Deadline: 13 July 2025
Krishi Mangal Program, a joint initiative by Social Alpha and Cisco CSR, supported by StartupTN, is now open for applications to expand its lens beyond core agriculture to back deep-tech solutions that drive sustainable, regenerative practices across farming and allied rural livelihoods.
The current edition focuses on bringing deep-tech solutions to the forefront—addressing critical challenges such as soil degradation, water scarcity, post-harvest losses, crop value realisation, waste management, and rising input costs. With a strong emphasis on climate resilience, sustainability, and farmer-centric design, the program is committed to empowering smallholder farmers by increasing awareness, improving productivity, profitability, and long-term viability of agricultural and allied practices.
Focus Areas
- Integrated Farming Management
- Inefficient input application and suboptimal resource management have led to a 30–40% loss in potential crop yields. Over the past decade, this challenge has intensified due to declining seed quality and the overuse of agrochemicals—resulting in reduced crop productivity, increased pest resistance, higher cultivation costs, and growing financial stress on farmers. Potential solutions include (but are not limited to):
- Precision farming technologies such as affordable IoT-based sensors, AI-driven platforms for automating irrigation scheduling and pest detection, and drones for crop monitoring and pesticide spraying to enhance input efficiency, reduce losses, and improve crop health.
- Biotechnology and nanotechnology-based inputs, including climate-resilient, high-quality seed varieties, smart pesticides, herbicides, weedicides, and growth promoters that replace outdated and inefficient agricultural practices.
- Blockchain-powered traceability systems to enable end-to-end quality control, increase transparency across the supply chain, and improve market access for farmers.
- Inefficient input application and suboptimal resource management have led to a 30–40% loss in potential crop yields. Over the past decade, this challenge has intensified due to declining seed quality and the overuse of agrochemicals—resulting in reduced crop productivity, increased pest resistance, higher cultivation costs, and growing financial stress on farmers. Potential solutions include (but are not limited to):
- Soil Rejuvenation and Irrigation Management
- Over half of India’s agricultural land is degraded, with 60–70% of soils lacking essential nutrients and nearly 70% deficient in organic carbon. Combined with water stress—80% of groundwater is over-exploited and only 45% of cultivated land is irrigated—this leads to inefficient water use and depleting water tables. Potential solutions include (but are not limited to):
- Soil health diagnostic tools using PCR-based microbial profiling, near-infrared spectroscopy, and AI-driven platforms to assess key parameters and provide precise, site-specific nutrient recommendations.
- Soil rejuvenation inputs made from engineered microbial consortia that restore nutrient cycling, improve structure and fertility, and enhance water retention.
- Innovations in water and irrigation management, including artificial aquifer recharge systems, groundwater mapping and monitoring, IoT- and analytics-integrated irrigation systems aligned with crop needs, and solar-powered pumps designed for smallholders.
- Over half of India’s agricultural land is degraded, with 60–70% of soils lacking essential nutrients and nearly 70% deficient in organic carbon. Combined with water stress—80% of groundwater is over-exploited and only 45% of cultivated land is irrigated—this leads to inefficient water use and depleting water tables. Potential solutions include (but are not limited to):
- Farm Mechanisation
- Farm mechanisation in India is still low—only 40–45% compared to the global average of 60–70%—and just 15–20% of the total harvested area is mechanised. High costs and poor access to small farm equipment continue to limit adoption, especially among smallholder farmers who rely heavily on manual labour. Potential solutions include (but are not limited to):
- Gender-sensitive and ergonomic tools, such as low-cost, lightweight tractors, tillers, weeders, cultivators, and seeders designed for small farms and women farmers. These may include AI-enabled, semi-autonomous equipment that reduces strain and increases efficiency.
- Precision tools like drones, UAVs, robotic implements, and intelligent spraying systems tailored to small landholdings (0.5–5 acres) for tasks like soil preparation, spraying, and harvesting.
- Renewable energy-powered machines, such as solar-assisted autonomous tools, electric UAVs, and energy-efficient sprayers, to reduce costs, emissions, and labour dependency while promoting sustainable practices.
- Farm mechanisation in India is still low—only 40–45% compared to the global average of 60–70%—and just 15–20% of the total harvested area is mechanised. High costs and poor access to small farm equipment continue to limit adoption, especially among smallholder farmers who rely heavily on manual labour. Potential solutions include (but are not limited to):
- Post-Harvest Management
- India loses 30–40% of total food production post-harvest due to inadequate storage, poor handling, and weak transport infrastructure. Perishables like fruits, vegetables, and grains are especially affected, with 20–30% lost before reaching markets. Lack of cold storage, poor logistics, and minimal local processing only worsen the problem. Potential solutions include (but are not limited to):
- Energy-efficient storage and monitoring systems, including solar-powered, portable, and modular cold storage units suited for off-grid rural areas.
- Smart packaging and preservation methods such as active and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) and edible coatings to extend shelf life and reduce chemical use.
- Mobile processing units like portable grinders, mills, juicers, and solar-powered dehydrators to convert perishables into shelf-stable products—cutting spoilage and increasing farmer incomes.
- India loses 30–40% of total food production post-harvest due to inadequate storage, poor handling, and weak transport infrastructure. Perishables like fruits, vegetables, and grains are especially affected, with 20–30% lost before reaching markets. Lack of cold storage, poor logistics, and minimal local processing only worsen the problem. Potential solutions include (but are not limited to):
- Livestock Waste Management
- India has the world’s largest livestock population (535.78 million), generating vast amounts of organic waste—especially from 200 million dairy cows and 105 million buffaloes. This leads to high methane emissions, water pollution, and health risks. In rural areas, 75% of household energy is used for cooking, mostly from biomass. However, the uptake of clean biogas energy remains low due to high costs, lack of standardisation, and poor after-sales service. Potential solutions include (but are not limited to):
- AI/ML, IoT, and advanced monitoring integrations for domestic biogas systems to optimise performance without raising costs.
- Standardised, low-cost biogas systems for cooking, mobility, and electricity—addressing issues like high capital costs, need for customisation, and poor maintenance support.
- Waste-to-energy supply chains for collecting and processing organic waste from agriculture and livestock to reduce methane emissions and enable decentralised clean energy production.
- India has the world’s largest livestock population (535.78 million), generating vast amounts of organic waste—especially from 200 million dairy cows and 105 million buffaloes. This leads to high methane emissions, water pollution, and health risks. In rural areas, 75% of household energy is used for cooking, mostly from biomass. However, the uptake of clean biogas energy remains low due to high costs, lack of standardisation, and poor after-sales service. Potential solutions include (but are not limited to):
Program Offerings
- Market Access/Field Implementation – Up to ₹50 lakhs per start-up for a 9–12-month field implementation.
- Customised Incubation – Up to ₹5 lakhs per start-up for tailored support on market access, brand visibility, and venture acceleration.
- Lab Support – Access to shared office space and lab infrastructure at Social Alpha Labs, along with product development support including design validation, rapid prototyping, manufacturing guidance, and strategic inputs on business planning, market entry, and scale-up.
- Capacity Building – Exclusive access to masterclasses led by Cisco CSR’s deep-tech experts.
- Market Access – Opportunities to collaborate with implementation organisations, industry partners, and government stakeholders.
- Financial Support – Advisory on fundraising, support for co-investment, and investor linkages to facilitate follow-on funding and scale.
Who should apply?
- Innovators and entrepreneurs with in-revenue solutions that have demonstrated technical performance, early market traction, return on investment, and measurable social impact.
For more information, visit StartupTN.
