Question #1 What was your company’s distinctive strategy for incorporating technology to meet UN Sustainable Development Goal?
AgriVijay has implemented a distinctive strategy by combining technology and social enterprise to address the UN Sustainable Development Goal. We serve as an AI-enabled curated marketplace and Ag-tech social enterprise, offering a comprehensive range of renewable and green energy products, including solar, biogas, electric green energy, Ag- tech innovations, and organic products.
Our platform aims to provide farmers and rural households with easy access to these resources.
To further enhance customer engagement, we are currently developing an AI-enabled WhatsApp Chatbot. This innovative solution converts offline energy advisory conversations into online interactions using algorithms. This enables farmers to communicate in local languages such as English, Hindi, Marathi, and Telugu.
Our mission aligns with UN SDG1: No Poverty. We strive to empower farmers and rural households, helping them achieve energy independence while fostering increased savings and income.
Question#2 What challenges did you face while working on your project/initiative, and how did you overcome them?
While working on our project/ initiative, we encountered a significant challenge as the First Movers. It revolved around reaching out to farmers and rural households, particularly those belonging to the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) segment, including small, marginal, and impoverished farmers. Limited awareness, knowledge, and accessibility to renewable and green energy products were the key issues. To overcome this, we introduced a business model innovation of establishing renewable energy stores at the rural level. These stores serve as knowledge kiosks, promoting the advantages of renewable and green energy while making a variety of renewable energy products available to rural households and farmers.
Question#3 How did you involve local communities and stake- holders in your work, and what was their response?
We believe that energy poverty can only be eliminated when people from the local communities are empowered hence our renewable energy stores are opened at the village level which are mostly rural retailers already having farmer network and doing business transaction with the local farmer population of the village hence bringing faster adoption and knowledge insemination. We also recruit local rural youth who are technical diploma holders or have some technical knowledge as technicians doing installations and after sales service belonging to local community bringing trust as well as impact through green jobs eliminating traits of poverty across all levels including energy/
Question#4 Which organizational skills and assets can be harnessed to provide its goods/services without negative environmental and social impacts?
The biggest skill or asset that can be harnessed in today’s world is to be aligned with a work or a job that is to fight against the climate change or the climate crisis which is going to impact the world where we need more green jobs more green innovations and products and more green impact.
Question#5 What is the role of businesses, governments, and civil society in achieving the SDGs, and how can they work together?
We believe that businesses, governments, and civil society all play crucial roles in achieving the SDGs. Our organization, AgriVijay, is a product of the Govt of India Startup Ecosystem, spearheaded by our esteemed Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The creation of entities like Atal Innovation Mission and NITI Aayog has established a robust support ecosystem, complementing the Startup India initiatives that drive progress aligned with the UN SDGs. As India holds the G20 presidency this year, we actively support StartupG20, an initiative led by the honorable Sherpa Mr. Amitabh Kant, along with Mr. Chintan Vaishnav (Mission Director, AIM). This initiative has sustainability at its core and aims to foster collaboration between businesses, governments, and society, making it a global movement in the fight against climate change. When all elements of the ecosystem work together, achieving the SDGs becomes easier, leading to significant and scalable impacts.
Question#6 What impact has your project had, and what are your future goals?
As an Ag-tech social enterprise, our project has had a significant impact. We help farmers and rural households achieve energy independence and address various environmental and social challenges. For example, our biogas digesters treat waste, providing clean cooking fuel and replacing firewood for rural women. Solar water pumps irrigate fields, and our products, including electric tractors and tillers, reduce GHG and CO2 emissions. This increases income and savings for households. We have onboarded 250+ farmers in 2 years, mitigating 10,000 tons of GHG/CO2 emissions annually, irrigating 500+ acres of land, treating 164,250+ kg of animal waste, fertilizing farmers with 328,500+ liters of organic digested slurry, impacting 1,700 farmer families, and saving 59,000+ kg of firewood. Our future goal is to open 1,000 Renewable Energy Stores, onboard 10,000 farmer and rural households, abate 100,000 tons of GHG/CO2 emissions, and eliminate energy poverty in alignment with the UN SDGs. We aim to bring increased savings and income to rural communities, making a scalable impact as a Global Agtech Climate Action Social Enterprise.
Question#7 What advice do you have for individuals/organizations seeking to create positive change?
We would suggest anyone who actually wants to work to contribute should work as a group or a team or a social enterprise with the vision and mission aligned with SDGs as it’s a Hercules task hence cannot be done alone and requires teamwork with proper planning & strategy to be implemented to achieve the desired results aligned with SDGs.
Question#8 How would receiving this SDG Award help you improve your impact and scale your project?
We firmly believe that receiving the SDG Award would not mark the end of our journey or the ultimate destination of our movement. However, coming from the EU Tech Chamber, this award holds significant value, as it represents a prestigious recognition of our impactful work and efforts towards the SDGs. It further validates our vision and strengthens our commitment to achieving the SDGs, enabling us to expand and amplify our impact across various regions and communities globally.