The Problem

Current farming methods are largely unsustainable, resulting in issues like soil degradation, loss of biodiversity and climate change. In addition, pesticides cause severe health risks. Suicide rates are also high amongst farmers, as dependence on sometimes erratic rainfall can cause crop failures.

The Solution

Amit is solving the problem of urban farming as he lives in Banaras, one of the most densely packed cities in the country. He sets up urban terrace farms for individuals to grow their own vegetables, allowing people to be more sustainable and understand how their food is grown and where it comes from. Also, this method helps in improving the health and well being of the clients as the method of growing does not require any pesticides or fertilizers keeping all the produce organic. He also is, now, trying to help rural farmers also become zero cost farmers increasing their produce and decreasing their cost helping them sustain a better lifestyle.

The Venture

Amit has worked with people in his village to teach them about organic farming methods as an alternative to traditional methods. He teaches people how to grow a garden anywhere inside or outside their houses, including their roofs. Using various means including growing food in water bottles and truck tires through composting different types of garbage, he is working to change the mindset in his village. So far he has taught 37 families, with half of them having adopted organic farming methods.

The Problem

Farmers put in a lot of efforts in planting, growing and harvesting crops. They spend a lot of time and efforts in farming activities that drain their energy every day.

The Solution

Aniket has built a multi-purpose tractor for farmers that helps in various activities involved in farming.

The Venture

The tractor can be used for transport, ploughing, harvesting, etc 

The Changemaker

Hundreds of farmers have asked Aniket to design a similar model for them.
He has rented this model to hundreds of farmers from his and nearby village. He is currently studying but wishes to work on the tractor full time in the near future.

The Problem

Plant diseases are a major threat to the environment and the global economy. In India alone, 35% of field crop production is lost to pests causing losses to farmers. This has a widespread impact of more than 50% of India’s population still relies on agriculture as a primary income source and most farming is done by small farmers. A lack of early and correct diagnosis of crop diseases due to limited access to agricultural experts leads to widespread crop losses. Farmers also resort to indiscriminate use of broad-spectrum pesticides which is a serious health hazard as many are toxic and biomagnified.
 

The Solution

Most crop diseases can be diagnosed by experts using visual foliar symptoms. Advances in computer vision that has recently surpassed human capabilities using Artificial Intelligence (AI) creates an opportunity for an automated low-cost solution for plant disease diagnosis using AI and mobile technology. 

The Venture

'The Plant Doctor’ allows farmers to instantly and accurately identify plant diseases and receive treatments by photographing affected parts of the plant with a mobile app. Plant images are analyzed by Cloud-based AI algorithms accessible over a cellular network. The app also enables disease monitoring, tracking and analytics for preventive measures against outbreaks. The Plant Doctor is the first integrated and collaborative platform for automated crop disease diagnosis, tracking and forecasting. Real-time diagnosis is enabled using latest AI algorithms (CNNs) for Cloud-based image processing. The AI model continuously learns from user-uploaded images and expert suggestions to enhance its accuracy. Farmers can also interact with experts through the platform. For preventive measures, disease density maps with spread forecasting are rendered from a repository of geo-tagged images. A web interface allows experts to perform disease analytics with geographical visualizations. Our solution enables access to plant disease expertise for every farmer.
 

The Changemaker

Kaushik aims to be able to roll out the solution to every rural farmer in India and help alleviate their plight. The generic model that Kaushik and his team have developed can be easily extended to more use cases in agriculture/crop health as well as human health.

The Problem

In Agriculture, labour is very expensive in terms of efforts and time.

The Solution

Dipankar has built a machine for farmers that eases the process of harvesting and threshing. The machine built is also very economical.

The Venture

The time and cost of harvesting and threshing has been greatly reduced. The machine also standardizes the process of farming which has an overall positive impact on it.

The Changemaker

Dipankar is designing tools in remote places of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where one cannot find labour force in abundance.

The Problem

1. Trying to contain the issues being caused due to the increased usage of synthetics chemicals in agriculture by promoting urban organic gardening in homes all over the world. 
2. Promoting vermicomposting and composting as effective methods of wet waste management to solve waste management crises in landfills.

The Solution

 Problem 1:
1. Uploading videos on YouTube channel, My Organic Farm on sustainable agriculture methods.
2. Sapling drives in cities to initiate organic gardening in various homes.
3. Events and sapling drives in corporates and schools to promote the same.
4. Sale of GrowBasic organic grow kits as an introduction for people to organic farming.

Problem 2:
1. Videos on said YouTube channel to impact a larger audience
2. Work with individual schools and corporates to set up composting and vermicomposting set-ups in their premises to manage their wet waste.

The Venture

1. “My organic farm” promotes urban organic gardening in homes all over the world, by
(a) creating videos on their YouTube channel my organic farm sustainable agriculture methods, sapling drives in cities to initiate organic gardening in various homes,
(b) hosting events and sapling drives incorporate and schools to promote the same, and
(c) finally selling GrowBasic organic grow kits as an introduction for people to organic farming.

2. “My organic farm” works with individuals, schools and corporates to set up composting and vermicomposting set-ups in their premises to manage their wet waste.

The Problem

We live in a country where every 1 out of 4 children suffer from food scarcity and malnutrition. What is even worse is that every year, 40% of the total food produced in our country is wasted. I feel that this gap can be bridged if each and every one of us is aware of this issue and are ready to contribute so that there is no food scarcity at all.

The Solution

He took initiate that no one in our locality should not be in the scarcity of the food and I would likely to spread asking the world. Vallabha and his team take sessions for the children who are in orphanages and also the government schools. They teach them about the skills required for facing the outside world, like skill developmental programmes. They also convey to them the story which was said by their grandmother. This helps them to learn good facts.

The Venture

In every household, at night, you will find that there is some food leftover. Vallabha did a discovery survey the number of people who need food and the amount of food people donate on average. With the information collected and some volunteers, Feeding Humanity has reached many areas and convinced people to donate some food that would reach to orphanages and ashrams. Currently, restaurants and marriage functions donate leftover food and Feed Humanity makes sure it reaches the needy. Through the venture’s value chain and the captured data of food waste, It’s clear that the issue is not that there is a scarcity of food; it is just with the allocation. This system transfers food, from where it is being wasted to where it is most needed, which makes it sustainable.

The Problem

The main impact of this project is to provide hands-on training to Children about the value of their knowledge on plants and allow them to participate in growing their favourite plants in their own backyard, schools etc. This project allows children to take fun while learning about Botanical knowledge. It will help children to take up interests in the field of gardening, agriculture, research and even engineering. The concept about this project is to help children put to practice what they learn in their school.

The Solution

The book written by Zenwang provides simple and succinct information to the children. The catchy diagrams and pictures attract young children to look and read the book. It provides step-by-step method of planting their favourite plants in their own lab. In today's education system children tend to learn more without knowing what, where and how to do it. Thus, this manual book appraises children to love what they learn by practically doing it.

The Venture

The initiative helps children understand what they learn and get a chance to use the knowledge practically as well. This gives them a sense of confidence to showcase their knowledge. The uniqueness about this initiative is that it provides children with a platform to 'Learn and Do' theme.

The ChangeMaker

This technique has helped students in the village and they took interest in Science since it is directly related to it. This technique helped young children aged 7-14 build confidence in science. Some have shared their interest and aim to become scientist and engineers. In fact, few students in the village took up Science in their higher secondary classes, some took interest in gardening.