Bhumitralab, is the combination of three words “bhumi” which means land, “mitra” which mean friend, and lab for laborites. The organization works as a friend, not only for community, but also for the soil –using technology help revive the land and keep it healthy. Their team is a group of experts who provide consultancy and solutions from soil quality, crop selection, to adequate market for harvest, so farmers can get the best prices.
They started with the first bio-fertilizer names “Balram”, who in Indian mythology is the big brother of Lord Krishna, and is known as god of farming. This fertilizer cleans the soil and increase its nutrients and microorganisms. Success of this on field and the team’s expert advice has since garnered them several farmers as loyal customers. These farmers made Rahul to register for an Indian start-up competition. Among over 16 thousand participants nationwide, and team cleared the 7-8 rounds and won the first agriculture award winner in 2018.
This award connected Bhumitralab with Unlimited India as their incubation partner, where they got mentoring to scale up their solutions. It was then that they were introduced to Givfunds. During COVID, market and conditions became challenging. To maintain liquidity in light of slowing revenue, they approached Givfunds for loan. These funds helped them to provide livelihoods to more than 40 families.
Rahul says, “I have never seen such a fast process and loan disbursement. We need such organizations who believes in you and are ready to support. Special thanks to Irwan and Edward, who are humble listeners and considerate to understand the difficulties on the ground.”
Presently, Bhumitralab also has a technical tie-up with Indian Institute of Technology Nagpur (IIT, one of the premier Engineering institutes) for further research and new products development.
They innovate not only in products, but also the way they work. Presently, their core team is small with Rahul taking lead as director and marketing, while co-founder Mukesh leads product development and operations. There are also experts working on Technology, soil, and 3 people in marketing. They run as a combination of B2B and B2C, working with and empowering “Bhumitra” representatives in each village, young farmers who work for Bhumitralab to earn additional income. On-boarding Bhumitra starts with 5 days of intensive training - 2 and 3 days of technical and field training respectively. This model helped them to reach 230 villages, covering in 4 states across India.
Bhumitralab’s vision to reach more than 1,000 villages by 2025, and spread the awareness of the benefits of organic farming and keeping lifelong healthy soil. Their contribution doesn’t stop here, with it’s bigger purpose to serve the motherland and the community. During Covid-19, the team has also arranged multiple food drives, COVID vaccination to Bhumitra’s and their families.
Going forward, Bhumitralabs is looking for ways to reach out and spread this awareness. Video-call expert support, teaching videos are just some examples. Rahul, offered call support on expert advice for soil, crop selection, market etc. free of cost; you can reach him at +9190216 92170 or +9183790 83565.