simply switching
off plugs. Farmers don't understand this and so they raise a complaint and when we
check we realize that the internet is switched off.
In some farms, fertilizer measurements go wrong. That arises if the fertilizer is not
properly filled. It could lead to inaccuracies in measurement.
Other than these small issues, we haven't come across anything major so far.
Do you provide onsite assistance?
Yes, we do provide onsite assistance and it is free for the first year. So far even for
issues after a year we have not been charging because it is not very frequent that there
has been issues.
Is the product different for poly houses and open farming?
No, it is the same equipment.
How has the farmers' feedback been about your product so far?
Farmers are comfortable and happy with the product and implementation. Many of them
have reverted commenting that they realized there is no water scarcity in parts of land
where they felt they had scarcity. They also felt that the fertilizers are used optimally
which can be fine tuned with soil conditions. They have seen productivity increase,
which is the ultimate goal.
There was this farm next to Coimbatore, where a 20-acre coconut farm was on the
verge of getting chopped off because the farmer was of the opinion that there wasn't
enough water supply. So, we installed our product on their land free of cost to do a case
study. So the equipment was agreed to be implemented for 4 months. This was a year
back. Now, the trees have recovered and the farmer is highly enthusiastic about our
product. He has installed it to the extent far more than what we had expected.
Farmers' feedback has been excellent and the productivity increase recorded has been
great!
Contact
Benjamin Raja
ben@farmagain.in
Phone-7708397999.
Founder and CEO
Farmagain Agro Private Limited
Low agricultural productivity in a land blessed with the best of climate, soil and sunshine
seems like a puzzle to figure out. Mr. Benjamin Raja, through his research, concluded
that the missing piece of the puzzle is lack of precision agriculture.
“Our first attempt in precision agriculture initially was great but didn't go well in the long
run. We did a root cause analysis to understand why we were failing, we figured that the
repeatability of the process which was very diligently done in other countries was
lacking in our farms. An absolute repeatable precision is only possible with intelligent
automation. That’s why we indigenously designed and developed GroTron®. Machine
Learning and Artificial Intelligence are the building blocks of GroTron®; it ensures
Precision Agriculture in a farm with no human intervention, therefore making a farm
totally autonomous.“
Benjamin brings with him a wealth of knowledge from the automation industry and so
decided to build some technology to ensure there is least amount of manual intervention
required for the repeated routine processes. After about 4 years of investment into
research and development - building sensors, calibrating them and making sense with
the sensors with the context of precision agriculture – in 2018, came up with a solid
product line to get data from any sensor - soil moisture sensor, temperature, light
sensor, EC, pH, NPK, etc..
“GroTron® ensures that this real-time data that we receive from the sensors were put
into right use in terms of taking decisions like when to irrigate, which area needs to be
irrigated, what fertilizers need to be given when and how much, etc. and we were able
to see the benefits as well. The reduction in water usage was at least 50%.”
Another goal they had was avoiding soil infertility.
“Last 2 years of our laboratory tests, we are able to see that the contamination of soil is
coming down and in the long run we believe the soil contamination can be completely
eliminated by ensuring precise fertilization to the extent that the plants require.
We also see that the younger generation is now showing interest in farming because of
predictability that comes with the use of modern technology.”
What are the features of GroTron® you have built?
1. Irrigation and fertilization gets automated.
2. The system has the ability to neutralize the irrigation water pH.
3. For protected systems, like poly houses and net house, the system has the
ability to sense the humidity and temperature within the structure and operate
the respective equipment implemented in that farm to maintain the balance
between the humidity and temperature set to the right ratio.
4. There are some modern farms that have implemented generators. So, our
system has the ability to automatically switch off the generator whenever
required.
5. The system tells the farmer, based on his requirement, which fertilizer he needs
to buy a month in advance including where he can buy it and the price at which
it is available. This information also goes out to the neighbouring buyers. They
can be mandis, corporate retailers etc.
Who are your target customers?
We are working with farmers who have farms between 5-10 acres. Most of the farmers
dealing with us is in the Tamil Nadu area. We have a small presence in Karnataka as
well. In the next one month we will also be penetrating into Telangana and Andhra
Pradesh regions.
