Syngenta – a leading science based global agtech company – today announced the introduction of Crop Doctor feature in its Cropwise Grower App, an AI-powered tool offering swift, simple and effective solutions for farmers to identify pest or disease attack and get an instant remedy. Syngenta also completed the Drone Yatra in 13 states, completing a milestone of 17,000 Km to create awareness of drone spraying among farmers.
Announcing Crop Doctor Susheel Kumar, MD and Country Head, Syngenta India Pvt Ltd said that globally farmers are facing challenges including climate change, soil erosion and biodiversity loss, as well as having to manage changing consumer expectations. “We work on supporting farmers by further improving the way crops are grown and protected, and to work with partners to find solutions that address environmental, societal and economic challenges. The newly added Crop Doctor feature in the Cropwise Grower App will be very helpful for the farmers,” he added.
The Cropwise Grower App, with this unique feature assumes critical significance in view of growing need to check crop losses as the world is going to have projected two billion more people to feed by 2050, while India will have 1.66 billion people to feed said Susheel Kumar, Managing Director and Country Head Syngenta India Pvt Ltd.
“Using Crop Doctor feature, all a farmer needs to do is click a photo from the Cropwise Grower app; Crop Doctor will help identify pests or diseases, and details of which Syngenta products are to be used. The App is available in 10 major languages including Hindi, Marathi, Punjabi, Telugu, Gujarati, Bengali, Odia, Tamil, Kannada, and English and promises to add tremendous value to farmers”, Sachin Kamra, Head, Farmer Centric Ecosystem, Syngenta India Pvt Ltd.
“The App features 10 major crops Paddy, Tomato, Corn, Watermelon, Cotton, Soybean, Hot pepper, Sugarcane, Potato, and Sweet Corn with more crops to be added soon,” added Kamra. Cropwise Grower App, which was launched in August this year, has received tremendous response from farmers across the country. “Our app has been installed by more than three lakh farmers in just 75 days,” informed Kamra.
Use of the latest technology to make agriculture profitable for farmers has been Syngenta’s priority. Syngenta has extensively worked with various state governments on demonstration of use of drones in agriculture, especially for spraying which can help farmers save time and money. Syngenta has already received Drone-use label claims for some of the products, while other products are in the pipeline. Drone services are being expanded across India in a DAAS (Drone as a Service) model. “Currently, our commercial spray operations are live in five states - Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana,” said Kamra.
A unique Drone Yatra, which was flagged off from Syngenta India headquarters on July 15 this year, travelled to 13 Indian States, making over 15,000 farmers aware of best practices in spraying agro-chemicals with the use of drones, which will save their time and cost – thus increasing income in the long run. Shri Kamal Patel, Madhya Pradesh Agriculture Minister, Shri Surya Pratap Shahi, Agriculture Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Culture joined the Drone Yatra in their respective states.
“During Syngenta Drone Yatra, over 130 demonstrations were made to farmers, focusing on highlighting the value of drone spraying in agriculture. The Drone Yatra covered over 17,000 kms across India, passing through Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka and has returned to Pune today to complete the journey,” said Dr KC Ravi, Chief Sustainability Officer, Syngenta India Pvt Ltd. As many as 10 mega events were conducted during the Yatra with excellent support from the state governments and local administrations.
“The Drone Yatra is a part of our efforts to make farming profitable and sustainable so that farmers are motivated to pursue agriculture as it is not only becoming more complex but also the return on investment is not attractive,” added Kumar.
“Our service charges are in line with what farmers invest in spraying through other mediums, but with many additional benefits like water saving of up to 90 percent as compared to manual sprays, uniform coverage and reach for the entire field crops, better residual control and reduction in the human exposure, assuring farmer and operator safety”, informed Kumar.
