Article Mr Mallesh Tigali - Founder and CEO Farms to Fork Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

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jamunar

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An engineer by academics and profession and an agriculturist by destiny and choice, Mr Mallesh Tigali has paved a path into the agricultural sector, making sure that all the information he gained as an engineer is put to good use in the process.

Mr Mallesh Tigali comes out as a big picture person who is looking for solutions to the big issues we have in agriculture.

Please give us a brief introduction about yourself and what you do?


Sure. I am an Industrial Production engineer by academics and a Software engineer by profession. My passion, however, has always been farming. As a small child, I used to often go to my grandparents' farmland. I was amazed everything about the farms. I remember my grandfather making more money than my father, who was into a government job. That led me to believe that you can reap monetary benefits as well in the farming sector. But, I didn't have any farmland of my own. So, my dream was to understand how to build a business in the agricultural industry.

The first road block was when I had to choose my line of education. Everybody pushed me for pursuing Engineering or Medicine. I chose Engineering. Having a passion for agriculture I always kept in touch a close watch on the agricultural sector to understand what is happening in that space.

I noticed that there are different stakeholders in the agricultural industry. Right from the time a seed is sown neither does the manufacturer, nor the input supplier, the consumer, the traders or marketing folks get affected due to a price drop. But, the farmer does! This is why we hear only of farmer suicides when there is price fluctuation. This used to disturb me quite a bit and it got me thinking.

I acquired my first farmland - a 10 acre plot - in 1998. I have, so far, spent roughly around 20 years in farming to understand where farmers go wrong and what kind of support they need as an individual, corporate and start up, etc. My understanding is there are two parts to the farmers' story:

1. Farmer doesn't know scientific-based farming. They do farming based on their gut feel. They miss to understand that technology can help enhance the productivity multi-fold.

In Israel, in the 1950s per farmer produce fed roughly around 11 Israelis. In India, 80% of us were into farming at that time. In the last 60 years, Israel's productivity has gone up by approximately 12 times; where as in India, although roughly around 48-50% of people are farmers, every farmer is making food for himself plus an additional person only. This is due to lack of scientific farming. Hence, my research on how to incorporate science-based farming in India.

There are, now, universities and extension counters doing a lot of research. But none of the results are quantifiable for farmers. For example, when we say you need to give 12 litres of water to a 12-week old plant, it is practically impossible for the farmer to understand how to measure the water and provide it to plants. So, if they water the crops for two hours, based on his understanding, he may change the amount of time he waters his crop. As a result, he loses more water and gets less and low quality yield. Hence, my study on IOT-based agriculture.

IOT-based agriculture which employs sensors to understand the soil's strength and moisture. It shows if the plants are getting sufficient water or not and we irrigate the crops only based on need - this is called demand-based watering. The demand of water is based on various parameters like when the crop was sown, the age of the crop, the soil type, the temperature, wind speed etc.

The next challenge is to ensure power supply when the crops demand water. This technology checks the availability of power before it opens up the valves to water the crops. The watering stops automatically once the thresholds are met.

We are currently working with few farmers in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra. We are focusing on sugar cane and paddy because it consumes a lot of water. This technology helps reduce use of water, benefiting the ecosystem and helps with higher returns to farmers.

The second category is commercial horticulture crops such a banana, pomegranate and grapes.


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The three aspects of farmers’ expenses are his spend on seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, which adds to about 60% of farmers' expenses. Does this technology help in reducing cost to farmers?

One of the reasons for initiating technology-based farming is because farmers are completely confused about the right seed for the right soil. They continue growing tomato, for instance, if that was what was traditionally grown on their field. Nothing wrong with that. But, they miss that traditionally tomatoes weren’t grown throughout the year. It was a seasonal crop and crop rotation was practiced diligently.

Traditionally, crops grown in summer required less water and also winter crops like green gram were grown which requires moisture. That way the nutritional balance of the soil was maintained effectively. Nowadays, farmers do not do all these things. They focus on one crop throughout the year. They don't realize that we have scientific seeds, which is different for summer, winter and monsoons. If he doesn't understand this difference, he will get one crop which will fetch him profit and the remaining two seasons will drain him off money. We need the right crop for the right season for the right soil. Our entire proposition begins with soil testing.

Where do you operate from, Mr Mallesh?

Mandya, Karnataka

How is the technology, which you propose, viable for the sugar cane farmers?

