Call For Proposal

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations  in September 2015 urge all stakeholders to take necessary actions to end hunger (Goal 1), double agricultural productivity of small-scale food producers by 2030 (Goal 2, Target 2.3) and promote policies that support entrepreneurship (Goal 8, Target 8.3).

India is an agrarian country.  Indian agriculture accounts for almost 14 per cent of GDP and employs 52 per cent of the population. It is very important but underperforming sector. To meet the forthcoming demand and challenges, we need to develop and adopt new eco-friendly technologies for increasing our crop productivity. Since long, it has been recognized that crops and soils are not uniform within a given field. Over the last decade, various technical methods have been developed utilizing modern electronics to respond to field variability. This includes geographic positioning system (GPS)-based agriculture, site-specific and precision farming (precision agriculture) which includes computer-oriented technologies, agricultural decision support software, sensors and monitoring systems, GPS and mapping systems, predictive modelling technologies, and unmanned aerial surveillance (UAS) and imaging, etc.

The potential of precision farming for economic and environmental benefits could be visualized through reduced use of agricultural inputs such as water, fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. Instead of managing an entire field based upon some hypothetical average condition, which may not exist anywhere in the field, a precision farming approach recognizes site-specific variability and requirements within fields and adjusts management actions accordingly. Precision Agriculture offers the potential to automate and simplify the collection and analysis of information. It allows management decisions to be made and quickly implemented on small areas within larger fields.

The Government of India has also launched a number of Initiatives in this direction. The Soil Health Card Scheme is one such major initiative under which soil samples of individual farmers are tested and analysed in various soil testing labs to determine nutritional status and make crop-wise recommendations of fertilisers to enable them to achieve higher productivity.

While government is doing it’s utmost to assist the farmers in improving farm productivity through efficient use of agricultural inputs, young entrepreneur and start-ups too can play a pivotal role in this national endeavor by developing and commercializing low cost, easy to use devices and diagnostics linked to Smartphone apps for on the spot soil and plant health assessment. Increasing productivity and sustainability of agriculture depends, to a very large extent, on engaging young people in the sector, drawing on their energy and innovations.

In order to engage, encourage and facilitate efforts of young educated minds, BIRAC announces a Call for Proposals for individuals, entrepreneurs and start-ups in the field of Soil and Plant health assessment.

Click here to view an advertisment

Development of efficient, low cost, easy to use sensors for estimation of pH, moisture, macro and micronutrients, organic matter, etc. for on the spot soil fertility analysis Development of software, and mobile app to analyse test results for appropriate soil amendments Use of GIS, GPS, and Remote Sensing techniques for capturing variability in soil fertility  Big data analytics tools and techniques, IOT, etc. Tools/techniques for estimation of both pathogenic (fungi, nematodes, etc.) as well as  beneficial organisms (rhizobia, mycorrhizae, etc.) in the soil  Development of sensors/simple tools for estimation of nutritional status in plant tissue to determine nutrient deficiency and plan proper fertilizer application  Rapid, specific and low cost diagnostic kits for on-site detection of various plant diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, etc. to minimize production losses Other related activities

Indian start‐ups, entrepreneurs, Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) Indian Academic Scientists, Researchers, PhDs (willing to incubate in a business incubator)

Proposals are required to be submitted online only. For scheme details and submission of proposal, please log on to BIRAC website (www.birac.nic.in).

Last date for Submission of Proposals : 15th March, 2017

Head – Investment : investment.birac@gov.in or Senior Manager : sparsh.birac@nic.in

Announcement Date: 26-01-2017
Last Submission Date: 15-03-2017 12:00 AM