Technology enabled solutions can contribute to the livelihood promotion of the rural and urban poor either by reducing the drudgery, enhancing the incomes or improving the quality of life. The emerging markets in the technology space has clearly show that there are two types of entrepreneurs who are offer traditional, improved and innovative products for the rural customers (i) The new age techno-entrepreneurs, who come from technology field from India and abroad who have limited understanding of the rural markets and business (ii) grassroot level innovators, who with their experience have improved or innovated products and services to meet their localized needs. They face challenges in scaling up. Most of the technology innovators face many challenges in commercializing their technology due to limitations in understanding of the business canvas. This results in some good technologies to fade away with time. This dampens the entrepreneurial spirit among the innovators. This situation provides a huge opportunity for consulting in commercialization of technologies.
With our experience in providing Institutional Development services to different types of clients such as MFI, CB-MFI, SHG, Cooperatives, FPC etc we have a thorough experience of building capacities of organizations to become sustainable business entities and also has the expertise to assess and understand the products and services related gaps that meet the needs of the rural population in the developing countries.
Overuse of chemical agricultural inputs has adverse effects on the environment, resurgence in the pests and diseases etc. that result in lower yields. As an intervention in the agricultural value chains production technologies of bio-fertilizers, bio-pesticides and other organic practices were identified and farmer representatives of the FPCs were trained in the production and marketing of these technologies through the Farmer Producer Companies.
System of Water for Agriculture Rejuvenation (SWAR) is an irrigation technology that combines traditional Indian wisdom and craft with modern scientific principles. The technology is for small holder farmers cultivating vegetables, flowers, fruits and forestry crops. It is a simple technology that supplies moisture directly to the root zone and increasing the water use efficiency. SWAR involves storing water in overhead tanks and sending it through a small diameter pipe to a customized locally made clay pot that is placed near the root zone of the plants. The micro-tubes within the clay pot slowly transmits water through a sand pouch thus making water available not only for longer periods but also be effectively utilized by the plants.
It is a technology enabled soil testing facility that was developed to implement through grass root institutions such as FPCs for testing the soil for major nutrients & pH and issuance of soil health cards to the farmers in their catchment. The soil health card also carries recommendation of fertilizer applications based on the soil nutrient status. The technology is equipped to send SMS alerts of the test results to the farmers.
The Water ATM features a conveniently-located coin- or smartcard-operated dispenser, and can provide up to 500 -1000 litres of pure and safe drinking water per hour. It aims to relieve communities from spending hours daily in fetching water and provides safe drinking water free from contamination & water-borne diseases at the doorstep of the users. The maintenance of this units is minimal with occasional replacement of the filters. The local youth could be trained in servicing the units. Besides, the water filter units can be remotely monitored for any technical problems.
The Water ATM is thus a safe, durable and secure source of purified drinking water for communities and public places, with distinctive features such as: Low operating cost making it self-sustainable, eight stages of filtration including reverse osmosis, Reduction of bacteria and viruses by 99.99 percent, Can be placed by a local entrepreneur or through a sponsorship model.