Agriculture is considered the backbone of a nation for its food security, economic stability, and rural livelihoods. For a developing nation like India, agriculture comes forward with great potential for emerging startups. If the food producers of the nation prosper, the nation will automatically glow in its glory. One such startup that recognised the agriculture sector for its potential is Agriwa Organics- a Madhya Pradesh based biotechnology-and-drones solution, founded by Ansh Patidar in 2022. However, the path to this success was nothing short of a roller-coaster ride filled with highs and lows.
Back when Ansh Patidar passed his class 10th with 91%, he knew that he would achieve his dream of becoming an automobile engineer, but fate had other plans. Just when it was time to move towards a brighter future, his father suffered a huge financial loss. His parents were distraught but determined to provide their son the best education no matter what. However, the 15-year old Ansh could see his parents struggle and had the courage to step-up to support their family.
Once he went along with his father to buy pesticides for their farm and noticed his father buying an expensive pesticide rather than another one that had the same ingredients but was comparatively less expensive. When he asked his father to explain, his father replied that he did not mind paying a little more as he trusted the brand. That clicked something in the 15-year old and ideas started pouring in his mind. He researched and found out that the commission taken by the middle-men between the manufacturer and the farmer was much greater than expected resulting in expensive pesticides. Ansh, himself belonging to a small tribal village in the Barwani district of Madhya Pradesh, has always had a soft-spot for farmers because of witnessing daily struggles of his parents. So, with the determination to improve the traditional ways of agriculture, he decided to kickstart his own startup. His savings and the money collected from his relatives on the appreciation of scoring well in 10th std together formed his capital. He asked manufacturers to send him pesticide products for a minimum quantity worth Rs. 3000, to which a Gujarat manufacturer agreed. This is how Ansh Patidar founded ABC Agrocham in 2019 at the tender age of 15. He eliminated all possibilities of eating commission by middlemen, and sold the high-quality pesticides directly to farmers. This startup helped more than 1 lakh farmers improve yield, minimize spending, as well as increase their harvest and income. In 1 ½ years, ABC Agrocham successfully achieved a turnover of Rs. 40 lakh. He had become India’s first and youngest 15-year old to get his own GST registration.
He had the support from his teacher who suggested that he attend a startup event in Indore that helped him to understand how the world of startup works and how others are making it work for themselves better. He discovered the importance of technology to accelerate the process of the business further. He further strived to put his lessons to work and worked towards making an app that would:-
- Aware the farmers of the prices being offered for their crops.
- Aware the farmers about the rate of pesticides and fertilizers, and compare the prices at different Krishi Dukaan.
- Increase local retailers’ market reach and give them a larger pool of farmers.
Thus, he gathered a small tech team and started Agrostand Technologies Private Limited in 2021. He reivensted all of the revenue of ABC Agrocham to fund Agrostand. No doubt, the app was helpful for the farmers but the startup came crashing down. Ansh Patidar on the failure of his startup says, “The problem was that I had reinvested and circulated a lot of money from ABC Agrocham to Agrostand. One day came, and I was unable to pay a manufacturer I purchased from. It was a debt of Rs. 9.5 lakhs”. Ansh had barely reached the age of 17, but he repaid all his debt by taking an advance payment from the people who trusted him for a discounted pesticide sale.
Finally, his vision grew and he aimed to create such an organic pesticide that could minimize the expenditure from the farmer’s pocket, improve the crop health, resulting in increasing the farmer’s income. So he started Agriwa Organics International Private Limited in 2022. Initially, the startup provided free drone technology to the farmers along with the organic pesticides. Over the past 2 ½ years, Agriwa Organics has provided 5,000 farmers with free-of-cost drone sprays covering 20,000 acres of farmland. Since a drone can cover upto 30 acres of land, it has also helped reduce 6,000 tonnes of carbon emissions too.
Ansh says, “Over the past few years, I have learnt that not just life but also entrepreneurship is a learning curve. You have your ups-and-downs, but your resilience matters the most. In the future, we want to expand into sustainable agriculture and carbon credit. I also want to empower women and hire them as pilots for our drones. This is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Drone Didi scheme”. Agriwa Organics is now valued at Rs. 50 crore.
Ansh Patidar’s story teaches us that age is truly just a number. Just like Ansh, several other young entrepreneurs are an example to the world that innovation has no set age and it can take place as young or as old as you are. His story is one of resilience, grit, and stubborn nature of new ideas that work towards giving the people of India a better future to look ahead. Want to read more such stories? Subscribe to our site for daily startup news now!