In Mandya, farmers believe that they will get water throughout the year. They have been into sugarcane cultivation using fertigation and they have been getting an average yield of 40-45 tons per acre. To grow this produce, they are consuming approximately 2.3 crore litres of water per year per acre.

The moment you switch to drip irrigation, there is 40-60% saving of water. What’s more? The yield shoots up to roughly 100-105 tons.

Farmers in Belgaum are already into drip-irrigation based sugar cane cultivation and are benefiting with a raise in yield. In Belgaum, water is not in surplus as in Mandya. So it was easy to transition Belgaum-based farmers. In Mandya, due to surplus water supply, farmers don't see the need to transform. From a farmers' perspective, he will need to spend approximately Rs 1.3 lakh on drip irrigation and other systems, which amounts to a 5-year loss. But, he doesn't realise that his productivity will shoot up. This economic gain is what we are trying for farmers to understand.


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What does the Rs. 1.3 lakh include?

It includes the drip irrigation, automation etc.

What if the farmer is already into drip irrigation?

In such cases, it will be Rs. 45,000/- per acre approximately. This will include automation services. This automation includes soil moisture sensor, water meter and electronic valves. Everything is completely wireless and solar-based. It starts measuring what is the amount of water that the entire crop needs till the crop is harvested.

What is the difference of yield that farmers can expect?

Farmers can expect an increase of approximately 40-60 tons in their yield.

Do these units come with a warranty period?

It comes with a 12-month warranty period, which means we repair the system free of cost within the 12-month period. You also have the facility of extended warranty at the rate of 18% year-on-year basis.

There are multiple things we do. If a farmer decides to switch from sugarcane to banana, we need to change the model and cloud so that the system understands the change of crop and operates accordingly.

Are there any loan schemes available to install these systems?

Right now we are working on a scheme to provide 30-40% loan, without interest, from our company, which can be repaid over a period of time.

Does the sensor system also identify the chemical quality of the soil, or organic quality of the soil, or both?

The sensors, currently, measure the moisture content of the soil. We are working with IIT Mumbai to help develop sensors that can determine the soil nutrients. But, at present, it is not in the market yet.

Since fertigation is done through drip irrigation, farmers use it heavily these days. And this affects soil fertility adversely. If this trend continues, we would cease to have good soil in this country.

That is correct.

Our first step, is to educate farmers to manage water precisely. If the watering doesn't happen properly, even the right amount of nutrients doesn’t help. Hence, educating on the optimal use of water is our first level of intervention.

The second is to bring in smart fertigation system. Usually farmers fertigate based on their convenience. I want to see a scientific difference there. It is absolutely necessary for farmers to understand the soil health. An agronomist will know what nutrients required and its dosage when they analyze the soil health report. This would also give an insight if the soil requires PH balancing.

When we have health issues doctors prescribe some medicines to be taken before food and some after food. The simple reason behind this is that when we take food the PH level in our stomach changes and this either absorbs the medicine properly or it doesn't. So, each medicine should be consumed appropriately. Similarly, when the nutrients are mixed with water, in case of soluble fertilizers, the PH changes. If the PH can be balanced, at an extremely affordable and economical manner, the nutrient absorption increases.

Our basic research proves that if the irrigation is managed efficiently along with nutrition management, the production easily doubles.


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Absolutely. If your solution is an umbrella that covers all this, it will work brilliantly.

In another couple of months, we will come up with [00:12:11] we will have got a mobile application, using which farmers can take photographs and send it experts for feedback.

Currently, when the crops don't do well, they take the crops to the local fertilizer shop and returns with whatever pesticide is sold to him. This pesticide may not be what the crop requires. It will be pesticides that are in stock at that shop. But through experts, 20-30% of his issues get resolved. The issue is not everybody can be at every farm. That is where the app becomes handy. The farmers can take photographs on their smartphones through the app and do a voice recording. Simple!

They can use the language of their choice for the audio recording. For an agronomist it is a matter of minutes to check the photographs and understand the situation. This solution can also be given as a voice recording. This is effective time management because nobody spends more than 5 mins of time and it can perhaps save you from spending Rs. 5000/- on unwanted fertilizers.

I think these technology advancements becomes handy for the rich land owners. For the small-time farmers, is there are way to provide these kind of technologies at affordable prices? Is your price the same for 1 acre vs. 10 acres?

