How can technology help to make the lives of farmers easier and allow them to become more self-dependent?

This is the question Sharayu and Hemant sought to answer when they founded Bharat Krushi Seva (BKS). Since they both belong to farmer families, Sharayu and Hemant were better equipped than most to help find innovative solutions for the agricultural industry. After being given the chance at an education, the co-founders accumulated nine years of collective experience in the tech industry. They felt it was only right to give back to their communities by culminating their expertise into a business dedicated to improving the lives of farmers.

“We started to understand the world of startups and then we came up with our own product, our own venture - we did a lot of homework and started Bharat Krushi Seva.” - Sharayu Lande, CEO & Founder at Bharat Krushi Seva

Bharat Krushi Seva provides full-stack services through a data driven app-based platform to improve the decision making process of farmers at different stages of production. They have provided crop advisory to 10,000 farmers through satellite imagery technology and have held strong linkage partnerships with buyers, suppliers and investors. They are currently operating in the Pune, Nasik, and Vidarbha regions of Maharashtra and plan to expand to Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. Upaya’s Program Associate, Aditi Das, sat down with Sharayu and Hemant to discuss their journey at length.

Q. What inspired you to start Bharat Krushi Seva?

Sharayu

We have sugarcane farms and I owe the conception of BKS, all to my father. For my education, we shifted to Pune city and our farms were in the suburbs of Pune, 60 to 70 kilometres from home. He found it very difficult to manage the farms staying so far away. To help my father, I started searching for technology which enables a person sitting at home to manage the farm without the struggle to travel 60 to 70 kilometres just to water or spray the farm. I was in search of a solution where my dad could sit at home, monitor his farm and everything can get automated just by sitting at home. Just like me, there are many other people who want to manage farming activities along with their private jobs, they want to manage both and now it's even possible with our farm monitoring solutions. So this was my personal inspiration.

So when Hemant and I brainstormed to address this problem, we wanted to leverage technology to help others. Both of us collectively have nine years of experience working in the IT industry and I am specifically inclined to the side of data. I understood that data is not restricted to sectors like telecom or banking, it can also work in a similar way for agricultural activities. The data that we have is enriching for us because with the fast changing climatic conditions and weather conditions we can definitely give predictions to help farmers. 

We are amongst a few who got the chance to get educated and work in top MNCs. With this idea of building Bharat Krushi Seva, along with our background and experience, we want to give back to our community.

Hemant

I'm also from a farming background and my father is doing farming even now. I've noticed since my childhood, even before I started BKS that farmers do not get good market rates. We do mango and onion farming using multiple cropping patterns but due to lack of Crop Advisory, we were not able to get much yield every year. When I worked with Amdocs, I visited Israel and understood exactly what they were doing to improve their yield. So after I came back, I went on vacation for a month to my farm. For a month I helped out my father in the farm and realised the mistakes of traditional farming and what other countries are doing for quality yield and how they are able to succeed more in comparison. So we started applying those techniques in our own farm and we understood that if we slightly change our ratio, we are able to get good yield and we can increase our production. At that moment I decided that I need to do something for my community since I met farmers who are not able to pay their loan payments, but once I helped them increase their farm’s productivity they could repay their loans. Not soon after that, Sharayu and I started working with Paani foundation in 2017. By 2019, we had an idea about our vision and started to understand what type of problems farmers are facing and at that time we thought “Yes, we can do something!”

Q. What were you doing before starting Bharat Krushi Seva? What triggered you to start your own enterprise?

Sharayu

Both of us were working in the private sector in technology. Before BKS I was working as a Project Manager, developing projects which were service-based like creating a mobile app for a company. Hemant and I were trying to understand if in case we want to launch our own product, what are things we could try? So we started to understand the world of startup and then we came up with our own product, our own venture - we did a lot of homework and started BKS. 

In India we are of the mindset that working in an MNC (Multinational Corporation) for a great package is everything and starting your own business seems like a far-fetched idea. When we quit our jobs to work on our start-up full-time, something we always aspired to do, it was very difficult for us to convince everyone. I told my father after marriage that I want to quit my job to start my own business. He basically asked me in Marathi if I have thought things through and that I am making the wrong decision by leaving my job which I landed after many struggles. It was a difficult phase in our lives plus I had just had my baby around the same time so everyone just wanted me to not do anything and just relax. But I could not sit idle just for the heck of it. I knew I could simultaneously take care of both - my baby and my other baby, my business - what I want to do. Right now my baby is fourteen months, the same age as my startup.

Now, after my father has understood what I'm actually trying to do - after we got visibility and traction - he is supportive. After watching Shark Tank (India) and interacting with other farmers whose lives my app has changed and seeing them appreciate us, he is happy that I am doing what I always wanted to do.

Q. What is the vision you have for the organization or what is the change that you want to bring about?

Sharayu  

We are on a mission. We want more farmers to adopt digital agriculture. We want to slowly change the age-old habits of the farmers in which they rely on agri-inputs that are locally available but not effective. When they incorporate the changes in their farming, the yield will go up and expenditure is also reduced. This will help farmers get out of the debt trap, in two to three crop cycles.

