Sachin Durape finished his engineering degree just as the pandemic brought the world to a screeching halt. With job offers drying up, he set his sights on his native farm in Yedgaon, Maharashtra. His father had been cultivating tomatoes and chrysanthemums for several years and had made decent profits. But Sachin was not happy with the rates of Rs 20-25/kg that they got from the local markets. He knew flowers could fetch better prices in Mumbai and Pune but was faced with two hurdles- the harvest was low and the flowers had a very short shelf life which meant that he either needed to find a market that was close by, which did not give him the price he was looking for or hire a dedicated transport which, given the low yield, would be a costly affair. But Sachin was determined to increase his yields, a step his fellow farmers did not understand – why increase yields and spend on inputs when the rates were only Rs 20-25/ kg.
That is when Sachin connected with Bioprime Agrisolutions’. Bioprime team helped in planning from the very initial stages, ensuring that he got maximum branching and foliage in the plant establishment stage itself. Then, with planned applications of SNIPR biologicals- the bio-organic, sustainable solution for crop improvement, nutrition and protection, he was able to boost his yield by 50%. He also saw that better plants meant fewer insect attacks and better flowers, and he was able to reduce his fertilizer application by 20% and insecticide/pesticide requirement by 15%. To top it off, as shelf-life increased by 3-4 days, Sachin decided to look for markets with better prices. He was originally aiming for Mumbai markets but discovered that Hyderabad markets gave him almost 3 times higher market price at Rs 70-75/kg. He decided to try this market and hired a dedicated transport. With increased yields, he was able to harvest more flowers per picking and send almost 1-ton of flowers in one go. This was the first time anyone from Yedgaon had sent anything to a market that far. Flowers harvested from fields reached Hyderabad within 48 hours and money was realised the moment the flowers were unloaded.
This was unprecedented even by the digitally smart, educated Sachin’s standards. This year, Sachin will harvest 15-16 MTs of Chrysanthemums and generate a revenue of Rs 11 Lakhs. Sachin’s net revenue doubled with him earning over Rs 8 lakhs as opposed to 4.2 lakhs last year. Sachin’s first delivery to Hyderabad and his vision was the inspiration many needed. They decided to follow his steps and are focused on producing quality flowers and tapping more lucrative markets. A blooming success indeed!
Bioprime Agrisolutions is one of the semi-finalists of the Cisco Agri Challenge. Co-founded by Renuka Karandikar, Bioprime has been working on Innovative and Dissurptive Next-Gen Agri Biological Technology Platforms, which enable farmers to combat Climate Change and Increase Revenues. To know more about the semi-finalists, click here.
