In India, there is approximately 14.1 million
irrigation pumps for farmers to water their crops in remote areas. It seems
like an easy job for them to just switch on the pump and their crops are taken
care of. However not so simple, because not all of the time electric supply is
available, only during the wee hours or odd timings of the day. Thus Santosh
Ostwal created Nano Ganesh which is a water system for farmers to be able to
take care of their crops from afar through their mobile phone. Ossian Agro
Automation is an India based company responsible for this innovative idea. This
idea came about when the Santosh Ostwal, co-founder of Nano Ganesh, witnessed
his grandfather facing hardship caring and watching over his plantations.
The Nano Ganesh is a tool for a farmers to save time and
energy by placing a modem attached to their irrigation pumps which allows them
the mobility to switch on or off the pumps to water their crops. The
traditional way for a farmer to care of their crops would be to walk over to
the irrigation pump and switch it on and walk back from where they came from,
however the time for them to walk over or drive to their desired pump location
would take up a few hours especially for those irrigation pumps located in the
outskirts. There is also a hazard warning when walking over to the respective
pumps in the middle of the night where wild animals will be lurking the bushes
in hope to counter the next prey, be it a farmer. With Nano Ganesh installed it
assists the farmers to a more comfortable and convenient way of taking care
their plantations. The Nano Ganesh was restricted to a radius of 10 kilometres
from their pumps previously, though now they have upgraded the technology to
support unlimited range permitting farmers flexibility to turn pumps on and off
wherever they maybe with their mobile phone.
This innovation has the ability to monitor the availability of electricity to the pump as well as authenticate the on and off status of its operation. The benefit of such technology is cost-saving from wastage of water and electricity. In addition to that, over-watering would lead to soil erosion and nutrient depletion from the ground.
The Nano Ganesh can reduce the environmental and financial costs farming, it is reckon that farmers can recover the cost of this innovative technology in 11 days from conserving water and electricity expenditure. It is a very efficient and effective technology to assist farmers in today’s world. Nano Ganesh was able to help 10,000 farmers in India and is currently used in Australia and Egypt.
References:
Nourishing the Planet, (2015). Mobile Technology Helps Farmers save Time, Water, and Electricity. [online] Available at: http://blogs.worldwatch.org/nourishingtheplanet/mobile-technology-helps-farmers-save-time-water-and-electricity/ [Accessed 8 Jun. 2015].