As of now, we are largely present in Tamil Nadu and the crops are regular plantation
crops and vegetables.
How user-friendly is your product?
Using the product doesn’t demand technical knowledge. If you can use a smart phone
you can use this our product too. Even if one cannot use a smart phone, the farm is
configured.
For example, if it is cane in Guntur and the soil moisture requirement is say, 45% and if
there is a fertigation programme we feed it into the system. That is pretty much it.
From there, the farmer doesn't even have to log in to a smart phone. The farm pretty
much runs on its own. Specific information will be sent to the farmer in several
languages. These can be notifications like, tanks holding urea is empty, etc.
Are these sensors wireless?
The sensors are wired to a device that is wireless. There is a small solar device to
which the sensors are wired. The wiring will be at the max 5 meters.
Are we talking of fertilization by liquid fertilizers?
Yes - organic or inorganic fertilizers in liquid form.
On an average, how much would the installation cost?
The cost depends on the number of valves and their sizes. However, on an average,
the cost of implementation will be at the range of 2 and half lakhs on a 10-acre farm.
This includes the cost of the valves. We make the valves work using solar power with a
small power backup with no wiring required. We provide the battery back up as well.
What kind of warranty period do you offer?
We give a one-year warranty and the farmer can choose to take extended warranty as
well.
What is the minimum land dimension required for installing your system?
There is no minimum dimension. We can install it even on a say, one-acre plot.
Does the system demand any kind of annual maintenance procedures?
There could be some requirements since it is an electronic equipment. But, in the last 2
years, we haven't seen much. So we don't charge any Annual Maintenance Cost (AMC)
to farmers as of now.
Is your product available across India?
Right now, it is available only in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. We are shortly moving
towards Andhra, Telangana and Maharashtra.
In another 6 months we are looking at penetrating into the Western side of India all the
way up to Punjab.
Are there enquiries from places other than Tamil Nadu and Karnataka?
Yes, we are getting lot of enquiries from the Western part of India and that is why we
have decided to expand up to Punjab and Chattisgarh. Having said that, we have done
almost 10 pilot projects in Maharashtra. But we haven't done any after
commercialization of the product.
Do you provide any kind of training to the people who buy your product?
Yes, we do. We have tied up with 6 agronomists who train the farmers. This training
entails not just usage of the product but also about precision agriculture. We pay for this
training. Framers who require constant support are provided with continuous support.
First one year of hand-holding is done without charging the farmers.
Can farmers avail any subsidy for this product?
No, not yet. We have started working with the Central and State governments. We
expect something to shape up in course of time.
Have there been any challenges that has been reported by those who have used
your product?
If the solar panel gets covered with too much of dust, then the valve operation gets
impacted. There are places where we have had issues that way.
Another one we have come across is, in farms they have a tendency of simply switching
off plugs. Farmers don't understand this and so they raise a complaint and when we
check we realize that the internet is switched off.
In some farms, fertilizer measurements go wrong. That arises if the fertilizer is not
properly filled. It could lead to inaccuracies in measurement.
Other than these small issues, we haven't come across anything major so far.
Do you provide onsite assistance?
Yes, we do provide onsite assistance and it is free for the first year. So far even for
issues after a year we have not been charging because it is not very frequent that there
has been issues.
Is the product different for poly houses and open farming?
No, it is the same equipment.
How has the farmers' feedback been about your product so far?
Farmers are comfortable and happy with the product and implementation. Many of them
have reverted commenting that they realized there is no water scarcity in parts of land
where they felt they had scarcity. They also felt that the fertilizers are used optimally
which can be fine tuned with soil conditions. They have seen productivity increase,
which is the ultimate goal.
There was this farm next to Coimbatore, where a 20-acre coconut farm was on the
verge of getting chopped off because the farmer was of the opinion that there wasn't
enough water supply. So, we installed our product on their land free of cost to do a case
study. So the equipment was agreed to be implemented for 4 months. This was a year
back. Now, the trees have recovered and the farmer is highly enthusiastic about our
product. He has installed it to the extent far more than what we had expected.
Farmers' feedback has been excellent and the productivity increase recorded has been
great!
Contact
Benjamin Raja
ben@farmagain.in
Phone-7708397999.