Q. What has your experience been working with a large number of farmers?

Hemant 

We frequently follow-up with 20-30 farmers every fortnight at least depending on our schedule. These calls helped us understand their problems as well as the benefit they got by using our technology. Sharayu especially spoke to women entrepreneurs in farming. Very quickly we realised that the farmers just require one booster shot! Farmers know everything, but they are just lacking resources as they are not able to procure inputs. They need someone who encourages them and tells them that they can do it. BKS is also connecting the community of farmers and making them more aware about what they need to do with different cropping patterns, climatic conditions, or pests and diseases.

Sharayu

One thing we did uncover was that before BKS came into the picture, farmers were not very sure about using technology for farming and questioned its usefulness. Then we gave our app to them and explained that this technology helps in mapping their farms with our farm monitoring solution, and when we explained it, they found it very easy. Their perspective changed and they are now farmers who have adopted technology. So there is a  mindset change that we have brought.

Hemant  

I want to add a very important point - we started taking feedback in July. In August we got to know that a lot of farmers are not able to read properly (even though the app is in Marathi). Within a week we released a new version with improved features. They just need to click on the “speak” icon. Whatever is written, the speaker  will read the text out loud for the farmers. As a founder, it is very important for us to get direct feedback from our users. If farmers are happy, Bharat Krushi Seva will be happy.

Q. Can you highlight a little bit about specific problems farmers said they were facing and how Bharat Krushi Seva has impacted their lives?

Sharayu

One major impact we have tried to create here is giving customized crop advisory to farmers. Before BKS, farmers used to advise each other without understanding the difference in each other's farm. One of our farmers had  a crop of tomatoes. His village and the neighbouring villages were impacted by a disease. Then this farmer took our advisory services and noticed that his crops were in a much better state than the rest of the village and saved his crops. We have a lot of examples like this. 

Hemant

Once an onion farmer contacted us and said he wants to burn everything because he's not able to cure his onions, but our Krushi doctor told him not to worry and that we are there for him. Afterwards we found out that the onion farmer had a very good yield thanks to BKS. We want to spread awareness to farmers that yes, there is an initial investment, but that initial investment will pay you immediately in terms of dealing with diseases, water shortage issues, agri inputs, procurement and the list is endless!

Q. Is there any one particular story which caught your eye? Or which motivated you to do more than what you've already been doing? 

Sharayu

I received a call from a girl who was pursuing her BSC graduation in agriculture. She was helping her father in farming, but somewhere being a female we have a limitation of creating community connections specifically in remote areas. If she was a man she could have easily asked other male farmers, what precautions to take or any suggestions. She told us that the app helped her connect with other farmers that had local knowledge. She even got data in terms of which agri-inputs to use with changing climatic conditions and used to get an  updated list of suggestions that will actually work for that particular disease. She was even able to convince her father to adopt technology. Thanks to our app, the roles have reversed - now she is telling her father what needs to be done and she makes decisions by calling the Krushi doctors for suggestions.

She also said that she is teaching her father how to use the app. We were very surprised to hear this since if I have to teach my father something, I will think twice. But the world is moving very fast right now and many daughters and sons,  from farming backgrounds are teaching their fathers to adopt digital agriculture. This is a very good point for us that the young generation is getting empowered by  digitalization.

This is one of the stories that  has touched me since I never thought that I'll inspire other women. Female students, who are poorly educated are getting inspired by women entrepreneurs and want to work in agriculture. In this journey, we have seen tears on farmers' faces along with happiness on their faces at the same time. The onion farmer that I had mentioned had gotten a wrong advisory from the local advisor. When his crops were dying he got to know about BKS from some of his friends and downloaded the app. At first he said he was not going to pay anything and if without payment we were able to suggest anything to save his crop then he’ll be very thankful. I told the Krushi doctor to go ahead even without the payment since I felt it was our responsibility to make sure we cure his crop, so that he can trust us. We did all sorts of testing and later on when his onion yield was high, he became a paid user. We want the farmers to trust us enough that they just surrender their crops to us and we take the responsibility about what needs to be done.

Q. What keeps you up at night?

Hemant  

For me, if someone comes to our platform and we are not able to serve them properly, then it is very disappointing for me. I'm not able to sleep if farmers are not happy with us. 

Sharayu  

Right now we have a limited team, but we get an ample number of queries from farmers, so there are situations when we might miss something. We need to align that properly. That means if someone is coming to us, they should leave with good advice or suggestions from us. This is something we are continuously working on.

Q. What advice would you give aspiring entrepreneurs?

Sharayu

I feel it is good to have aspirations to become an entrepreneur, but it is important to have a motivating factor that ensures that you are following the path. Being a female entrepreneur I have seen very difficult days, especially in the beginning after my pregnancy, but when I was focused, I didn’t let anything distract me. 

Never stop, never quit. Without failures you cannot succeed. This is the mantra that I have learned. If you face failure, you need to motivate yourself with double the enthusiasm.

Q. Do you have any particular insight as a women entrepreneur in the male dominated agriculture sector?

Sharayu

You are right, the agriculture sector is male dominated. Generally when we have field visits and have to talk to farmers I employ a business strategy in which I keep Hemant in front since I have noticed that farmers listen more intently to male agro advisors than female advisors. We are trying to fill this gap by proving to the farmers that even women can do it, only then people start trusting you. My experience in IT and the agriculture sector are very similar. In my corporate job, within 7 years, I became a manager and a few people would question how a woman can become a manager in such a short period of time. The same is true in the agriculture sector, but when your work speaks for itself you do not have to say anything.