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HomePosts Tagged "NURTURE.FARM"
Agrotech, Start ups, Sustainability

First end-to-end Sustainability Program for Rice Cultivation

nurture.farm, India’s leading Agtech startup has rolled out its Sustainable Rice Program for the Rabi’23 season. Hundreds of farmers have pledged & joined the program to lead the change by transforming the way they cultivate rice. The program aims to make the rice value chain sustainable by implementing techniques that streamline cultivation practices, leveraging artificial intelligence & water conserving technologies to help farmers cultivate more from less, creating traceable data sets, improving soil health, and boosting farm productivity to deliver sustainable outcomes for the farmer, the buyer, and the environment.

The implementation of the program is being monitored with the help of agri-industry experts & researchers from the Regional Agriculture Research Station, Marateru under the leadership & guidance of Dr M Bharatalakshmi, Associate Director at the Institute. In addition to the institute partnership, leading ag-industry leaders like Ashish Dobhal, CEO of UPL SAS, are lending their support and guidance, and committing their resources to help make the program a success.

Ashish Dobhal, CEO of UPL SAS, said, “India is the largest producer and consumer of rice, accounting for 21 per cent of the world’s total rice production. The rice cultivation alone contributes to 1.5 per cent of total GHG emissions. Furthermore, rice cultivation requires a lot of water; flooded fields lead to the anaerobic decomposition of soil organic matter, which leads to methane emissions and impacts the soil quality, often leading to the leaching of nutrients and soil erosion resulting in reduced farm productivity. Thus making the transition to sustainable cultivation practices a necessity.
The Sustainable Rice Program is a testament to the core mission of building a resilient and sustainable agriculture ecosystem for a brighter, inclusive and more abundant tomorrow. The program is unique and ambitious as it promises to deliver end-to-end implementation, helping improve yield quality, soil health and acreage, optimise input usage and water consumption, shorten crop cycles, boost farm productivity, and reduce the cost of cultivation while ensuring profitability and measurable sustainable impact on GHGs.”

First end-to-end Sustainability Program for Rice Cultivationnurture.farm,

Agro chems – Chemicals, Agro chems – Pesticides, Agrotech, Company News, E-commerce, India

 The online-exclusive products will be available in 14 states with a 72-hour delivery promise.

Bengaluru based nurture.retail, India’s largest B2B Ag-input e-commerce platform, has launched a comprehensive range of crop protection products which will be made available only online via its mobile app. These online-exclusive products comprise herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and bio-stimulants; these products are Uniquat, Turf, Lancer, Yieldwin, Manzate, Amerex, Ricebac, Imidastar and Lambda Star.

The launched product portfolio consists of crop protection, bio-stimulants & crop nutrition products that help in weed control, seed treatment, profuse tillering, branching and ensuring nutrition to the soil for growth solving problems the farmers face, from seeding to the growth & maturity stages.

This launch marks an important step for nurture.retail division of nurture.farm as it expands its online-exclusive product offerings. It also represents a progressive shift in the mindset of agri-input companies towards digital commerce. These products were launched via its flagship Shubh Aarambh event by nurture.retail amidst its retailer network in the presence of the chief guest Ashish Dobhal, CEO of UPL SAS.

Ashish Dobhal, Chief Executive Officer at UPL SAS, said, “In India, about 350,000 registered & licensed agri-input retailers cater to 150 million farmers. Most of these agri-input products are distributed through the traditional network (offline). By collaborating with nurture.retail to launch an online-exclusive product line, we can serve untapped markets and leverage digital channels as growth levers. This step also safeguards the interest of leading agri-input companies by ensuring that the traditional distribution channels remain unaffected.”

 Vishal Dubey, Business Head – nurture.retail said, “We are excited to launch online-exclusive products on our platform to celebrate the Kharif Season. The online-exclusive products will be available in 14 states with a 72-hour delivery promise. Agri-retailers can purchase the best agri-inputs through the crop life cycle at affordable rates. We will rapidly add more online exclusive products, unlocking new avenues for growth for agri-retailers.”

