Bhopal: 19-yr-old’s agri start-up provides free drone spray services to farmers

Bhopal: 19-yr-old’s agri start-up provides free drone spray services to farmers

The start-up produces organic insecticides, pesticides and fertilisers

Staff ReporterUpdated: Saturday, January 21, 2023, 09:33 PM IST
article-image

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The agri start-up of 19-year-old Ansh Patidar has provided free drone spray services to farmers in nine districts of Madhya Pradesh. He started a company in January last year and already has a presence in nine districts in Malwa region of the state with a team of 21 people.

The start-up produces organic insecticides, pesticides and fertilisers. “All the crop protection and stimulant products manufactured by us are organic,” Ansh told the Free Press. The start-up arranges free spraying of the chemicals on the crops using drones.

He is currently working with 10,000 farmers and wants to scale-up rapidly. “We plan to expand our operations to 50,000 acres of crops within the next one or two years,” he says.

His start-up was awarded the first prize at the regional-level EO Global Students Entrepreneur Award recently. The EO Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) is the global competition for students who own and operate a business.

Ansh, who comes from a village called Borlai in Barwani district of state, said that the idea of launching a business to promote residue-free farming first came to his mind when he was in class 10. “We are not what we eat but what our food eats. And nowadays, our food is eating chemicals and pesticides, which enter the food chain and do incalculable harm to humans and animals both, besides polluting water, air and soil,” he added.

Ansh has said that farmers, too, want to shift to organic farming but not at the cost of productivity. “They will switch to organic pesticides, insecticides or fertilisers if that does not lead to a fall in production. If the production remains the same or is higher, they are more than willing,” he says. Ansh is doing BBA from Prestige Institute of Management and Research, Indore.

Ansh says that his start-up owns two drones and hires two others. “Manual spraying requires 150 litres of water per acre whereas when using drones only 10 litre per acre water is sufficient,” he says.

RECENT STORIES

Lok Sabha Elections: Digvijaya To Do Padyatra For Campaigning In Rajgarh

Lok Sabha Elections: Digvijaya To Do Padyatra For Campaigning In Rajgarh

MP: BSP Announces Six Candidates For Lok Sabha Polls

MP: BSP Announces Six Candidates For Lok Sabha Polls

Bhopal Metro Rail: Habibganj Nakka-RRL Traffic Diversion Extended For A Month

Bhopal Metro Rail: Habibganj Nakka-RRL Traffic Diversion Extended For A Month

Bhopal: Raja Chakradhar’s Works Woven Into ‘Chakrapiya’ By 25 Kathak Dancers

Bhopal: Raja Chakradhar’s Works Woven Into ‘Chakrapiya’ By 25 Kathak Dancers

Bhopal: Husband, In-Laws Of Woman Who Hanged Herself With Daughters Held

Bhopal: Husband, In-Laws Of Woman Who Hanged Herself With Daughters Held