Agriculture plays a pivotal role in uplifting the Indian economy. The technology advancements are bringing in numerous opportunities and increasing investments in agricultural infrastructure. On the other hand, rising private participation, growing organic farming, and use of information technology are unlocking newer doors for empowering the farmers. Many existing, as well as, emerging organizations are taking deeper dives into the agricultural sector and creating products which are breaking the conventional processes.
Established in 2017, LeanAgri is a pioneer in developing data-driven solutions for decision making and action planning for farmers and enterprises working with farmers based on farm data. It is amongst the immerging start-ups in India, which is on a mission to break the traditional norms and dismantle the risks associated with poor farm yields and low farm incomes. By outshining the food security problems, it aims to create a niche in its sector and contribute in passing a healthy earth to the Gen Z.
An Idea that Pulled the Trigger
Siddharth Dialani and Sai Gole are the Co-Founders of LeanAgri. Being fond of reading, Siddharth found out that, in India, Agriculture is a major sector which is lacking innovation. After clearing his CAT exam in 2015, during the period of applying for the Food & Agriculture Business Management course, the idea of developing tech-enabled processes for better agricultural outcomes flicked his mind. As such, Siddharth along with Sai started spending their weekends with farmers to deeply understand the loopholes in agricultural processes. With two years of on-ground experience and continuous mentorship of International Crop Research Institute of Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) scientists, they successfully formed the framework of LeanAgri.
Currently, Siddharth is heading Execution and Agronomy section and Sai is responsible for Business Development. By empowering LeanAgri with sheer determination, the core team is striving hard to solve the current problems of food security in order to improve the farmers’ income.
Empowering Farmers at its Best
LeanAgri is taking prominent steps towards the welfare of farmers and focusing on innovation in order to enhance the agricultural processes in the longer run by rolling out exclusive services including:
LeanNutri – Decision-making and season-long personalized planning product are offered to the farmers for three key factors: Nutrient Management, Pest and Disease Management, and Irrigation Management. Data for soil, water and location parameters are collected on farm and farmers receive season-long farming activities based information through SMS, pre-recorded calls and mobile application.
LeanEnterprise – It is a farmer management and derived data analytics platform for enterprises connected with multiple farmers for forwarding or backward value chain.
Remarkable Achievements
With unified efforts and dedication, LeanAgri secured a funding of 50K Dollars. from Travis Kalanick (Founder and former CEO of Uber). In addition, the company also got the opportunity of visiting San Francisco to meet top Uber executives and other venture capitalists.
LeanAgri team bagged the Biotechnology Ignition Grant (BIG) 2018 Award with a grant of 50,00,000 INR. The team received this funding from Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India for further Research & Development.
LeanAgri is incubated and formally associated with ICRISAT, Hyderabad. On-field research trials are conducted in collaboration with ICRISAT to validate the techniques and products developed by LeanAgri team. In addition, ICRISAT offers agronomy support such as crop growth data and nutrient analysis to the team. Other Government institutions like Directorate of Onion & Garlic Research (DOGR) and Indian Institute of Spice Research (IISR) also supports the team for validation trials.
Enlightening the Youth
Unlike other fields, Agri-sector is not the one which reaps out result in quick time. It takes an extra mile of patience and continuous sometimes, redundant efforts to make things validated. Acknowledging this scenario, LeanAgri advises the beginners to make sure that they are determined towards the problem they are solving for the farmer/food. The company also advised the young minds to continuously keep an eye on the technology advancements. They should focus on developing services which could prominently quench every need of the farmer.
Steps toward ‘Transformation’
LeanAgri aims to serve at least 10% of the total agriculture in India. It will be working on product development by adding multiple modules to its service menu for satisfying the clientele. The company consistently plans to release new features every quarter for the current products. Some of the future products in pipeline comprise:
LeanProtect – This will empower the preventive pest and disease prediction.
LeanEquip – This will exclusively deal with end-to-end supply chain management.
Source :-The 10 Most Recommended Agri-Tech Companies
LeanAgri: Creating Tech-enabled Solutions Benefitting Farmers
