2. Contents Basic Problem & Ideology Solution Overview Solution Details Cost of raw Materials Financial Details Assumptions Profiles & Resumes Rents & salaries Break Even Analysis Further Planning & Diversification SWOT Analysis Exit Strategy
3. Basic Problem Indian farmers still use unconventional irrigation techniques for agriculture. These techniques reduce land yielding capacity along with water & fertilizer utilization Latest scientific techniques are best mean to achieve that optimization.
4. Mission Statement The mission of Agrosol India Pvt. Ltd. is to introduce & implement extensive agricultural techniques in Indian Farming by using engineering disciplines like genetics, agriculture, electronics & computer science. Our aim is to develop techniques, so as to enhance productivity of land and efficiency of labors.
5. The Purpose, Business & Values The Purpose: To improvise the economical situation of Indian Farmers with the introduction of scientific agricultural techniques. The Business: To install modern adaptive irrigation systems . The Values: The in depth research based techniques to improve agricultural productivity, robust marketing strategies & caring for farmers interest.
6. Description of Business Since Agrosol will generally emphasize on improving agricultural techniques, therefore we will start with irrigation. In India, the process of irrigation is still conventional, which results in uneven distribution of water, wastage of water resources and plant is not able to absorb the nutrients from soil at right time. Hence there is a lot to think on this side.
7. Description of Business (Contd.) What we mean by controlled irrigation? Following points will throw some light on it: Right quantity of water supplied to plants at right time. Chemical composition of water should be well calibrated according to the needs of plant. A very even distribution of water in the field. Regularly checking the chemical composition of soil and steps taken to improve its fertility. Water distribution must be changed according to the weather, temperature, humidity, soil moisture etc.
8. How to make it Possible? Now, it is quite obvious that a man cannot do all the time such precise calculations and distribute water in the fields. Even an Engineering fellow cannot do all these calculation on its own. Only solution to do this is to take the help of Intelligent machines which are very well capable to do this job.
9. Solution Overview We will use the microprocessor based controlled adaptive irrigation system. A microprocessor is nothing more than a small cheap computer which can be programmed to do specific jobs. We will use sprinkler irrigation system. The irrigation system is controlled by actuators, which can be electrical switches, relays and by using MEMS (Micro-Electrical Mechanical switches) These actuators get order by Microprocessor, which will provide it necessary instructions to sprinkle water. Microprocessor will get feedback from: 1.Sensors buried in the soil to monitor the chemical composition of soil. 2. Latest update of weather report. 3.Chemical composition of water. We will also use a software which will run the microprocessor and perform all the necessary calculations to irrigate water and will provide necessary instructions to farmers or users to supply the essential nutrients to the soil. The instruction and field report to users will be provided on a very user friendly GUI.
10. Implementation Issues Field will be divided into two dimensional arrays. Sprinklers will be installed at each node. Since sprinkler’s valve is electronically controlled, wireless relays or actuators will be installed with each sprinkler. Wireless Soil sensors will be buried in the field at appropriate places and these will also be connected with computer. A central computer unit will be installed at the outside of field which will do the necessary computations from time to time and will automatically give instructions to actuators which control the sprinklers. We will also install a Weather Kit which will provide the temperature, pressure, air humidity and wind speed
11. Prior Knowledge Required Irrigation techniques vary from crop to crop, soil to soil & from weather to weather. Therefore we will be required an extensive database of all such information for a particular region. This State of the art project as a whole is a multidisciplinary task whose roots are from Control System Engineering, Software Engineering (Grid Computing in particular), Electrical Engineering, Agricultural Engineering & Biotechnology.
12. Basic Ingredients of System Sprinkler system consisting of sprinklers and PVC pipes (Finolex is a standard company for such equipments) A computer and a microprocessor ( µP-8085 or Intel’s I-core 7) Soil sensors ( At crude level, we can use even pH papers and mechanically feed the report in computer from time to time, however in market advanced wireless soil sensors are now available at cheap rates which will utilize IEEE 1451 protocol. One such product is Vegetronix VG-400) Actuators (At crude level, we will use electrical relays which will be instructed via actual power supply lines. At advanced level, we can use wireless relays or SPDT’s. In market such switches of all IEEE 802 standards are available.) Electronic Valves (It constitutes the core part of control system. Valve will be electrically controlled by relays. Such products are available in large amounts in market. One such example is KLD electronically controlled valves)
13. Basic Ingredients of System (Contd.) Software (Which is the brain of the system. Our team of software engineers will develop such a robust software which will cover large amount of variation. We will also maintain a vast amount of database relating crops, soil fertility and live data which will come from Soil sensors) Data Acquisition Cards (It will be required to maintain communication between sensors & computer) Water Pump An Internet Connection which will provide necessary weather forecasting details. A Weather kit
14. Our End Product Our company will Install an irrigation system which is autonomous and adaptively controlled. We will actually install all sprinklers, bury wireless soil sensors at appropriate places in fields, attach relays (which can be wireless or electrical) to the sprinklers, set up a computing unit just outside the field, and we will also provide a wireless device to the farmer, which will notify him from time to time, provide necessary alerts regarding power supply of wireless devices, a charging kit which can be used to power all mobile devices and a back up power supply kit.
