IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Creates Smart Farms to Increase Yield & Income

IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Ltd announced on Wednesday that it has worked with individual farmers to develop around 25 smart technology-enabled farms to help them increase output, lower input costs, and increase income. Smart agriculture solutions, cattle feed business, agri-tech, and telecom & call centre services are all served by IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Ltd, a subsidiary of fertilizer cooperative IFFCO.

In these smart farms, the company uses smart technologies such as the AWWS (Automated Wireless Weather Station), an IoT-based automated drip irrigation system, soil moisture sensors, and GIS-based remote sensing satellite imagery analysis.

Each of the 25 smart farms being used as a 'Demo Farm' is up to 5 acres in size. Furthermore, the company has 40,000 acres of land under mid-layer precision technology integration, including remote sensing and data-driven farm advisory services.

"Our endeavour is to set up islands of excellence where precision farming technologies are deployed across different geographies and crops so that farmers are encouraged to learn and adopt them in their own farms," said Sandeep Malhotra, MD, IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Ltd. "We want to be known as a 'house of precision farming,' providing advanced and beneficial practices to farmers, assisting them in improving crop yield, nutrition, and resource utilization," Malhotra said.

IFFCO Kisan Sanchar has partnered with Vikas Karanwal and Ateet Gaur to develop smart farms on their 4 acres of land parcel in Bojnor, Uttar Pradesh. The company has invested Rs 11 lakh in this farm in Sikandari village, Tehsil-Chandpur, for fencing and technology deployment.

The Rs 3 lakh operational cost will be split evenly between the two partners. IFFCO Kisan expects 140 tonnes of sugarcane and 12-13 tonnes of jaggery to be produced at this smart farm in Bijnor. Jaggery is expected to sell for Rs 60-70 per kg, according to the company.

In the fourth year, IFFCO Kisan expects to recoup its investment. The sugarcane crop was sprayed with 14 bags of urea and 4 bags of DAP (Di-Ammonium Phosphate), according to the company. Farmers typically use 5 to 6 bags of urea and 2 to 3 bags of DAP per acre of land.

IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Ltd was formed by a collaboration between Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Ltd (IFFCO), Bharti Airtel, and Star Global Resources Ltd. Green Sim, IFFCO Kisan Agriculture Mobile App, Kisan Call Centre Services, and other services are available through the company. Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) are also being established by IFFCO Kisan Sanchar in various states.