Jain, Kapil’s father didn’t want his children to be farmers.
” We were both educated and moved to the city to do a job because my father had witnessed the suffering that landowners go through ,” he claims.
However, Mr. Jain grew weary of living in the city and returned to his home farm in 2018 close to Kota in Rajasthan, northern India.
He claims,” I came to the realization that I enjoy the feel of earth and wanted to re-join the community and begin farming.”
He didn’t want to grow the same vegetation— wheat, corn, mustard, and soy beans— as his parents did.
Otherwise, Mr. Jain searched for a crop that had use less water because his region of Rajasthan was experiencing water shortages.
In contrast to conventional plants, roses grow well in sunny climates and require fairly little water, so he decided to try them out.
Even though the roses were growing also, it was difficult to harvest them and sell them. To prevent the flowers from falling, the rose had to be sold shortly after being picked.
The flowers had to arrive at the marketplace at 5:00 in order to satisfy peak demand. The trip may take an hour even though the market was just 20 miles away. Finding employees was challenging because the produce had to be harvested between 2:00 and 3:30.
These difficulties caused Mr. Jain to lose about 70 % of his first some plants.
There had to be a shift. Mr. Jain made the decision to make grew oil and water from his roses.
Additionally, he purchased a solar-powered drying system for his tomatoes crop.
So, at the same time as the rose water, rose crude, and jam, I presently dry my products and sell them in the market. I’ll be able to expand my business because they have a larger business and barrel life.
Getting harvested make to business in good condition is a challenge faced by farmers all over India.
Farmers discard a lot of fruits and vegetables due to inadequate facilities, inadequate processing power, natural disasters like cyclones, and floods that obstruct transport routes and damage facilities, according to Varun Raheja, the company’s leader.
The majority of American farms are small, according to Mr. Raheja, and lack the funds to spend on backup or refrigeration.
In order to clean the develop, Mr. Raheja created a straightforward air drying system that uses solar-powered fans and sunlight. It’s inexpensive and simple to put together.
According to him, every small and peripheral farmer can afford our solar dryer because of its DIY design, which makes it convenient and affordable. It can even reach the farthest village.
His company has sold about 3, 000 of the systems, which, according to Mr. Raheja, dry roughly 150 kg of produce on average each month.
Additionally, Mr. Raheja serves as a middleman, purchasing dried goods and passing them along to bigger businesses.
There is WayCool, which is an affordable, low-tech alternative to Mr. Raheja’s option.
The American agri-tech company employs 200, 000 farmers, runs 412 distribution centers, and has made investments in cutting-edge systems that foresee desire for agricultural products.
Every day, about 2,000 tonnes of fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, spices, and dairy products pass through its system.
According to WayCool, some of India’s missing produce can be saved thanks to its data analysis and contemporary distribution methods.
According to Karthik Jayaraman, managing director at WayCool Foods,” we use technologies to predict store orders, optimize set centers, and set specific prices, making supply chains efficient and bringing offer string losses to under 2 %.”
In order to expand its system, WayCool has raised hundreds of millions of dollars, and by 2025, it hopes to be successful.
There is still much work to be done to reach India’s more isolated farmers, despite such great – and low-tech technology.
Sagar Lokhande cultivates 15 hectares in the Maharashtra position town of Bhendwad. Because glucose wood has a long shelf life, he grows it. Fruits, green beans, and peppers are all grown for money in the meantime.
He had a fine crop of vegetables and beans in May, but by the time his vegetation reached the market, trucks from all over Maharashtra had arrived, and costs had decreased.
However, he was forced to sell at a loss without any store services.
According to Mr. Lokhande,” I grow clean vegetables, but we don’t include temperature control vans, so all the produce will go bad.”
He is currently looking into freezing his make.
In order to be able to pay off all of my money and make more money at the same time, I want to start selling frozen vegetables that have a longer barrel life, particularly seeds that sell well.
The Centre for Resilience Studies’ manager, Marcella D’Souza, has spent many years interacting with producers in India’s remote areas.
According to her,” systems can bring on a lot of efficiency and effectiveness in planning, resource use, decision-making, and coordination for many processes related to cultivation.”
However, she asserts that tech alone is insufficient for American farmers.
For effective farming,” a systematic approach that looks at restoring normal ecosystems along with conventional knowledge, handholding support, credit, and various factors are extremely essential.”