About us

"The Journey So Far..."

The UpajBadao (Maximise Yield) initiative has been born out of my keen interest in AgriTech, Mechanical and Geophysics areas. The idea stemmed from my first-hand experience of observing a disproportionate effort versus yield outcome for the small landholding farmers in the Raigad district of Maharashtra in India. The idea took steam during my high school in 2020-21 when the Covid pandemic led to a mass lockdown, and I packed my bags to operate out of my uncle’s farm outside Mumbai in Raigad (Alibaug). Having grown up seeing Agriculture as an integral part of my grandparents’ farm up north in Himachal Pradesh state, I took an immediate interest in the local farming community at Alibaug. I observed a full cycle of the vegetable crops season and was surprised to see the cost and effort involved in cultivating crops versus the ultimate yield to the farmers. This led me to undertake a primary research project at the farm in 2021-22 to evaluate the response of vegetable crops to changes in soil conditions, irrigation, fertilizer application and pest treatment. The experiment showed stark differences in the yield between treated and untreated test beds which eventually motivated me to develop a simple Android based App to provide a more realistic advice to farmers, within their means, in order to help them maximise their crop output. This App is developed using JAVA and Python-Flask with the objective to develop this further into a larger application to reach the wider farming community. This is the first student led AgriTech initiative in the Raigad district backed by practical advice and almost zero input cost to the farmers. The initiative is gaining increasing interest in the local farming community, and I look forward to building this further.

Further information on research interests is collated here.

Astrophysics Research: Research report published in the Journal of Science (JSR) - “What are the Critical Factors that Affect the Habitability of Celestial Bodies in Our Solar System?” https://www.jsr.org/hs/index.php/path/article/view/2056/979

IRIS National Fair (Science), New Delhi (2022-23): Research project submitted on “Maximising vegetable yield for small landholding farmers in Alibaug, Raigad (North Konkan Coast), Mumbai, Maharashtra” - Report, Presentation, Video

RISE Global Scholar (2022): RISE is an initiative of Schmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust. Shortlisted in top global 500 for the programme. Project submission on AgriScience titled "Improving the vegetable yield for local farmers through optimal farming practices". https://www.risefortheworld.org/about-rise/