 The online-exclusive products will be available in

Agrotech, Company News, Dairy, India, Live Stock, Seeds, Start ups

The partnership enables the companies to build smart risk cover solutions for farmers to minimise financial losses against any germination failure.

Advanta and nurture.farm collaborate to launch its Nutrifeed Germination Scheme. This scheme is a trailblazer in the truest sense and aims to protect farmers (dairy farmers) from germination failure of forage crops (it’s Forage Millet Hybrids Nutrifeed), thus helping them sustain themselves during periods of crises. As a part of the risk cover, the farmers are compensated if the seed does not germinate within 15 days of sowing. For the unversed, forage crops include Sorghum, Millet, and Corn. Germination failure in the case of these crops leads to widespread losses for farmers; thus, this scheme helps bridge essential gaps.

Prashant Belgamwar, Regional Head – Asia & Africa and International Vegetables, Advanta Enterprises Limited, said, “Our Hybrid Nutrifeed has set a benchmark for Green fodder. Farmers love and value this hybrid due to its immense yield potential, multi-cuts that ensure regular availability of fodder, a very low infestation of pests and diseases, highly nutritious fodder with high protein content and high digestibility, which reduces dependability on concentrates and leads to higher milk production and ultimately more earnings for the farmers. Nutrifeed truly is “Hare Chaare mein Bemisaal”. By extending the germination risk cover in partnership with nurture.farm, we are giving the confidence to farmers that their risk gets covered if the seed fails to germinate because of environmental stress. He can go ahead with confidence and take strides in his dairy farming. 

The germination risk cover was born out of our conviction for our product Nutrifeed. Through Nutrifeed, we have developed a product that ensures germination by engineering a seed quality that is resistant to weather & environmental changes. Partnering with nurture.farm to offer farmers a germination risk cover scheme is our promise to them of assured germination and minimising any & all risk, be it weather, temperature, crop loss or financial risk.”

Vivek Lalan, Head of Insurance at nurture.farm, said, “India caters to approximately 20 per cent of the world’s livestock population, and forage crops are grown on less than 5 per cent of the entire cultivable land in India. The idea behind the Nutrifeed Germination Scheme is to offer resilience against losses due to adverse weather conditions and protect farmers in case of germination failure by offering them a risk cover that safeguards them from potential financial losses. Forage crops prevent soil erosion, boost organic carbon content, give back nitrogen to the soil, and increase soil fertility. Typically, forage crops are used for crop rotation & as fodder for livestock. Forage crops are a critical component of nutrition management of animals. Therefore, germination of the forage crop & protecting farmers’ interest in case of germination failure becomes critically important.”

The partnership enables the companies to build

Agrotech, Finance, India, Start ups

The partnership enables the companies to provide smart risk-cover solutions for farmers to ensure financial safety and resilience against weather irregularities.

Bengaluru based nurture.farm, India’s leading agri-tech organization, has scaled its weather protection cover offering by partnering with SWAL Corporation Ltd. The product offering is a part of nurture.farm’s flagship resilience program ‘Kavach’.

Weather Kavach is a risk cover offering for farmers to protect them against weather irregularities. It is a flexible cover option where farmers can opt-in for any sum assured value, and claims are disbursed in the event of excessive rain, heat waves or rain deficit. The advantages of the Weather Kavach product offering includes an index-based trigger, shorter disbursal window, and direct transfer of the claim amount to the farmer’s bank account. Since its launch, nurture.farm has successfully offered Weather Kavach to more than 100,000 farmers and sold more than 1 Million Weather Kavach in less than 12 months.

