Samhitha leverages drones, soil telemetry, weather stations, etc., along with agriculture experts on the ground who communicate the insights to farmers
US-based data science firm Naviz Analytics has officially launched Samhitha Crop Care Clinics, a unique, precision farming advisory aimed at increasing the bottom line of Indian farmers. Samhitha leverages drones, soil telemetry, weather stations, etc., along with agriculture experts on the ground who communicate the insights to farmers.
More recently, at Samhitha’s launch event in Hyderabad, Energy Minister, G Jagdish Reddy, Telangana, urged farmers to switch over to new cultivation methods from traditional practices and use modern technologies to achieve higher crop yields.
Under its pilot run in Telangana region, Samhitha focussed exclusively on citrus growers who faced low crop yield and lifespan. According to reports, the average citrus crop yield in India is 5 tonnes against 15 tonnes per acre in the western nations, while lifespan averages about 12 years, against 45 years in the west.
Samhitha’s precision farming advisory enabled farmers to clock over 30 per cent higher yield year over year and identified over 52 on-field defects. And this happened after input cost reduction, driven by smart irrigation and continuous crop monitoring.
Dr G Syamasundar Reddy, CEO, Samhitha, an ex-professor, IIIT Hyderabad, and Senior Scientist at Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), stated, “In Andhra Pradesh, two citrus fruits – sweet orange and acid lime – are cultivated extensively, but growers face lower crop yield. They end up using fertilisers and herbicides which increases short-term yield, but significantly reduces the crop life.”
“With Samhitha, we have empowered citrus growers financially, while ensuring optimum crop yield, soil health, and minimum wastage of natural resources”, he added.
According to Kalyan Enjamoori, CTO, Samhitha, “Samhitha collects and analyses data for parameters like soil, rainfall, air, leaf wetness, irrigation water quality, etc., wherein drones monitor the crops continuously for any stress, and can detect it instantaneously with the help of customised AI and machine learning algorithms.”