For large farmers, there could be a completely different set up. For group farmers, we will set up a small tower called a Master Control. We invest on the master control and allow the farmers to buy the field controllers. This is one thing we do for small-time farmers.

We are also working with the government to get subsidy for the automation. Once it is impanelled and becomes part of a program, we can expect a 50-60% subsidy.

If you have one controller for many farmers, do they all have to go for the same crop?

Just like people can buy different kind of phones and use the same mobile tower; the farmer can have his own field controller and grow crops of their choice sharing the same master controller.

What if one farmer has many types of crops?

Then it depends on how the irrigation is currently being done. If they have 3 valves, we replace those valves with our electronic valve. This transforms their manual work into a sophisticated, accurate and time-bound activity.

It is nice that even small farmers can benefit. How do you plan on spreading the word?

Our whole idea is around how do we work on this technology and make it more affordable. We are not looking at doubling the income of those farmers income whose income is already solid. That doesn't benefit more than 90% of farmers.

Our whole idea of going first for pomegranate farmers is because, they have the money to invest and they see larger benefit. If they invest on this master controller, that will benefit another 50 farmers surrounding him, Our whole idea is to work with larger groups like Agri Info Company, Belgaum Farmers' group, etc. who is inclined towards adopting technology and ready to invest, to bring our cost down so that we can reach more and more farmers and work with the government to influence policies and see to it that automation is part of every farmers' life.

Today, there are conferences happening in Bangalore about the water table of Bangalore going down to 0 perhaps by 2025. This means that we have about 6 years before which we need get some water. There are companies advertising tips to save water. That, to me, seems very funny because when we shave and brush, we may save two litres of water using those tips.

If you tap into a sugar cane farmer, in 1 acre we can save 1 crore litre. Mandya has got few lack hectares of land where paddy and sugar cane is being cultivated. If we can present the idea to the government to work together and cover 50,000 lakh hectares of land in Mandya, Bangalore’s water crisis will have a solution.


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People say, change the cropping system to suit the times, But, that is easier said than done. So yes, your proposal is excellent.

Thank you!

What is range of area that a master controller can cover and what is the cost of a master controller?

There are different categories of master controllers. The main it can cover is 1 km area that is approximately about 100-150 acres of land. This can cover up to 30 farmers by default. This is a small master controller. As the group size increases, if the number of farmers are more, we have more expensive master controllers that may go up to 2 and half to 3 lakh but it can cover a 10 km radius. That is it can cover approx., 10-15 thousand acres of land and more than 500 farmers.

Imagine you have a farmer group and want to cover an area of 10 km radius which covers 500 farmers, it may come to approx. around 4 and half to 5 lakh Rs for the master controller. But if there is a group of 500 farmers, we will invest on the master controller without passing the cost onto the farmer.

Is this only conducive for open grounds or does it suit any kind of farming?

We have solutions for both.

We have two models; the first of which is smart irrigation, which is required for poly houses and open grounds. Poly houses, additionally, require temperature control as well. So, we have got sensors built for that. This will automate the fogging as well.

What would the cost be for the model created for the poly house?

The coat depends on how many valves operate within the poly house currently. Normally, as per our study, a 1 acre poly house will consist of 4 valves at the ground level to control the soil irrigation and 4 valves on top to control the fogging. That is about 8 valves. I will need clarity on such details to quote a price. For the specifications I mentioned now, that is a total of 8 valves, it will cost approximately 4 lakhs.

How would you cater to controlled environmental agriculture, like hydroponics where we have vertical farms?

Hydroponics, instead of soil, uses either cocoa peat or pure water. Cocoa peat we don’t need to consider. If pure water is employed, there are valves that maintains the water flow. We can automate that.

The nutrition management is far easier in hydroponics when compared to conventional farming because you have got different kinds of nutrients scheduled, for the root, the stalk and the flowering, for different crop lifecycles. Now, coming to the Ph balancing, in an open field we talk about fertigation, but the key difference is in an open cultivation, we could be having valves that are 1.5", 2" or 3"; whereas in hydroponics it has to be 1.5" or 3/4" valve. If there is a used case, I am open to discussion and an optimal and sophisticated solution can be worked out.

Contact -
Mr. Mallesh Tigali
Farms2fork Technologies Pvt Ltd
Street 322, 5th Main, BTM 4th Phase
City Bangalore
Zip Code 560076
Country India
State Karnataka
Mobile- 9380489401
Email Mallesh@cultyvate.com
 

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