Through this partnership, SWAL Corporation Ltd is offering Weather Kavach, at no additional cost, to all its farmers who purchase Wuxal & Delma products. While Wuxal provides nutrients to the crop, Delma protects it from various diseases that can be triggered due to wild fluctuations in temperature during critical growth stages. With the likely possibility of higher temperatures predicted for February & March and the harvest window for Rabi crops around the corner, the partnership couldn’t have come at a better time. To avail of Weather Kavach, the farmers must download the nurture.farm app, scan Wuxal and Delma products on the app, and avail it at no additional cost.

Dhruv Sawhney, COO & Business Head at nurture.farm said, “Globally, 2022 was the fifth warmest year on record. As per reports, scientists have warned that 2023 could be a comeback year for El Nino, pushing temperatures by over 1.5 degrees celsius compared to the average temperature a century ago. As per the reports published in the US scientific journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” (PNAS), each degree Celsius increase in global temperature can on average reduce global yields of wheat by 6 per cent, rice by 3.2 per cent, maize by 7.4 per cent, and soybean by 3.1 per cent . Furthermore, the global rise in temperature increases the risks of floods, drought, extreme heat waves, and water shortages, and could possibly push millions into poverty. Despite knowing the pitfalls, and suffering agricultural losses every year, less than 20 per cent of farmers opt-in for risk-cover products owing to the lack of trust, education, and high premium costs.”

nurture.farm is partnering with SWAL Corporation Ltd., an organisation that is paving the way for other many organisations to follow by helping us drive change, increase adoption, build for farmer resilience, and truly make agriculture sustainable, viable, and climate-smart. 

Pramod Tiwari, Head of Marketing at SWAL Corporation Ltd, said, “For over 10 decades, SWAL has been committed to its farmers by offering them quality agri-solutions that are efficient, improve yield quality & quantity for ensuring better farm profitability. Our teams have been working with the farmers, helping them select the right inputs, imparting technical know-how, educating them about innovative farming practices, and delivering access to technology and advisory throughout the cultivation windows”.

The partnership enables the companies to provide

Agrotech, Company News, India, People, Sustainability

Pankaj will focus on driving symbiotic partnerships for nurture.farm with Seed Companies, Agrochemicals Companies, CPG Companies, Development Agencies and FPOs

Bangalore based nurture.farm, India’s leading Agri-tech platform, has promoted its Agronomy and Agri-business expert Pankaj Dwivedi as the Head of its Business Development and Partnerships division. Pankaj joined nurture.farm in 2020 as its Head of the Agronomy division.

Pankaj holds a Postgraduate in Agribusiness Management from the National Institute of Agricultural Marketing. He has been associated with notable companies in the Agri-tech, Manufacturing, and Food Industries, including Dow AgroSciences and AgroStar. Since joining nurture.farm, he has successfully worked with his team to launch the ‘Crop Doctor’ program, soil testing services, and farmer advisory services. Along with the Data Science team at nurture.farm, he built the crop, pest & weather prediction models. He also led programmes around paddy crop residue management, drone spraying and others.

With over 14 years of agriculture industry experience, he has developed an in-depth understanding of the agri- landscape, its disparities, and the challenges faced by various agri-stakeholders – Farmers, Distributors, Traders, Enterprises, and FPOs.

In his new role, Pankaj and his team will focus on driving symbiotic partnerships for nurture.farm with Seed Companies, Agrochemicals Companies, CPG Companies, Development Agencies, FPOs, and Government organizations to drive market penetration and increase market share for its mechanization services, agri-input marketplace, sustainability and resilience programs.

Dhruv Sawhney, COO at nurture.farm said, “We are happy to have Pankaj in a role in which we strongly believe he will excel. The new position offers him a unique opportunity to leverage his industry knowledge and connect to bring about change, lead industry conversations, and drive growth for the organization.”

” We want to scale up our sustainability programs, help enterprises reduce their scope-3 emissions, and create a sustainable sourcing supply chain. While we will look to accomplish our objectives, we will be driven by the sole purpose of driving value for our partners, opening up new channels to generate revenue, enabling them to source sustainably and meet their net-zero targets. I am excited and looking forward to experiencing the journey ahead”, added Pankaj Dwivedi.

