Social enterprise incubator Villgro nurturing startups to solve India’s agriculture water crisis

Nearly 80 per cent of India’s freshwater are consumed by agriculture, but in an inefficient way. With most of country’s rural households dependent on agriculture, millions of lives are at stake.

Social enterprise incubator Villgro, in 2019, collaborated with Hindustan Unilever Foundation (HUF) and launched ‘Ag-Water Program’ to solve India’s agricultural water crisis. Under this programme, Villgro has identified, accelerated and scaled up some of the prominent enterprises working in the agricultural water space today. Maithili Rege, Associate Sector Lead (Agriculture), Villgro in an interview with Bizz Buzz, says, “Villgro’s theory of change believes that social entrepreneurs will lead the transformation of the Indian agriculture sector by catalysing existing government and corporate initiatives through their innovative solutions. Little support at the early stages for market-based models helps them take root, making future growth independent of donor funds. The water impact at the model’s core will scale with it”.

What is Ag-Water Program? Please give a brief.

Nearly 80 per cent of India’s freshwater are consumed by agriculture, but in an inefficient way. If we want to solve the problem of water in India, it has to start with agriculture. With most of country’s rural households dependent on agriculture, millions of lives are at stake. The complexities of the challenge have inhibited stakeholders from finding solutions on their own. While NGOs don’t have access to the latest innovations, tech-savvy social entrepreneurs don’t have access and reach to farmers and communities. In 2019, Villgro and the Hindustan Unilever Foundation (HUF) came together and launched a programme to identify and support social entrepreneurs to solve India’s agricultural water crisis.

What was the vision and goal of this programme when it was initiated three years ago?

Our goal was to identify and support the most innovative startups improving the use of water in agriculture, and helping them scale. Villgro’s theory of change believes that social entrepreneurs will lead the transformation of the Indian agriculture sector by catalysing existing government and corporate initiatives through their innovative solutions. Little support at the early stages for market-based models helps them take root, making future growth independent of donor funds. The water impact at the model’s core will scale with it.

What was the plan of action/strategy to address the problem statement and the approach for its implementation?

We took a broad lens to the problem of water use in agriculture, looking at solutions from different angles:

l Technology: Solutions directly influencing water usage in agriculture through a tech intervention.

l Farmer behaviour: Solutions that incentivise farmers to grow water-efficient crops and adopt climate friendly cultivation practices by improving the agriculture value chain and providing market access for their produce. Also focuses on accelerating women entrepreneurs.

l Sandbox to test early stage innovations: Enabling early stage startups that help rural communities use water more efficiently, test and validate their idea in the field.

We enabled these different types of startups to scale by supporting them through expert mentors, technical assistance for product development, marketing and impact monitoring. We also supported them with field pilots.

How many enterprises have been incubated under this programme? Please introduce us to a few and what were the key measures in selecting them?

After screening 3,500 enterprise profiles, we selected the nine most impactful startups. We evaluated their business models for impact potential and financial viability. We evaluated their teams for their passion and ability to solve the problem.

Few startups selected under the programme are:

1. CultYvate - Selected for its tech solution which leads to efficient use of water in paddy cultivation. CultYvate’s IoT-enabled cloud-based smart irrigation system provides precise irrigation and fertigation advisories based on the crop needs. The soil moisture sensor (fixed in the field) understands the water demand based on the type of the crop, its age, the soil texture and daily weather conditions.

2. Urdhvam - Selected for its tech solution which revives existing, failed and low-yielding borewells used for irrigation. Urdhvam’s Borecharger tool - Using IT, IoT, robotics increases the yield of failed or low yielding borewells as enabler, thereby providing safe and sustainable water for drinking, domestic and irrigation needs of farmers and making villages/habitations sustainable for future generations.

3. Kritsnam - Selected for its data driven water management solution which enables equitable distribution for agriculture, drinking and industrial purposes.

Kritsnam empowers customers with water intelligence. The company’s decision-making systems for water management are developed using a combination of ground IoT sensors, remote sensing, user inputs and crowdsourcing data.

Can you tell us about the current size, growth, and profitability of the enterprises on-boarded at large?

Revenue at the portfolio level during the last FY22 was Rs 8.54 crore which jumped to Rs 14.11 crore during April 2022 to Feb 2023 showing a 1.65 times jump.

Please elaborate on the opportunities provided to enterprises in terms of grants, funds, equity, etc. Have any of these enterprises received follow-on investments?

Villgro supported the startups with grant capital of total Rs 3.25 crores with average ticket size being Rs 35 lakhs. Villgro also enabled follow-on fundraise of Rs 30 crore.

What is the total number of jobs created and lives impacted directly or indirectly?

As many as 21,000 lives have been impacted (direct and indirect)

Which enterprises stand out in terms of impact, profitability, growth, creation of jobs, and overall improvement in livelihoods?

CultYvate, Urdhvam and Kristnam stand out from the programme

1. CultYvate

n Farmers reached - over 600

n Litres of water saved - over 150 crore

n Acres under sustainable cultivation - over 1,200

2. Urdhvam

n Borewells recharged - over 1400

n Litres of water recharged - over 20 crore

n Lives improved - over 15,000

3. Kritsnam

n Litres of water monitored - over 1300 crore

n Follow on funding raised - over Rs 15 crore

In the past three years, how much improvement has the Ag-Water Program been able to bring to solve the water crises? What are Villgro’s upcoming plans to address the issue?

In last three years, the programme identified, accelerated and scaled up some of the prominent enterprises working in the agricultural water space today. It had considerable success across multiple dimensions.

n Liters of water saved - 160 crore

n Liters of water monitored to enable decision making- 1,300 crore

n Liters of groundwater recharged- 20 crore

n Follow on funding raised by the startups - Rs 30 crore

n Acres under sustainable cultivation - 2,500

n Lives touched - 21,000

Upcoming plans: The impact created by our portfolio startups proved once again that market-based solutions can create deep and potentially lasting impact. Through this programme, Villgro got a chance to dive deep into learning about the activities that put pressure on land and water systems. We also see the struggles faced by farmers only increasing with climate change. But to solve these complex problems, we need multiple players to come together. So going forward, we want to broaden our scope of intervention to supporting startups with solutions that can reduce pressure on land and water systems and make smallholder farmers climate-resilient.

How has HUF contributed towards the Ag-Water program as a partner?

The partnership reflected a synergistic approach between HUF and Villgro where HUF supported Villgro in screening startups and providing access to its on ground implementation partners for field pilot and scaling up of solutions.

How far have Villgro and HUF been able to push the incubated enterprises in the right direction?

Through this programme, Villgro has supported some of the more successful startups shaping the use of water in agriculture today. This is evident from the business growth and impact numbers as shared above.