Overview and background: The problem statement
Water and weather play a key role in the yields of the crop, yet there is very little data support provided to farmers to plan their cultivation and irrigation according to these parameters. In India, we are dependent on the 140MillionHA of land available for cultivation, and 42% of this lies in draught prone areas/districts.
India receives a total rainfall of 400 mham (million Hectare meter), and Surface runoff from outside the country is 20 mham. Of the 420mHAm
· 180 mham goes into river flows
· 173 mham is lost as evaporation/enters soil profile
· 67 mham recharges groundwater
Groundwater withdrawals have increased from 25 km3 to 300 km3 from 1960 to 2019 and borewells have increased from 1 million to 22 million. That is a 12x increase in groundwater withdrawal and a 22x increase in borewell in just a span of 60 years.
India also has a lower yield per HA(hectare) when compared to other major countries, when looking at major crops such as Potato, Tomato, Rice and Cereal
With the growing population and diminishing resources, there is an urgent need to take action to make agriculture more efficient and enable data driven resource management.
At GramworkX, we aim to provide “more crop with less drop” and better income to farmers by bringing predictability to agriculture.
Our solution helps in quantifying and providing analytical insights towards water utilization and consumption patterns across fields, soil types and providing data support systems to farmers. The GramworkX IOT device continuously monitors key parameters in the field such as Temperature, Pressure, Humidity and Rainfall. This information is provided to the farmers real-time via the GramworkX — Kisan App. In addition, our unique Machine Learning models help with irrigation prediction and also other decision support based on micro climatic weather conditions. This helps in improving the yields by 20–30% while reducing inputs such as water by 20–40%.
Implementation and Execution(Part I):
After a year of research, preparing data modelling for Indian conditions, and 3+ months of on field trials and surveys, we launched the GramworkX — Kisan App (via google playstore) on 15th August 2020. While this is part one of our overall solution, this app is completely free and helps farmers quantify the water requirement for their crop. The insights are based on weather and satellite data specific to the geographical location one has provided. The free version app has the microclimatic data provided by 3rd party weather forecasting services and approximates to a larger area.
The app provides the user(farmer) the water loss based on the location and stage of crop and then recommends the quantum of water that needs to be provided for irrigation. Part two will provide the complete closed loop ecosystem that will be used for irrigation management(stay connected for an article on this)
How does Irrigation management work?
Let’s take the analogy of a car and its fuel. We have so many indicators and insights to know what is the mileage of a car, the amount of fuel left in the fuel tank and quantity of fuel we can fill in the tank etc. All of these make our life convenient when planning a trip, since we know exactly how much distance the car can travel, before needing a re-fueling.
1. Mileage — The distance that can be travelled per liter of fuel is highly dependent on various factors such as driving on the highway or city roads. It is also dependent on which type of vehicle you are driving
2. Fuel Tank — The fuel tank can hold the fuel needed for the car, and the holding capacity varies from whether it is a 50L or 70L tank
The science of water management/ irrigation management for crops is much the same.
1. Daily water loss or evapotranspiration — this is the amount of water that the crop loses on a daily basis due to weather conditions. This can vary based on if it is a hot day or a cold day, or even if you are in the plains or the hills
2. Soil Water holding capacity — much like the fuel tank in the car, different soils have different water holding capacities. Hence knowing the type of soil, helps in understanding the amount of water that soil can hold for the plant to use.
Knowing these factors really helps in providing insights and indicators to farmers on the irrigation requirements to farmers.
The app also provides other important features such as
· Crop Advisory (this is generic but we are working on site and area specific crop advisory — reach out to us to know more)
· Marketplace Linkages (connected with the organised aggregators such as Udaan, Waycool, Ninjacart, and others)
· Pest Management (Disease detection both with symptoms and treatment)
· Expense Management (To tabulate expenses and income generated by farm and log the data)
The dashboard also provides harvest date and yield estimation so farmers are better prepared to quantify the expected earnings from the crop.
All of this is provided in over 5 languages, and we are continuously expanding the number of languages supported.
Our aim is to benefit as many farmers as possible, and hence the daily water loss and services are provided to farmers via the Kisan App for free.
Download for free on google play store:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gramworkx.gramworkx
Want to know how is water requirements for growing tomatoes different in AP and MH? — Watch out for our next edition, where we share more about the insights we have gathered from different regions in India.
Want to know more about us and our app? — Connect with us at hello@gramworkx.com
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