Agrinos plays a major role in the UC Berkeley – Andhra Smart Village Project to Support the Indian Farming Community and Sustainable Agriculture

In partnership with the UC Berkley Global Innovation Forum, Agrinos brings sustainable agricultural technology to support economic development in rural Indian villages

NEW DELHI, India (Sept. 19, 2017)—Agrinos is pleased to announce its collaboration with the University of California, Berkeley in support of the Smart Village Project in India. The UC Berkeley – Andhra Smart Village project is a collaborative initiative between the government of Andhra Pradesh (a province in India) and the University of California, Berkeley. The project aims to empower, improve and connect Indian villages while enabling sustainable development by leveraging innovative technologies. 

Corporate participants with the Chief Minister

According to UC Berkeley professor Solomon Darwin, executive director of the Andhra Smart Village Project, a smart village is “a community empowered by digital technologies and open innovation platforms to access global markets.” The project works towards community prosperity and collective strength by providing villagers tools to empower themselves through access to resources, knowledge and global connectivity.

Through a partnership established by Agrinos CEO Dr. Ry Wagner with Professor Darwin, Agrinos is one of the participating technology firms and the only agriculture company providing biological crop input solutions to the farmers. It will help advance opportunities for farmers in the Kuppam Constituency, which includes 462 Indian villages. Other sponsors and partners of the Smart Village Project include Google, IBM, Facebook and NASA.    

“As part of our involvement, we will provide technical training programs to UC Berkeley – Andhra Smart Village Mandal Directors on Agrinos’ High Yield Technology (HYT^®) products,” said Dr. Selvasundaram (Selva) Rajagopal, head of technology and chief agronomist for Agrinos’ India and Asia business units. “The technical training will be followed by in-field training and the coordination of field trial demonstrations to show the value of HYT products on key crops which include tomato, groundnut, marigold and mulberry. Product samples will be provided to the villages based on crop availability, cultivation practices and farmer interest.”

Dr. Selva participated in all related meetings and events. Indranil Das, Agrinos vice president of India and Asia business and Debabrata Sarkar, Agrinos India country manager also participated with Dr. Selva in the recent Open Innovation Forum. Das delivered a presentation about the current agriculture scene and Agrinos’ crop input solutions at the event.

The Forum, attended by the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, focused on ways to leverage innovation in order to deliver scalable business models. The goal is to create value, enhance prosperity and foster sustainable practices for Indian villagers, particularly in the state of Andhra Pradesh.  

Dr. Chandrababu Naidu, chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, expressed appreciation for the work being done by the UC Berkeley – Andhra Smart Village team. He applauded all the technology providers, including Agrinos, for their participation and commitment to create value for rural people living in the smart villages of Andhra Pradesh.

Agrinos will provide additional updates surrounding its participation in the Smart Village Project throughout the course of the program. 

About Agrinos

Agrinos is a biological crop input provider committed to improving the productivity and sustainability of modern agriculture. Agrinos’ range of biofertilizers and biostimulant products help farmers to practice profitable agriculture by providing increased crop productivity, improved efficiency of conventional fertilizer and a reduced environmental footprint.

Based on Agrinos’ proprietary High Yield Technology (HYT) platform, the HYT^® products provide benefits by strengthening the soil-based microbial ecosystem, stimulating crop development at key points in the growth cycle and boosting natural plant resistance to environmental stresses. With solutions for a variety of crop categories, the technology comprising the HYT products has demonstrated its value in third-party trials in key agricultural regions worldwide.