Pankaj will focus on driving symbiotic partnerships

Company News, Finance, India, Start ups

Considering low penetration of crop insurance, expansion of weather insurance products is imperative

Bengaluru-based nurture.farm, India’s leading AgTech start-up, has partnered with HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company, a leading general insurance company in India, to further enhance and expand its insurance solutions for the 2.3 million farmers on its platform.

Farmers face varied types of risks at every stage of the farming cycle. The risks range from weather anomalies adversely impacting their crop productions, personal health risks due to the nature of work, and price fluctuations in the commodities market, leading to huge revenue loss for the farmers. Most farmers do not opt for insurance due to expensive premiums and the tediousness associated with paperwork.  Owing to the widespread nature of this issue, nurture.farm aims to offer its insurance solutions to nearly 2 million farmers in 2022-23, and will continuously innovate to provide risk mitigation solutions to enhance farmer resilience.

 Pranav Tiwari, CTO of nurture.farm, said, “The low insurance penetration in India is a cause of much grief for our farmers who have to face all kinds of risks like pests, weather, price volatility, misfortune on the field, etc. The lack of product offerings and insurance solutions that protect them against these risks leaves them financially vulnerable and susceptible to exploitation. Our partnership with HDFC ERGO aims to alleviate farmers’ distress associated with losses due to untimely and unfavourable conditions during the farming life cycle. This association will help us get closer to our vision of making farmers resilient and delivering sustainable outcomes to the farming community of India.”

Commenting on the partnership, Hiten Kothari, Appointed Actuary, HDFC ERGO, said, “At HDFC ERGO, we are committed to bringing in innovative insurance solutions for the rural community to provide financial security and also encourage sustainable farming. Considering the low penetration of crop insurance, expansion of weather insurance products is imperative. We firmly believe in nurture.farm’s vision and look forward to a long and productive collaboration.”

Considering low penetration of crop insurance, expansion

Agrotech, India, Interaction, Sustainability

Dhruv Sawhney, COO and Business Head, nurture.farm speaks to AgroSpectrum about the impact of the latest amendment in The Energy Conservation Bill, in August 2022, which empowers the central government to specify a carbon credit trading scheme and future of the carbon farming industry in India. Edited excerpts;

nurture.farm, a digital platform for sustainable agriculture, is the first company in India to successfully generate and forward-sell agricultural-related carbon credits. Established in December 2019, nurture.farm brings together the best agriculture solutions, including remote sensing, farm mechanisms, online marketplaces, traceability, and market linkage. The company’s Alternate Wetting and Drying & Dry Seeded Rice (AWD-DSR) project covered 22,000 acres of rice paddy fields and involved over 2,500 smallholder farmers. Around 20,000 carbon credits were derived from this project. Its benefits included 15 – 30 per cent in water savings. During the last cropping season (Rabi), nurture.farm expanded the AWD-DSR programme across an additional 120,000 acres.

The company plans to create more carbon credits by further extending its projects. In 2022, nurture.farm’s Crop Residue Management (CRM) Programme will cover at least one million acres, while it will scale up its AWD-DSR project to 180,000 acres. nurture.farm has set a target to help Indian farmers generate one million carbon credits by 2023, thereby being the leading supplier of nature-based carbon credits in India.  Dhruv Sawhney, COO and Business Head, nurture.farm speaks to AgroSpectrum about the impact of the latest amendment in The Energy Conservation Bill, in August 2022, which empowers the central government to specify a carbon credit trading scheme and future of the carbon farming industry in India. Edited excerpts;

How is nurture.farm contributing to the growth of the carbon farming industry in India?

