India – A Krishi Pradhan country, is the home of more than 150 million farmers. Today’s farmer is rapidly adapting to technology solutions and practices smart farming to counter the uncertainties in farming. Gramophone is one of the very few new-age startups in India that allows farmers to do intelligent farming with its full-stack technology platform. From inception to date, it has impacted the lives of 1 Mn+ farmers. And today, we will witness one such uplifting parable.

Meet, Shekhar Prema Chaudhary – A farmer from Pipari village of Khargone district MP. He has been associated with us for the past 4 years and has encountered life-altering experiences. Earlier he used to make a profit of 50K to 1 Lac per year, which now with his hard work + Gramophone’s services has gone up to 13 Lacs per year. He now owns a car and renovated his house. But how did it happen? Let’s find out in our exclusive blog story.

Gramophone Smart Farming – A Solution of Future

Agriculture is a tough profession, a farmer has to face many uncertainties like – irregular rainfalls, lack of professional assistance, no easy access to right agri-inputs, soil erosion, and so on.  4 years ago, Shekhar was in the same shoes but the story has changed after being associated with Gramophone.

Data-driven agriculture, with the help of cutting-edge technology innovations, paves the way for smart farming and removes uncertainties to the most extent. Gramophone’s end-to-end tech solutions ensure that farmers can access real-time agri-intelligence and get the right agri-input products at their doorsteps with its reliable last-mile delivery network within 24-48 hrs. 

Gramophone’s full suite of solutions also includes – farm management solutions & Gram Vyapaar – an output marketplace. We address all aspects of the crop production cycle, right from Soil health, crop nutrition, disease cure to crop selling. That’s how we help farmers, all they need related to farming is available @ Gramophone platform.

Shekhar Struggles & Gramophone’s Solutions

Shekhar’s family consists of his wife, both of his parents, and two children. He managed to complete his 6th-grade education and began working on a pay as a worker during the day and as a driver at night in 2005, at the age of 14, and continued this labor until 2014. This was an arduous struggle for him and his family.

To get through this difficult period, he decided to go into farming in 2014. Formerly, his father practiced farming, but the earnings were low owing to a lack of the right knowledge and resources. 

“The first two years of farming were extremely difficult owing to bad conditions. It was initially difficult for me to buy the right Agri inputs due to a lack of the right knowledge or professional assistance. Also, we had to go very far to buy seeds, fertilizers, etc.” -Shekhar Shared

Following his Gramophone app download, using Gram salah & Gram bazaar obtaining agri-expert guidance as well as buying the right kind of Agri-inputs at an affordable price was effortless, this saved the cost of cultivation by 20% and created appealing profit from the produce in the same season by 25-30%.

Next, he went on to utilize Gramophone’s farm management solutions. Adding his farm with the app and getting the soil tested under the Super fasal program.  

“Gramophone’s executive visited my field and suggested that I get the soil analyzed to achieve higher yields and optimal profit. Based on the soil test reports, I planned the nutrient dosage under Gramophone agri-expert guidance and started sowing crops”. Shekhar remarked

He gradually extended his field size to 6-acres by adopting improved agricultural methods and currently cultivates a variety of crops simultaneously. Shekhar Prema explains his experience as –

After 4 years of his affiliation with Gramophone, Shekhar is now able to achieve a higher earning and generate a profit of 13 lakhs Y-O-Y. Today, he owns a car and a house which has been a lifelong ambition for him and his family.

The Happy Farmer Stories Continue

With Gramophone’s support, farmers like Shekhar Prema are optimizing their cost of cultivation, mitigating the risk, diversifying their crop cultivation, and earning higher profits. Now with the Gram Vyapaar launch in 2021, farmers can also sell their crops on the Gramophone platform. Farmers can find the right buyer, connect directly and close the trade.

As per its mission and vision, Gramophone is making strong strides towards achieving the goal of maximizing farmers’ income in India. We intend to make lakhs and lakhs of stories like Shekhar Pema.