“Our objective is to provide a managed farm that is secure, sustainable, tech-enabled and rewarding”
Srinath Setty
For this week’s startup feature, Analytics India Magazine spoke to Srinath Setty, co-founder of Hosachiguru to understand how the Bangalore-based startup is leveraging emerging technologies like AI and IoT to bring automation in farming.
Founded in 2014 by Srinath Setty, Ashok J and Sriram Chitlur, Hosachiguru is a Bengaluru based agriculture asset management startup that helps buyers own and manage well-curated farmlands for long term benefits. The company helps people buy agricultural land, manage it end to end through their farm-as- a-service model and earn money by selling the produce.
Flagship Product
Hosachiguru’s flagship product is Abhivrudhi farms, a farmland spanning over 200 acres. Setty said the farms use IoT & AI for crop monitoring, remote irrigation, disease control, weather forecasting (microclimate prediction), signal controlling, automation of controls and processes, soil and water monitoring.
“One of the prime recent developments of Hosachiguru has been our MyFarm App. This app serves two purposes; With a display of farm assets, farm activities and weather monitoring data, it brings the experience of owning farmland to the customers’ fingertips, and besides that, it uses this same data to help the operations team on the farm conduct their activities. These precision farming-based activities are updated on a daily basis, and they also provide real-time data to customers,” he said.
What’s The Differentiator
“Farmland as a long-term service model is a fairly new concept and one pioneered by Hosachiguru. What also sets Hosachiguru apart from companies dealing in the same genre is the experience provided to the customers. People visit our farm with the expectation of a weekend getaway, and Hosachiguru farms provide just that. The location of these farms is optimum; they are situated 90 minutes from the Kempegowda International Airport, which means they are at a decent distance from the city, but also not too far to travel to. Our farms consist of eco-retreats that enrich the customers’ farm stay and make it one to remember,” Setty said.
Use of AI & IoT at Hosachiguru
The techniques of IoT and AI allows Hosachiguru to expedite work cycles as well as manage farms efficiently. The company combines the Internet of Things (IoT) system with Artificial Intelligence to analyse real-time data and create prediction models for weather forecasts based on trend analysis.
Core Tech Stack
Flutter, a major frontend tool, provides a rich User Interface to enhance the customer’s experience. Hosachiguru is primarily a mobile-first company.
As for the backend, microservices are the building blocks of the company’s database. Developers at Hosachiguru use new-age databases like NoSQL (which ups the scalability to include images and videos), Microsoft Azure for cloud storage, DevOps as well as the latest database to release applications faster, and speed up coding and testing.
Roadmap
“We are planning to venture into farmlands closer to the city, while also expanding reach in farmlands that are attractively priced. Our aim is to set up 5,000 acres of farmland in the next three years and is planning to invest downstream in sandalwood and timber assets. We are also coming up with retreat homes on the farms which blend responsibility with retreat. Additionally, we are venturing into supporting all managed farmlands by smart agricultural technology such as GIS monitoring and analysis of land parcels, spectral imaging of plant health and sensor-based decision making for irrigation management. This will allow us to optimise management as we scale,” said Setty on a concluding note.