Agriculture and forestry are the only two industries that offer viable opportunities to remove carbon from the atmosphere and provide long-term storage in the soil to help sequester it. These two industries contribute significantly to carbon emissions and will assist us in meeting our aspirations of restricting global temperatures to 1.5 degree C above the pre-industrial level.

India is the second largest food producer in the world. Our company is working with Indian farmers and helping them switch to sustainable practices, where they can produce more nutritious food while sequestering more organic carbon in the soil using less water, less energy, and fewer chemicals while producing less GHG emissions. These shifts to sustainable practices are critical in improving farmer resilience against the impacts of climate change.

Rice/Paddy cultivation accounts for 2 Gigatons of GHG emissions annually, and India is the second largest rice producer worldwide. nurture.farm is working with paddy farmers to reduce their methane emissions by 50 per cent, water requirements by 15 to 30 per cent  and improve their yields by 5 per cent.

nurture.farm forward sold the first set of agricultural carbon credits in India and compensated the farmers for this shift in practice. Additional income assistance and rewards go a long way in getting farmers to shift toward sustainable farming practices. This success story marks the dawn of sustainable agriculture in India which will bring in substantial revenues to the farmers and help mitigate global temperatures.

The latest amendment to The Energy Conservation Bill, in August 2022, empowers the central government to specify a carbon credit trading scheme. What will be the impact of this amendment on the carbon farming industry in India?

We await more clarity and details on the carbon credit trading scheme. Our hope is that India will learn from the mistakes and shortcomings of other carbon markets such as Europe and China and deliver one of the most robust, transparent and trustworthy platforms on the lines of UPI and AADHAAR, and lead the carbon trading scheme globally. We have the opportunity to become the benchmark for the world and ensure we reward people who are reducing carbon emissions handsomely.

What are the challenges in the carbon farming industry in India? Secondly, what inputs are required to grow the carbon farming industry in India?

The Perform Achieve and Trade (PAT) scheme rolled out by the government in 2008  has not been able to accelerate investments to reduce energy consumption in energy-intensive industries due to the low carbon pricing. Hence India should focus on ensuring that the floor price is attractive and in line with the international trading prices.

Secondly, the lack of trust in “quality” credits from Indian projects in the past, led to the collapse of the carbon markets. We hope that stringent monitoring and recording protocols are  implemented to build trust amongst global buyers. There should be a stiff penalty for any carbon developer who does not deliver “Quality” Credits.

How do you foresee the future of the carbon farming industry in India and across the world?

The Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets (TSVCM), sponsored by the Institute of International Finance (IIF) with knowledge support from McKinsey, estimates that demand for carbon credits could increase by 15x or more by 2030 and up to 100x by 2050. Overall, the global market for carbon credits could be worth upward of $50 billion in 2030.

China grew at a tremendous pace between 1995 and 2015, but it did not pay attention to energy efficiency, and as a result had to build thousands of coal plants to support this inefficient infrastructure. We should learn from this and ensure that we shape this new growth with the most efficient and low-carbon or zero-carbon systems. Carbon credit revenue is essential to finance these cutting-edge technologies.

Indian carbon project developers will play a vital role as a supplier of carbon credits to global corporations taking pledges to become carbon neutral. This will be a new and flourishing industry for the next 30 to 40 years.

What are the growth strategies and plans of the company for FY 22-23?

nurture.farm will generate more than a million carbon credits in FY 22-23 and help hundreds of thousands of Indian farmers to switch to at least one sustainable agricultural practice. nurture.farm also plans to expand its geographic footprint to Latin America in FY 22-23.

