Rukart is a IIT Bombay based Agri-tech company which develop affordable technologies for micro, small and medium scale farmer enterprises- comprising 86% of country’s total agrarian population. The objective of Rukart is to make smallholder agriculture economically and environmentally sustainable. RuKart designs, develops, and disseminates cost-effective, robust, and scalable products to reduce the input cost and mitigate the risk in cultivation. The company’s catalogue of mechanical products consists of Subjee cooler- Zero energy cold storage, Peek Rakshak- Solar powered equipment for prevention of animal-human conflict, and Treadle Pump- Zero carbon irrigation pump.
Rukart.org which is the company’s web-based linkage platform, aims to create an accessible B2B Marketplace for farmers to secure sustained optimum pricing round the year.
Table of Contents
Challenge
The agrarian crisis is increasing day by day due to smaller plot sizes, high input cost, high on-farm post-harvest losses, depleting water table and lack of direct market linkage. As per the NSSO 70th round, January – December 2013, the marginal and small farmers constitute around 85% of the total farming population in India.
This niche group also holds almost 53 % of the total agricultural land. The landholding trend in agriculture shows that the percentage of households for all categories of holding has declined, except for the marginal category. The net income from cultivation is in negative for the small plot holder (Ref: NSSO 70th round, 2012-13, Govt. Of India). Often, these small plot holders are unable to invest in capital intensive technologies – like motorized pump, cold storage, tractor, harvester, etc.
Solution
The start-up offers a basket of technologies for the small plot holders ranging from Manual water lifting pump, cold storage, crop protection device to water management technologies. The objective of RuKart is to make small farm holder agriculture economically profitable and environmentally sustainable. RuKart designs, develops, and disseminates affordable, recurring cost free, robust and scalable products to reduce the input cost and mitigate the risk in cultivation.
Technology:
Subjee Cooler is an affordable, no-maintenance vegetable cooler that provides a lifeline to marginal farmers by increasing their profits. With this, farmers can harvest their produce when they want to, and store it for a few days to get a better price.The principle of evaporative cooling and do not require any utilities. However, it needs watering at least once a day. This on-farm structure, built to work as a mud pot, does not require any additional investment in power utility. Based on the farmer’s requirement, Subjee Cooler comes in various sizes.
The innovative Subjee Cooler works on the principle of evaporative cooling and does not require any utilities, except once a day of watering. The on-farm structure temperature is lower than the ambient temperature by a margin of 5-20°C (depends on ambient relative humidity) and maintains the high relative humidity of above 90 – 95 per cent inside the structure. The low temperature and high relative humidity inside the chamber preserve vegetable crops for short-time of about 4 to 6 days. More than 110 such units have been installed across different states in India; Bihar, Odisha, and Maharashtra.
Value Proposition and Key Differentiator
Treadle pump: It is a foot operated pump which doesn’t need electricity/deisel/kerosene/solar energy. It is non-recurring cost device, enabling farmers to cultivate second crop in a Rabi season. It is not gender discriminatory as both males and females can install, operate and maintain the pump. Other than agriculture needs this pump could be used to provide water to the livestock as well as for fetching water for daily needs at the house.
Drip kit: It helps in increasing the water use efficiency and reduces the growth of weed. It enables fertilizers and micro-nutrients to be used effectively and efficiently. This allows for more crops per drop of water, reduced weed growth and decreases the labour cost of the farmer.
Drip-cum-Mulch System: It is an integrated system – Drip and Mulch sheet – in a single sheet. It consists of an UV protected sheet with a life span of 6 – 7 years. It saves time and labour involved in during installation (compared to separate installation of drip and mulch). It enhances the water use efficiency and retains the moisture content of the soil which leads to soil enrichment. Drip-Cum-Mulch sheet saves recurring expenditure of the farmer.
Jalkund: It is a small capacity water body which stores 3500-4500 litres of rain water. Rainwater stored could be used to cultivate vegetables or to irrigate horticulture crops. It can also be refilled with water from well, Nala, River, Lake with the help of treadle pump and could be used further post-monsoon season. It can act as a complementary storage of water during the rabi & summer season.
Subjee cooler: This is an on-farm structure which is suitable for marginal farmers. With this structure, there is no need of an external energy source such as Electricity/Diesel/Keresone/Solar energy. It requires watering only once in a day. In this structure, fruits and vegetables could be stored for 4-5 days while leafy vegetables could be stored for 1-2 days. This structure helps to reduce post-harvest losses and distress sales. It requires only local level repair and maintenance.
Peek Rakshak: This is a 3 Layer defense system which mitigate Animal-Human conflict without causing any harm to the animals. It enables reduction in patrolling cost for the farmers. With this device, farmers can harvest yield and hence record more profits due to low or no damages to crops on the farm. It is a low risk device which is portable. It allows for easy adjustment of positioning to suit the type of the animal.
Looking Ahead
Rukart aims to expand their reach to meet the needs of more marginal farmers in need of affordable technologies which have little or no maintenance or running costs. The company hopes to keep innovating costless technologies beneficial to the farming community. Learn more at: https://rukart.org/
Agriculture Startup | Rukart Technologies Private Limited |
Founded In | 2019 |
Founders | Mr. Vikash Kumar Jha, Mr. Gunavant Pralhad Nehete, and Sharayu Sunil Kulkarni |
Solution Overview | The RuKart Technologies design develops and disseminates affordable, recurring, cost free, robust, and scalable products to reduce the input cost and mitigate the risk in cultivation. |
Investors | CTARA – IIT Bombay / Paid-up Capital INR 1,00,000. |
Headquarters | 0301, B-wing, Mangeshi Elite Phase 1, Rambaug Lane No 4 End, Chikanghar, Kalyan (West), Thane – 421301, Maharashtra - India |
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