The sudden hit of the global pandemic, coronavirus and therefore the announcement of lockdown all across the nation made things far more complicated and difficult for people, especially for the farmers, who were left in a miserable state. Due to the lockdown, local grocery stores, markets, transportation had to remain closed and the farming community faced a severe disruption in the supply chain of farm produce. It is in these circumstances that RuKart, a Mumbai-based agri-tech company came up with an innovative solution to help farmers keep their produce fresh for an extended period. With the vision of developing a profitable eco-friendly farm ecosystem, the three IIT Bombay alumni – Gunavant Nehete, Shauraya Kulkarni and Vikash Jha founded RuKart in 2019.
Vikash, who is basically from a marginal farming background in the Madhubani district of Bihar shared his inspiration for the brand and how his eldest brother had to migrate to Delhi for a better source of livelihood than farming.
Vikash recalls, “I was very close to my brother and it was a personal shock for me to see him leave and I decided that if I can do something in my life, I will try to bring economic stability, prosperity and environmental sustainability. This happened when I was in 7th standard and my brother had completed 12th.”
Moreover, Vikash also wanted the youngsters of the farming families to consider agriculture as a viable option with a sustainable income.
The input cost challenge
He was working on a research project which primarily focused on the marginalised farmers of Odisha and Maharashtra. The research project indicated that the agricultural technologies available in the market were too expensive and did not meet the needs of the marginalised farmers.
RuKart, not only aims to help and assist farmers but also ensures economic growth for the agricultural regions of India. The company develops, designs, distributes strong, affordable recurring, cost-free and scalable products that reduces the input cost and therefore the risk of cultivation.
“The first challenge I faced was understanding the agricultural situation. I graduated from IIT Bombay in 2016 and by that point I had lost touch with the ground reality for nearly 10 years. So to understand the whole situation was an enormous challenge and for that I travelled across around ten states in India,” Vikash shared.
Vikash soon connected with NABARD, the agricultural bank and through the bank, got in touch with a number of good networks. He says, “NABARD helped and supported us in building RuKart. Moreover, we also received initial grant support from IIT Bombay.”
A survey report conducted in 2012-13, by NSSO discovered, three in four farmers in India operate marginal landholdings. Therefore, many farmers are prone to distress sales due to limited storage facilities and eventually get paid low for their produce.
Innovative solutions
One of the most innovative solutions offered by Rukart is the Subjee Cooler (vegetable cooler). It works like a mud-pot, and based on the farmers’ requirement, comes in different sizes. The cooler is low in maintenance, affordable and reduces wastage. It keeps flowers, fruits, mushrooms and vegetables fresh for a long period of time. It ripen the fruits organically without any chemical involved.
“The Subjee Cooler requires only 20 litres of water per day to keep the produce fresh for about 5-7 days. However, it does not require any electricity, diesel or solar power, it is a completely organic way to store the produce,” explains Vikash.
RuKart installed the first 75 Subjee Cooler units in the states of Maharashtra, Bihar and Odisha. Moreover, the total number of units sold so far is 650.
RuKart has installed and provided technical know-how training on Subjee Cooler to 25 farmers so far in Balangir and Nabarangpur districts, Odisha through OIIPCRA (a World Bank funded and implemented by Govt. of Odisha project).
A drastic change has been seen in the earnings of the farmers who have bought the Subjee Cooler. Earlier they used to harvest their vegetables once a week before taking them to the market and now with the help of the Subjee Cooler, they can harvest their produce 3-4 times a week and earn upto 30 per cent more compared to earlier.
Almost 10% of the crop production in India is destroyed due to human-animal conflict. Hence, the other innovative product developed by RuKart, is the Peek Rakshak, which is a combination of an artificial scare-crow, flickering LED light, and a sound system. It reduces the human-animal conflict, audio coverage in acres, saves crops from wild boars, pigs and other animals, runs upto 72 hours, and is cost saving.
The other two products developed by RuKart are the Treadle Pump and GM Microvestor.
The products gained meritorious recognition amid the on-going pandemic. It helped the farmers to store their unsold produce and reduced the probabilities of loss. The farmers can purchase the RuKart products at a low price. The option of buying the products in instalments has also been implemented.
The company has not yet exported the products. However, it is currently focusing on helping the farmers of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Northern and the Southern regions of India. Moreover, the farmers are also being trained in organic farming.
Besides helping the rural people, RuKart is additionally bringing economic progress and building environmental sustainability for the marginal farmers.
RuKart has helped several other women farmers to become women entrepreneurs. The company is also training women entrepreneurs to set up a “Women Technology Centre-cum Show Room”, enabling them to install the coolers by themselves.
Future plans
RuKart aims to reach out to more farmers and focus on promoting sustainable development. The motive is to create ‘Green innovation’. The sole focus is to innovate cost-effective and eco-friendly agricultural devices for small marginal farmers.
Read More: Farmer support and knowledge key to push India’s organic business narrative