                                                                                                                             By Dipti Barve

                                                                                                            dipti.barve@mmactiv.com

Dhruv Sawhney, COO and Business Head,

Agrotech, Start ups

The program will provide infrastructural, networking and technological support to pre-revenue, seed-funded, angel-funded Agri-tech start-ups

The Ag-tech industry has grown leaps and bounds in a short period, with several startups venturing into the space. However, they require guidance, mentorship, and access to resources to build a viable business. Against this backdrop, nurture.farm, India’s largest and leading ag-tech company is on a quest to build a resilient and sustainable farming ecosystem through tech-led solutions, and has launched its incubation program – Catalyst – to help agri-tech startups sustain themselves and expand further.

nurture.farm Catalyst will help agri-tech startups collaborate with key stakeholders across the agricultural ecosystem, gain capital for sustenance, test their products or solutions at scale, and gain access to infrastructural, knowledge and human resources. The program will offer its incubatees a wide spectrum of support to enable them and accelerate their growth journey. This incubation program focuses on nurturing the growth stage, pre-revenue, seed-funded, or angel-funded startups. It intends to support, collaborate and champion these startups as they break new grounds.

Aspiring startups can apply for the program on nurture.farm’s website. Our knowledge partners include organizations like UPL, NPP, Advanta, and Decco. An experienced panel of experts from the agricultural industry will review each application, mentor startups, and help them grow. The program will accept entries until 31st March 2023.

By partnering with nurture.farm, the startups can benefit from its experience, tap into their rural network, leverage industry connections, and the goodwill the company has garnered over time.

Dhruv Sawhney, Business Head & COO of nurture.farm, said, “Agricultural productivity is at an all-time low. Food security is at risk, with an ever-growing population set to reach 10 billion by 2050. In addition, pests, diseases, and natural calamities destroy more than 40% of annual production, thus resulting in an annual loss of over USD 108 billion due to damaged or lost crops.

As we look at the various problems in the Agri industry, we realize that we need to pave the way for other Agtech startups to drive innovation & change. These budding startups can leverage our ecosystem, test their solution offerings at scale to establish a product-market fit, and help solve the challenges for the farmers, the Agri ecosystem, and the planet. The time to act is now, and our incubation program ‘Catalyst’ is another step toward achieving the same. We need to start focusing on fostering sustainable agricultural practices and work to integrate technology in this sector to solve the problems.”

The program will provide infrastructural, networking and

Finance, Schemes - Banks, Start ups

The partnership to enable the companies to build smart insurance solutions for farmers to ensure financial safety and resilience and expand rural gig-economy

Bengaluru based nurture.farm, India’s leading AgTech startup announced its partnership with SBI General Insurance and Future Generali India Insurance Company to further expand its insurance solutions for its 1.9 million farmers who use its nurture.farm app.

 The company had recently received the corporate agency licence from India’s Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA). This licence enables nurture.farm to help farmers access innovative insurance solutions at cost-effective price points.

With these partnerships, nurture.farm aims to offer its insurance solutions to 2 million farmers in 2022-23, and will continuously innovate to offer risk mitigation solutions to farmers. nurture.farm intends to offer remote sensing based farm level insurance to farmers, which is one of the missing links in increasing farmer resilience in India.

Dhruv Sawhney, Business Head & COO of nurture.farm said, “Insurance penetration in India is very low, especially in the rural hinterland. We want to develop smart insurance solutions for farmers to increase their financial resilience. We are elated to have partnered with trusted brands like SBI General Insurance and Future Generali India Insurance Company. This partnership is a significant step forward in our path which will help us achieve our aim of becoming a one-stop destination for improving outcomes and resilience for our 1.9 million and growing community of farmers.”

Commenting on the partnership, Priya Kumar, Head – Emerging Business Lines, Rural & Agri, SBI General Insurance said, “This association with nurture.farm will further strengthen our commitment to secure farmers across the length and breadth of the country. Our partnership will also provide a boost to increase insurance awareness and bring more farmers into the insurance fold, thereby protecting them from financial strain arising due to unforeseen circumstances.”

Earlier this month, nurture.farm forged another significant partnership with Future Generali India Insurance Company. Speaking about the partnership, Samdarshi Vikram Singh, Vice President – Crop Insurance & Rural Underwriting, Future Generali India Insurance Company said, “This endeavour will help to improve the insurance penetration in the country, especially at the rural levels, where its reach is still at a nascent stage.”

