How many people work for themselves? Almost all. But how many people work for others? A few. One of them is Prajakta Patil, who is the Chief Technology Officer of Aparaa Agro Trade Pvt. Ltd. Earlier, she had a successful stint with Bajaj Allianz wherein she was awarded for writing “The Best Article of the Year 2020” by Krishi Jagran.
Being a writer, thinker, innovator, and a person of high intelligence and compassion, Prajakta has come a long way in the journey of her professional life, creating milestones on her way. And she has more to do, as she says, “sky is the limit…”
In a hearty conversation with Krishi Jagran’s (KJ) Content Writer Shipra Singh (SS), Prajakta talks about the challenges she encountered and the achievements she made in her life and how she is so happy and proud of her life that she doesn’t want to change anything from the past, if it were possible.
Here are the excerpts from the conversation:
KJ SS: How you started. Were you lucky to have a supportive family or did you have to break the stereotypes and overcome challenges and make sacrifices?
P: Yes, I am lucky that I have an educated family who have supported me throughout my Journey. I started my career as an Assistant Professor of Agronomy at Agriculture College. For completion of my studies, my father, Late Mr. Kuber Shamrao Sawant, made so many sacrifices. Being a farmer he always wanted me to be an agriculturist and a real scholar for solving various problems of farmers.
It was my family who supported me a lot during my studies. Being a middle class family everyone from our family made adjustments in their expenses to support me while studying at College of agriculture, Pune. My family’s support, encouragement, and sincere efforts towards my development during those days helped me to achieve Gold Medal in Agronomy for standing first in M.P.K.V. Rahuri for the year 2005-2006. Challenges were countless, but a very strong academic and research background helped me to make my concepts scientifically clear. It helped me a lot while discussions with farmers, scholars, researchers, and students.
KJ SS: Prajakta, tell us about your achievements and vision.
P: I am successful in terms of my social responsibility. I started my career as a professor where I planted seeds of students to whom I taught agriculture. It was a nursery stage and now these students have been successful in many fields and helping many farmers. After that, I worked with Indian Meteorological Department, Agrimet Division, Pune, and developed many crop yield forecasting models for Maharashtra and Gujarat under the project “FASAL”.
After that I never looked back. I led the development team in major mobile agriculture applications like RML App, Farm on Palm App, and Farmitra - Caringly Your’s App. Recently, Farmitra - Caringly Your’s App has won IFMA - Accenture’s Global Gold Award under the category of Innovation - Agriculture Insurance. It was the digital experience which really made me happy to reach millions of farmers in India. This digital base helped me to develop region specific, crop specific agromet alerts and early warning systems. This helped many farmers in India to get advanced information about weather extremes and agromet alerts.
KJ SS: One thing you love about being a woman.
P: Being a woman, I love dedication towards work. I feel it is the most valuable ornament that I have, being a woman.
KJ SS: How do you feel today at this point of life?
P: I feel very much satisfied about the achievements but still I have to do a lot for my farming community.
KJ SS: Describe yourselves in just one word.
P: Hardworking.
KJ SS: If it was possible, what is one thing that you would like to change from your past?
P: Nothing, I accepted all the ups and downs in my life; which I think were my best experiences to become so strong in this field of agriculture. Experience is our best “Guru - a teacher," hence, I wouldn’t like to change anything from my past.
KJ SS: Message to women of today.
P: My mother is my real strength. She always advised me to “keep patience and do your work sincerely, success will follow you.” I did the same thing and now I am working as Chief Technology Officer- Aparaa Agro trade. It’s a platform where I am going to set a unique example of Farming with Biodiversity conservation for sustainable – Healthy life.
KJ SS: If we do a SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat) analysis for women on Women’s Day 2021, what would be your view?
P: Here is my SWOT analysis:
• S = Passionate about work
• W = Less health consciousness
• O= Sky is the limit….
• T = Equal opportunities at work place.
Happy Women’s Day to all the “feminine energies” on Planet Earth and beyond.