Leadership Talk Series: Exclusive Chat with Ritesh Raj Gupta, CTO of Shunya Agritech | Agritech Innovation & Dairy Tech
“From Shunya (zero) to infinite possibilities in livestock productivity with green fodder, hydroponics & AI wellness.” – Ritesh Raj Gupta
Focus Agritech had the opportunity to interact with Ritesh Raj Gupta, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Shunya Agritech, a tech-first dairy platform deeply rooted in rural India. Under his technical leadership, Shunya Agritech has pioneered affordable, scalable hydroponic solutions and AI-driven digital wellness services for livestock.
The Indian dairy sector is the world’s largest, contributing over 23% to global milk production, yet per-animal productivity remains almost half the global average. This gap causes billions in lost yields and higher costs annually, driven by inconsistent supply of nutritious green fodder and limited affordable animal healthcare.
Shunya Agritech is on a mission to close this productivity gap by making year-round nutritious fodder and accessible animal health care a reality for rural farmers. The company has built carbon-positive operations, expanded Growth & Logistics Centres (GLCs) across India, and is attracting global interest from fodder-deficit countries. Its combination of digital platforms, smart feed production systems, and community engagement is setting new standards in sustainable dairy farming.
Thematic Q&A Segments
1. Roots of the Mission
Focus Agritech: You’ve built a tech-first dairy platform rooted in rural India. What personal experiences or field insights shaped your decision to focus on green fodder and animal wellness?
Ritesh Raj Gupta: At Shunya Agritech, our journey began with a simple but urgent insight that although India is the largest producer of milk, per-animal productivity of cattle is almost half. On further digging, we came to know that farmers across India were struggling to secure consistent, nutritious green fodder for their cattle. This single pain point spiraled into broader challenges—poor animal health, low milk yields, rising costs, and financial stress.
We saw an opportunity to transform this core input—animal feed—through technology. By building our platform around green fodder production and animal wellness, we address both productivity and profitability for farmers. We leverage our extensive engagement in rural areas and a wealth of animal health data to drive informed decisions and innovative product development.
2. The Philosophy of “Shunya”
Focus Agritech: Hydroponics is often seen as high-tech. Why choose it to solve India’s fodder crisis?
Ritesh Raj Gupta: We chose hydroponics not because it’s high-tech—but because it’s high-impact. Everyone is aware that traditional fodder is land-, water-, and climate-dependent, and increasingly unreliable. If you look at traditional hydroponics, even that is extremely high cost with its over-the-top gadgets, IoT, robotics, and automation. We at Shunya have re-invented hydroponics over the last year. We have optimized the processes, set-up, and fancy gadgets to the most essential to make it scalable and robust yet cost effective. Using our in-house Shunya Production Technology Stack, we are able to promise fodder-as-a-service year-round.
Within this tech stack, we have enabled remote monitoring, IoT-enabled SOPs, AI-guided seed analysis, and SmartVidhi training tools that bring down operational complexity and make fodder-as-a-service a reality for any micro-service market (village cluster).
3. Reinventing Hydroponics for Impact
Focus Agritech: How does the meaning of “Shunya” — nothingness and infinite potential — shape your tech and product design?
Ritesh Raj Gupta: “Shunya” is not just a name; it’s our core belief. It reminds us that even from a starting point of ‘zero,’ we can achieve limitless potential through technology and understanding. This belief guides our product design: easy-to-use interfaces, flexible structures, and tools that grow with the farmer’s needs. Whether a new user takes a photo to identify an animal’s sickness, or an experienced grower uses AI to improve crop yield, our aim is to hide complexity and maximize opportunities.
4. Farmer-Centric App Design
Focus Agritech: How did you make your app intuitive for farmers with varying tech exposure?
Ritesh Raj Gupta: Our core principle was to communicate effectively with farmers, both in language and concept. The application employs image-based navigation, supports regional languages, utilizes voice input, and offers structured workflows that emulate practical, real-world interactions.
We conducted field tests of our prototypes with individuals new to smartphone technology, incorporating their feedback to refine the design. Offline functionality was also guaranteed where necessary. Features such as Shunya Drishti (AI-powered disease detection through image analysis) and immediate access to veterinary professionals are designed to feel intuitive and familiar, akin to consulting a trusted acquaintance rather than interacting with a digital application.
5. AI for Animal Wellness & Early Diagnosis
Focus Agritech: How is AI advancing animal wellness at Shunya?
Ritesh Raj Gupta: Shunya’s Drishti AI forms the core of our veterinary platform. Using Shunya Drishti, farmers can quickly upload images of their animals and respond to a short series of questions. Our AI then analyzes the presenting symptoms, providing immediate suggestions regarding probable diseases, associated risk levels, and initial care recommendations.
This technology effectively addresses the challenge of limited veterinary access, particularly in geographically isolated regions. The system’s accuracy and diagnostic capabilities improve continuously as additional data is inputted, enabling it to learn from patterns related to breed, age, weather conditions, and the prevalence of regional diseases. In essence, it provides users with access to an intelligent veterinary assistant available all the time.
6. Carbon-Positive Operations
Focus Agritech: What makes Shunya’s operations carbon-positive, and how do you track that impact?
Ritesh Raj Gupta: Our Growth & Logistics Centers (production units) significantly reduce environmental impact. We utilize up to 90% less water, eliminate the need for harmful agricultural chemicals, and dramatically decrease land usage. Furthermore, our designs prioritize solar energy, and we’ve optimized logistics to minimize emissions during transportation from the farm to the animal shed.
We diligently monitor our carbon footprint using IoT sensors & process digitization integrated into our technology. We plan to implement blockchain-based verification to enhance transparency and are investigating carbon credit monetization opportunities to benefit farmers.
7. The Road Ahead
Focus Agritech: What’s next for Shunya — new geographies, deeper wellness, or tech expansion?
Ritesh Raj Gupta: We have no choice but to focus on all three. We’re expanding our GLC (Growth and Logistics Centres) network across India with both COCO & FOFO models. We have also received some opportunities for global expansion from countries where there is a fodder deficit. We’re enhancing our animal wellness platform to include preventive care, breeding advisory, and community-led knowledge sharing. We plan to launch wellness-as-a-service for livestock and other animals in the near future.
On the tech front, apart from strengthening our tech stack for our internal & customer use, we are scaling it for our franchise partners. Last but not least, we are also focusing on launching our SaaS offering—enabling any grower, OEM, or cooperative worldwide to plug into our digital twin of fodder production.
Vote of Thanks
Focus Agritech extends gratitude to Ritesh Raj Gupta for sharing his journey of transforming rural dairy farming through green fodder innovation, AI-based wellness platforms, and sustainable operations. Shunya Agritech’s story — from “Shunya Se Ek” — is an inspiring blueprint for scalable, impactful agritech innovation.
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