Samunnati collaborates with Kheyti to bring Kheyti Rakshak

Chennai-based agri value chain enabler Samunnati has announced a collaboration with Kheyti, a Hyderabad-based agritech startup, to bring “Kheyti Rakshak” to over one lakh farmers over the next four to five years.

Kheyti will distribute the first 100 kits to farmers in Telangana and Karnataka as part of this collaboration.

Samunnati may invest up to $150 million to ensure that this model reaches one lakh smallholder farmers and raises the income levels of over one lakh farmer families. The company will also facilitate farmer loans to purchase the “Kheyti Rakshak”, which will help scale the solution to over one lakh farmers in the country.

Speaking about the partnership, Anilkumar SG, CEO, and Founder at Samunnati said, “At Samunnati, we have always believed in collaborating with the industry to help the agri-ecosystem operate at a higher equilibrium. We are excited about our collaboration with Kheyti and together we look forward to bringing the benefits of innovative agri-solutions to the smallholder farmers across India.”

The initiative named, “Kheyti Rakshak” is an affordable and innovative greenhouse-in-a-box for farmers priced at Rs 1 lakh, which is 80% less expensive than other market alternatives.

This greenhouse-in-a-box is a low-cost greenhouse that comes with full-service support, Kheyti assists smallholder farmers in combating climate change. It can help grow quality vegetables even in off-seasons because it is the world's cheapest greenhouse.

Furthermore, it takes up 2% of their land, costs 90% less than regular greenhouses, protects crops from environmental risks, and grows 7x more food with 50% less water.

Sathya Raghu, Co-founder, and President, Kheyti, said, “Kheyti developed ‘Kheyti Rakshak’ to increase incomes of the ultra-poor women farmers in the country, in a market-based model. We are making vegetable farming predictable and profitable. We innovated a fantastic greenhouse.”

“By collaborating with Samunnati, we unlocked capital to reach 100,000 farmers. Now, we intend to partner with relevant farmer-focused organizations across India and the world to grow at 4x to 5x every year and reach 100,000 farmers by 2025,” he added.

Kheyti creates, adapts, and implements low-cost farming solutions to help small farmers increase yield and predictability. These technologies are combined with end-to-end support to provide farmers with a streamlined path to increased income.

They are currently developing our proof of concept with 300 farmers in the Telangana region of India. In that project, already 1500 farmers enrolled and are preparing to deliver their solution on a large scale.

Samunnati, through various partnerships and its unique agri value chain financing approach, addresses grass-roots issues while enabling growth for everyone in the agricultural ecosystem.

It further aims to assist underfunded sectors and to investigate the niche value chain for sustainable ecosystem development.

Samunnati also wants to promote climate-smart agriculture standards that encourage crop harvesting at the optimal time.

Also Read:

• We Founder Circle invests in three agritech startups

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