Vijaysingh Kachare was used to 11-12 watering cycles every season. It was a common practice among farmers in the Telangwadi village of Solapur. The entire process was tedious and time-consuming. But, everything changed last year, when Kachare had to do only four rounds, his spending on fertiliser went down 50-60%, and his yields improved 100%. What brought the change? It is technology that Bengaluru-based agritech startup Fyllo introduced to change the entire approach with informed decision-making. Farmers like Kachare in India’s hinterland had long been grappling with squeezed incomes because of unsustainable farming practices. Poor planning, excessive tillage, and unchecked use of pesticides and fertilisers steadily degraded soil health and reduced crop quality, which, in turn, lowered their returns. Coming from farming backgrounds, Sudhanshu Rai and Sumit Sheoran witnessed the challenges closely. They launched Fyllo as an AI-powered climate risk intelligence platform to design, develop and deploy IoT devices to collect localised data and support farmers in every stage of the crop cycle. Fyllo helps farmers decide when to irrigate and fertilise, based on data gathered by on-ground sensors and combined with short-range weather models. It then runs through an advisory layer that translates the numbers into clear, actionable guidance. … Read MoreInc42 Media
