| At Apurva, we look at the community as the first mile, not the last. 

During a recent field visit to Tamil Nadu, our team from Apurva.ai had the incredible opportunity to go through a process of validated learning with the farmers themselves - a community that Apurva powered in the recent past through a pilot program. 

Let me give you a quick overview of what this “pilot program” is all about. Apurva.ai created a custom-designed solution along with the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India and the Department of Agriculture, Tamil Nadu to enable them to capture and amplify individual farmer innovations across the state of Tamil Nadu. This pilot intended to highlight and emphasise the potential learnings of the untapped reservoir of collective wisdom among farmers.  Over 1,500 farmer voices were captured.
The collective knowledge that emerged from all the farmers can be availed in:

This collective wisdom of their peers is not only accessible by farmers in Tamil Nadu but across India, and will eventually be accessible across the world. 

I believe that this accelerates the transformation of the farmers into true agricultural innovators - the ones who are generating deep systemic insights for the benefit of all stakeholders of the agricultural ecosystem and eventually, influencing policy decisions.

| A Digital Public Infrastructure powered by Exponential Technologies like Artificial Intelligence

We spent a whole day interacting with more than 30 farmers in Alasapalli, a Gram Panchayat village in the Hosur Block, Krishnagiri District and Kelamangalam, a Panchayat town in the Krishnagiri District, both in Tamil Nadu. 

One of the most memorable moments was when we introduced the farmers to the WhatsApp feature of Apurva.ai for them to try. It was truly exciting to not only see the farmers being curious to ask questions in their native languages, such as Telugu and Tamil, through text or voice messages, but also to watch their delight when receiving responses in the prompted language, again in both text and voice messages. 

Most of our interactions with the farmers were in group discussions. They shared their innovative farming practices and it was compelling to see their strong sense of community. One of the farmers spoke about how his innovative vermicomposting method had helped another revive their destroyed land due to the overuse of chemicals and in turn, improved the yield. Another farmer spoke about how his discovery of multi-cropping beans and chow chow ensured a regular income for him and that he shared this idea with the other farmers in his district for their benefit and witnessed the yields improve in just a year. 

The farmers hold weekly meetings to exchange insights and practices and were ready to help one another. It became clear that farmers are not just producers; they are collaborative innovators possessing a treasure trove of indigenous knowledge and practical wisdom. And Apurva.ai fits perfectly here. 

| As one farmer said, “எனது கண்டுபிடிப்புகளை அனைவரும் அணுக முடியும், மற்ற விவசாயிகளின் கண்டுபிடிப்புகளை என்னால் அறிந்துகொள்ள முடியும்... அது அருமை” - Everyone will be able to access my innovation and I will be able to learn the innovations of other farmers... That is great.

Now, with Apurva.ai we have the potential to amplify their knowledge and turn them into mentors for fellow farmers, not only in their villages but potentially across the entire state, country, and beyond.

They also provided feedback and suggestions ranging from introducing video uploads as a mode of capturing innovations to help them showcase their methods better, to more possibilities in the future with Apurva.ai. They were excited as this platform offers a no-middle-man marketplace and is a one-stop information portal on all relevant information.

We also met Block Officers from Hosur Block, Krishnagiri District and demonstrated how the collective wisdom of the farmers could benefit them in their work like providing relevant crop management suggestions based on other farmers’ experiences through trend analysis, training the farmers in the latest production technologies and more. It was a powerful moment to witness the potential for positive change at the administrative level.

What astonished me throughout the day was the ease with which most farmers, especially the younger generation, embraced technology like WhatsApp and YouTube. They were already using these platforms to enhance their knowledge. This shows the importance of providing technological solutions through channels that people are already comfortable with, thereby reducing the learning curve. 

| Quoting another farmer, “இந்த அப்ளிகேஷன் வெளிவந்தால் கண்டிப்பாக பயனுள்ளதாக இருக்கும்” - If this app comes out, it would definitely be useful. This statement was heartening to hear.

The day's experiences left a lasting impression on me. It reaffirmed Apurva.ai's commitment to a human-centric approach and our mission to catalyse societal change through technology. We are excited to continue this journey, not just in agriculture but across various domains, harnessing the power of technology and the wisdom of diverse networks to make a real difference in people's lives.

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