RML Agtech brings Variable Rate Technology to improve farm productivity

With sowing season round the corner and farmers dilemma on what to grow and the kind of nutrients required for the soil, RML Agtech a technology-based decision support provider which caters to over three million Indian farmers, has brought in indigenous version of Variable Rate Technology (VRT) for Indian farmers to enhance the soil nutrients and productivity.

VRT is an application which helps in deciding the quantity of different nutrients and plant population to be used in a particular farm land based on the soil nutrient value of that particular piece of land. A well-accepted technology in developed countries, it requires equipments’ and sensors. In India, RML has customized VRT to local conditions wherein there will be continuous monitoring of crop through satellite imagery for nutrition deficiency or disease and provide real time inputs to the farmers. Thus VRT helps in reducing wastage of expensive inputs and help in improving quality and quantity of the yield of crop.

For the comfort and ease of farmers, RML has created a complete kit providing all the necessary steps indulged in application of VRT and includes five boxes, which will be used for soil collection/testing.

Farmers have to collect soil from five different points of their land parcel in different boxes at different depths depending on which crop they plan to grow. The soil collected in five different boxes, with each box specifically marked with a number, and send to RML centralized laboratory for testing. Once test is complete, the soil health report is updated on RML app along with advisory on remedial steps like nutrients to be added on each parcel of land.

“With hardly any awareness and practical application of VRT in India, our in-house research team has customized the VRT to suit the Indian conditions. By using the technology and following our advisory at each stage of the farming cycle, we are confident that farmers can plan the quantity of the crop output thereby reducing their input cost and improving the productivity,” said Rajiv Tevtiya, CEO and Co-Founder, RML AgTech.

There is a myth amongst farmers that all crops require same type and quantity of nutrients. However RML studies have found that land parcel of two to five acres have different nutrient value at different points, even in small land parcel.