The partnership to enable the companies to

Agrotech, Environment, Start ups

KAVACH is weather-based financial protection for farmers

Leading agritech startup nurture.farm and Digisafe insurance brokers announced their partnership on offering KAVACH – a weather-based cash guarantee programme launched for nurture.farm farmers. Farmers using the startup’s services can enrol in the programme. As a pilot, the farmers of Maharashtra and MP can buy this coverage at a nominal fee.

KAVACH offers farmers a cashback up to Rs 500 per acre against unseasonal rainfall. Highly customised as per local weather data, the KAVACH will transfer payouts directly to a farmer’s bank account if rainfall breaches a pre-set limit. The farmers would not need to intimate for claims. Instead, the payouts will be automatically triggered based on the IMD weather data.

Dhruv Sawhney, Business Head and COO, nurture.farm said, “Offering KAVACH is an incremental step towards enhancing farmer resilience. Through this service, we are nudging a behavioural change in farmers by encouraging them towards embracing financial protection tools. Since every season, every region faces weather-related calamities, we wish to cover our farmers against such weather-related adversities. Through KAVACH, we have defined the parameters of cash out so that farmers will benefit based on localised weather. The automatic payouts, which happen timely within a week of the rainfall breach, will be a gamechanger. We wish to extend this to 3,00,000 farmers this year.”

Within three weeks of its launch, more than 1,21,000 KAVACH have been availed by 30,000+ farmers across nine states, covering 280 districts.

KAVACH is weather-based financial protection for farmersLeading

Company News, Sustainability

Company plans to generate 1 million carbon credits in India by 2023

nurture.farm, a digital platform for sustainable agriculture, has become the first company to successfully generate and forward sell agricultural-related carbon credits in India.

nurture.farm’s Alternate Wetting and Drying & Dry Seeded Rice (AWD-DSR) project covered 22,000 acres of rice paddy fields and involved over 2,500 smallholder farmers. This initiative forms a crucial part of nurture.farm’s mission to transition farmers to adopt sustainable agricultural practices, and reduce the environmental impact of rice cultivation. 20,000 carbon credits were derived from this AWD-DSR project. Its benefits included 15 per cent to 30 per cent of water savings.

Another 120,000 credits are under process from the Crop Residue Management (CRM) Program. The CRM Program empowered over 25,000 farmers to prevent 420,000 acres of farmland being burnt, thereby preventing the generation of 2,135 tonnes of particulate matter, including PM 2.5 and PM 10 particulate matter.

nurture.farm’s AWD-DSR program is now being submitted to a global validation agency, and in two quarters’ time to the Verified Carbon Standard (Verra) for final verification and credit generation. The CRM Program will follow suit, with submission to the validation agency in the next quarter.

During the last cropping season (Rabi), nurture.farm expanded the AWD-DSR program across an additional 120,000 acres. The company plans to create more carbon credits by further extending its projects. In 2022, nurture.farm’s CRM Program will cover at least one million acres, while it will scale up its AWD-DSR project to 180,000 acres. nurture.farm has set a target to help Indian farmers generate one million carbon credits by 2023, thereby being the leading supplier of nature-based carbon credits in India.

Dhruv Sawhney, Business Head and COO of nurture.farm, said, “India is well-placed to pioneer agriculture-related carbon credit trading. India is the world’s second-largest producer of key staples including rice, wheat, fruit and vegetables, and agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for over 50 per cent of the population. And yet, India is also the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gases.

Since its launch in 2020, more than 1.5 million farmers – who are collectively responsible for over five million acres – use the nurture.farm platform to access the mechanisation services, technology, training, services, market linkages, finance agri-inputs and farm equipment they need to perform sustainable  agricultural practices.

nurture.farm is currently developing protocols for verifying traceable carbon credits through its online platform and will use blockchain technology to trade credits on carbon markets. During the course of 2022, nurture.farm will also establish a common carbon credits registry and trading platform, which utilizes a standardised methodology to simplify traceability and make verification easier.

