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Prafull Gadge’s Soilometer package has attracted funding of Rs 18 lakh from NIAM, Jaipur. It permits farmers to check the well being of the soil and the standard of bio-fertilisers and bio-pesticides in three hours – on the farm itself.
“What does it say about our country’s agriculture when the Kerala High Court stops the powerful Sabarimala Temple from distributing aravana prasadam because the cardamom being used contains a high level of pesticide? This happened in January 2023. In 2021, Nepal destroyed fruit and vegetable imported from India due to high pesticide levels,” says Ahmednagar-based scientist and start-up chief Prafull Gadge.
After researching the issue, Gadge has developed a package that allows farmers to check the well being of the soil and the standard of bio-fertilisers and bio-pesticides in three hours and on the farm itself. The package was launched by Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar in February. Last week, the National Institute of Agricultural Marketing in Jaipur granted Gadge’s firm, Biome Technologies, funding of Rs 18 lakh. The paperwork can also be underway for additional funding of Rs 50 lakh, for 10 per cent fairness, from personal incubators.
The cash can be used for a ‘Laboratory at Farm’ initiative by which farmers can examine the soil microbial well being and handle the farm accordingly and entry the standard of bio-products that they’re shopping for. “We are also planning to deliver handy kits to the farmer that will tell them what kind of pathogens are present in the soil so that they can, accordingly, treat their soil,” says Gadge.
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Till now, the package has been deployed by 7,000 customers throughout India, which incorporates the bio-fertiliser trade that wishes to display the standard of soil to the farmers. Biome can also be in talks with authorities authorities for utilizing Soilometer as an ordinary package for the pure and natural farming that the nation is making an attempt to advertise. “Earlier farmers used one or two bags of fertilisers and got good yields. Now, they are using a number of bags but failing to get a good harvest and their losses continue. This has been a cause of farmer suicides or debt as farmers are driven to moneylenders,” he says.
Gadge traces the decline within the nation’s soil well being to firms which have been promoting farmers merchandise that comprise fungicide-like molecules or antibiotics, amongst others, that disturb the character of the soil and the biodiversity. “The biodiversity of the microorganisms present in the soil is the life of the soil as it helps plants to take in the nutrients in a proper way, protects them from climate change and environmental changes and, most importantly, protects them from pathogens and pests,” says Gadge.
Before Soilometer, the scientist-cum-entrepreneur had created a growth-promoting bio-stimulant in a laboratory on his terrace, and formulations for roots developments, correct flowering and branching and nitrogen fixation, amongst others, for nearly 200 agrochemical-based industries. “I began to conduct skill training for farmer groups and industry because there was a high degree of agrochemical illiteracy among farmers,” he says.
Gadge provides that soil well being is worsening within the nation and farmers don’t have any different however to go for soil rejuvenation. This is a rising market that’s attracting a number of firms. “But, farmers should be able to analyse the soil microbial health before deciding which biological products in the market are suitable for them,” he says.
First revealed on: 20-06-2023 at 10:47 IST
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