Extreme weather conditions are impacting the agriculture sector and aligned industries globally. Those affected the most are marginal and smallholder farmers. The Ministry of Agriculture in India, the UN, and other forums are looking at sustainable farming practices along with technology to support the sector and provide them with short, long, and mid-term self-sustainable solutions.
One such endeavor is Krishi Mangal, an agritech accelerator program to support smallholder farmers. The initiative—now in its second year, is a partnership between technology major Cisco and Social Alpha, a multistage innovation curation and venture development platform for science and technology start-ups that aim to address the most critical social, economic and environmental challenges.
In the second edition, the two companies have shortlisted seven start-ups to help smallholder farmers across India.
We list the start-ups in alphabetical order:
Animeta Agritech: Founded by Dr. Vijayakumar Ramalingam and Dr. N Punniamurthy, is an animal healthcare platform offering disease diagnosis and ethnoveterinary products. With Krishi Mangal support, it plans to serve 20,000 farmers in Tamil Nadu.
Capsber Global Agro: Founded by Dr. Priti Khalkho and Manoj Kumar R, the enterprise designs microbiome-based solutions for improved crop yields and food security. It plans large-scale validations and customer interaction through trials, demos, and training programs in Karnataka.
Dharaksha Ecosolutions: Founded by Arpit Dhupar, it aims to create biodegradable packaging materials to curb stubble burning and plastic pollution. With Krishi Mangal program support, they plan to scale production 10 folds and use raw materials from stubble-prone districts like Ambala & Kurukshetra.
Mivipro Products: Founded by GV Sudarshan, developed Herboliv+, a bio-liquid to resolve animal-human conflicts on agricultural land. Under the Krishi Mangal program, Mivipro aims to connect with NGOs, KVKs, and FPOs to reach farmers in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Niyo Farm Tech: Founded by Yogesh Gawande the enterprise has designed user-friendly sprayers for 20,000 Maharashtra farmers, including 1000+ women, to improve yields and to create a direct impact on more than 3000 small, medium & marginal farmers’ lives.
Proximal Soilsens: Founded by Dr. Rajul Patkar the enterprise developed NutriSens, the world’s smallest soil testing system. Under the Krishi Mangal program, they aim to develop distribution channel network, improve implementation strategy and train farmers in Maharashtra.
Urdhvam Environmental Technologies: Founded by Rahul Bakare, uses a patented borewell recharging technique called Borecharger to revive borewells. With Krishi Mangal program support, they plan to use FPOs as B2B influencers to generate demand for over 50 lakh farmers in Maharashtra.
Krishi Mangal offers a platform for promising agritech start-ups to develop products, enhance capabilities, localize solutions, and scale organizations, said Mr. Harish Krishnan, Managing Director & Chief Policy Officer, Cisco India. “Through Krishi Mangal 2.0, we look forward to investing in technology-led innovations to build climate-resilient agricultural practices that will revolutionize the lives of marginal farmers.”