Company plans to generate 1 million carbon

Agrotech, Allied Industry, Finance, Industry Reports / Analysis, Sustainability

85.7 per cent of rural respondents made income decisions only after discussing it with their families

On International Women’s Day, nurture.farm, India’s leading AgTech startup, announced the results of an internal survey conducted for women as a part of its Women In Agriculture (WiA) programme.

The WIA survey found that 90 per cent of rural respondents spend their income to fulfil familial obligations/responsibilities. The survey also saw that 85.7 per cent of rural respondents made income decisions only after discussing it with their families. In contrast, only 43 per cent of urban respondents sought family opinions while making their income-related decisions. When it came to safety and health, the survey found that 80 per cent of rural respondents do not have health/life insurance, while the number was cut in half in urban areas, with 40.5 per cent not having health/life insurance.

The survey further revealed that 43.5 per cent of rural women do not use any digital modes of payment, while 100 per cent of the urban respondents used them. Besides, 34.3 per cent of rural respondents did not have any savings plan, and 41.8 per cent have only just learned about financial planning, which they intend to explore soon. 85.3 per cent of rural women learned about finance management from it.

Around 95.7 per cent of rural respondents felt optimistic, seeing immense potential in the agriculture sector and wishing to remain invested. In addition, 80 per cent of rural women felt their opinions on family matters were sought more than before, now that they are earning and are financially independent. At 80.5 per cent, the urban counterparts seemed to be on par with them. Realising the respect and importance that they receive, 60.3 per cent of women from rural India identified these as their primary motivators to continue working.

81.7 per cent of rural working women and 78.6 per cent of urban women workers prefer flexible working hours. Apart from this, 60 per cent of women manage household chores themselves, before/after/in-between their work schedules. However, gender inclusiveness continues to be a challenge, with 64.3 per cent of rural women feeling men have better opportunities to be gainfully employed. In urban regions, 80 per cent of women felt men had better work opportunities.

85.7 per cent of rural respondents made

Agro chems – Fertilizers, Inputs

Results published in the CRM program impact report indicate 92 per cent overall stubble burn avoidance across the enrolled farms, with close to 420,000 acres of the land saved from being burnt

nurture.farm, a digital platform for sustainable agriculture, has published the results of the Crop Residue Management (CRM) Program: the largest ever project to eliminate stubble burning in India. The CRM program impact report has evidenced benefits across reduced greenhouse gas emissions, improvements in soil health and farmer livelihoods, as well as reduced usage of fertilisers.

Results published in the CRM program impact report indicate 92 per cent overall stubble burn avoidance across the enrolled farms, with close to 420,000 acres of the land saved from being burnt, resulting in the prevention of 1,038,965 tonne of carbon dioxide emissions from being released.

Through the CRM program, nurture.farm supported over 25,000 farmers across 23 districts in Punjab and Haryana with access to farm mechanisation, and a bio-enzyme to decompose their crop stubble. Throughout the project, over 1000 field personnel from nurture.farm led a fleet of more than 700 boom sprayers serviced over 420,000 acres of paddy fields with the bio-enzyme, developed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), free of cost to the farmers. When sprayed onto the stubble, the PUSA bio-decomposer enzyme decomposes the stubble in 20-25 days, increasing organic carbon in the soil and maintaining overall soil health.

Satellite monitoring of the paddy fields – in partnership with the European Space Agency – was used to identify farms that had been burnt at least once between 2018-2020 and were also used to help analyse farmers adherence to the program. For ensuring the program’s efficiency and scale, nurture.farm developed three mobile applications to improve farmer connectivity and educate farmers on regenerative practices, conduct area mapping, arrange spraying schedules, and monitor machine and equipment use.

Results published in the CRM program impact