15. Unique Selling Prepositions The major problem with efficiency of irrigation system was that of evaporation. A major chunk of water supplied to fields is evaporated to air. But now due to fine tuning of water supplied to field at regular intervals, this loss is minimized. Another major problem was with the nutrients absorption of plants. They will absorb less nutrients not only in case of scarcity in soil moisture but also when soil moisture is excessive. Therefore it requires an optimization process so that plants can absorb more water and more nutrients under the given weather condition.
16. USP (Contd.) A major load of farmers tension related to proper irrigation of crops is now totally reduced. With the help of innovative schemes of government of water harvesting in many villages, our job becomes easy. With the help of such irrigation systems, we will be able to save more than 60% water and yield of crop just doubles of the current amount which is a very huge improvement. This will happen very well because our ideology understands the cost of each drop of water. Fertilizer utilization efficiency of soil also increases by 20-30%
17. Start up Implementation Consider a 400×400 meter field. It will require approximately 64 sprinklers, 3350 meters of PVC pipes, 64 Wireless relays, 64 electronically controlled valves, 64 Embedded miniature moisture sensors, 1 Sensor Card which constitutes the Data acquisition system, One Micro Controller, Water Pump, a Personal Computer.
19. Fixed cost & Variable cost Fixed cost is always equal to Rs. 75000 Variable cost in INR can be calculated using following formula: Variable Cost = 2700y + (L-50)(40+30z) where, L = length of side of square field y= [L/50]^2 z=[L/100] [*] represents greatest integer function
20. Assumptions Initially we will start with working on large fields due to following reasons: Installing electronic equipments in large fields is cheaper than on smaller fields Since as we are starting our business, we have to look for those people who have large amount of money and are willing to take risk with. In our calculation of financial data, we have assumed that we will get fields of dimensions nearly to 400 by 400. Tax slab is assumed as 10% for <5 lacs, 20% b/w 5-15 lacs, 30 % for the rest.
21. Assumptions We will use following broad assumptions: The field on which we have installed equipments is leveled normal plan (i.e. its fertility is normal). We are not seeing any storm or flooding situation with in next two years with the help of weather forecasting. Water is available whenever needed (as water storage systems are now popular with in villages. Electricity is available at least 12 hours a day. All fields are assumed to be square in shape for sake of simplicity System installed will work correctly, if it damages, it can be repaired within a day.
22. Market Since it is very possible that people would not understand our ideology easily, therefore we will first target higher end customer as they will assume these techniques to be a lucrative one for their business prospects. Cost of electronics Items has been obediently following Moore’s Law since last 30 years. Moore's law describes a long-term trend in the history of computing hardware, in which the number of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit has doubled approximately every two years. Therefore as a result of this law, it can be assumed that price of raw materials of our industry will decrease in subsequent future.
24. Official Expenses Per month office rent ‘po’ = Rs.24000 Fixed office Cost ‘fc’ = Rs. 225000
25. Financial Details Now we are going to show the possible financial scenario of our company for next 4 half year periods . Since in India, there are two seasons for sowing of crops viz. rabi and kharif. Thus or major work will be two prepare the field for irrigation for next six months.
26. 1st Half Details Initially 3 fields were serviced for Rs. 400000 each. Thus revenue earned is Rs.(400000-315800)x3=Rs. 252600= G1 Salaries were given as:
27. 1st Half Details Money Spend on Salary S1= Rs. 1092000 Official expenses were: O1 = fc + (pox6) + ta Travelling allowance ‘ta’ = 500x5x3= Rs. 7500 O1 = Rs. 376500 Hence net profit after tax is P1 = G1-O1-S1 = -Rs. 1215900
28. 2nd Half Details Now we are assuming 10 fields were serviced for Rs. 450000 each. Thus revenue earned is Rs.(450000-315800)x10=Rs. 1342000= G2 Salaries were given as:
29. 2nd Half Details Official expenses were : O2 = pox6 + ta Travelling allowance ta = Rs. 500x8x10 = Rs. 40000 O2= Rs. 184000 Hence net profit after tax is P2= G2 – S2 –O2 = -Rs. 414000
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36. Break Even Analysis In the business model we have used, Break even point comes after 5th half and not at 4th half. Clearly P1+P2+P3+P4 = -Rs. 227900 <0 Also P1+P2+P3+P4+P5= Rs.1269400>0
37. Future Prospective Drip Irrigation. Manufacturing of agricultural irrigation equipments Manufacturing of pesticides, insecticides etc.
38. SWOT analysis Strength: The strength lies in the novelty of our idea. This technology could have profounding implication on increase of crop yield. Weakness: Initial high cost of the system drags away lower customers from us.
39. SWOT Analysis Opportunities: Our company stand a very good opportunity because there are very few companies which promote extensive farming. Threat: natural calamities like flood, storms etc. which can dismantle the whole unit.
40. Exit Strategy Since initial investment is not high and can be successfully retrieved with in 5-6 years, thus there is no harm in just leaving the company.