BharatRohan Airborne Innovations Private Limited, a provider in agri-tech drone services, has announced a partnership with the Smart Village Movement. This collaboration is set to modernise ginger farming in Meghalaya, by reducing their crop losses and improving their income and livelihoods. The project will leverage advanced drone-based hyperspectral imaging and data-driven insights, ensuring affordability for smallholder farmers.
The partnership aims to empower farmers with precision agriculture techniques using UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) drones equipped with hyperspectral, multispectral and thermal sensors, capable of detecting minute changes in crop health. This real-time data enables farmers to make timely interventions to improve crop yield and quality. Moreover, the initiative promotes sustainable, residue-free ginger production, which will incentivise farmers with premium prices by creating better linkages for the export markets, enhancing income opportunities and economic growth for the local farming communities.
“Our drones are equipped with hyperspectral imagery, provide real-time data and precise crop health assessments, enabling swift adaptation to shifting climate patterns. We believe in creating a sustainable agricultural ecosystem by producing residue-free, better-quality produce,” says Rishabh Choudhary, CTO and co-founder of BharatRohan.
Echoing this sentiment, Megha Raju, project lead at BharatRohan, says: “Integrating UAV hyperspectral technology into smallholder ginger farming in Meghalaya, our collaboration becomes crucial in providing farm specific actionable advisory, supplying high quality agri-inputs and promoting sustainable and profitable agricultural practices.”
Vivek Shah, CEO of Smart Village Movement, says: “As a facilitator to take technologies and business models in rural markets, SVM looks forward to the pilot with BharatRohan in addressing the pain points and aspirations of farmers. Our experience to drive other drone-enabled use cases gives us great anticipation to propel the prospects in the agricultural sector as well. The outcomes of this would be key to understanding the technology readiness and resilience in unique conditions like dense clouds, high rainfall and the topography of Meghalaya, but most profoundly, to witness demand in villagers adapting to such innovations would be of essential value to our model.”
The partnership received support from the NASSCOM ‘Center of Excellence for IoT and AI’ in India, which played a pivotal role. The centre’s contributions were crucial in making the partnership impactful, enabling positive developments in rural regions.
Initially, the partnership aims to collaborate with farmers in Ri Bhoi District, Meghalaya, with plans for further expansion. Farmers will receive personalised advisory services, UAV/drone-based prescription maps and agri-input suggestions through a very easy-to-use BharatRohan WhatsApp Chatbot, alongside market linkage opportunities.
The partnership plans to expand services to paddy, turmeric and pineapple-farming clusters in Meghalaya, further demonstrating their commitment to sustainable agriculture. Furthermore, they will host farmer meetings and capacity-building training programmes, facilitating the understanding and effective use of UAV/drone technology in agriculture.
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