Untimely rains and heat waves are the bain of agricultural ecosystems. Additionally, many states in India receive below-average annual rainfall, which discourages farmers from continued farming.
Puran Singh, 30-year-old COO and co-founder of EF Polymer, spoke exclusively with IBT on his fascinating entrepreneurial journey, from conceptualising the idea to being selected under Startup India, undertaking deep R&D under a Japanese startup accelerator programme and finally incepting a highly promising product and startup in the agritech space.
EF Polymer, a registered start-up in India, is providing affordable agriculture solutions through hydrogel polymer, which not only ensures prolonged water retention in soil, but also reduces the need for pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
Photo Source: EF Polymer
IBT: What was the inspiration for the launch of your agri startup in 2019?
Puran Singh: When we started working on this venture, we had little idea about the startup ecosystem, and my co-founder has just started his graduation. We both belong to a small village in the Rajsamand district, Rajasthan, where there are approximately 50 families. One of the main challenges faced by agricultural practices is the scarcity of water. In our village, we have a couple of wells that were prepared by our great-grandfather, but as the community grew, the demand for food requirements also grew and almost all families expanded their cultivation area. Thereby, the water demand increased. And eventually, with the years passing, the water table went down.
Being in a village and working with our family on the farms, we have seen our crops drying due to less water. When we got into the university, the company’s founder Narayan Lal Gurjar initially started working on this idea as a science project. He was in class 12 when he submitted this project to the National Science Fair. He approached me later to take this idea to the next level. We were the only two students who opted for the science stream, pursued higher studies, and obtained an engineering degree. Most people drop out around the 8th or 10th grade.
A university professor suggested launching a startup to Narayan, and we pitched the idea to various competitions. After winning the first award at IIT-Bombay tech fest in December 2017, we applied for more programs at different levels and eventually won 40 awards with a cumulative amount of around Rs. 2 to 3 crores. We gained knowledge about entrepreneurship, building a business model, forming a market strategy, and customer persona. With support from IIM Udaipur, IIM Ahmedabad, and their university, we started to work on their idea to help farmers solve the water scarcity problem.
IBT: Can you describe the agricultural practices in your village, and what is the typical amount of rainfall received in that region?
Puran Singh: Every family in the panchayat is practicing farming. Mostly, we cultivate two kinds of crops. During the rainy season, people usually grow maize and during the winter season it’s wheat, if there was adequate rainfall that year. And if there is not enough water, people go for barley. It requires slightly less water. And if there’s not enough water for barley, then people sow fenugreek. Every family is involved in farming as well as animal husbandry. Farming activity is completely dependent upon the amount of water available.
For other sources of water, we have wells, but there is no big lake or anything. We don’t have any other source. If we get good rains, then the wells and tube wells get filled up. Otherwise, there’s no chance of growing winter crops.
IBT: Describe the initial testing phase. As of today, how far have you spread your product presence? What is the ratio of online/offline presence?
Puran Singh: The first phase of testing began in October 2020 within an area of 100 square meters. In the next phase, we started testing our product on 150 acres of area in the Bundelkhand region, a drought-affected region. We wanted to solve the water scarcity problem and under the pilot project, we registered good results. We presented these results to the Commissioner of Agriculture, Uttar Pradesh government and then got the next pilot project in 1,500 acres. So far, over 2,000 farmers have participated. So now, we are commercially doing sales in 8 districts of UP and around 10,000 to 12,000 farmers are using our product.
We are operating commercially in UP and Rajasthan and have one production facility in Udaipur with a capacity of around 20 metric tonnes per month. Our product is also available on Amazon and other online platforms. Based on total sales from all these fronts and assuming that products purchased by customers are being used by them, I can say that we have covered around 20,000 acres of area.
Our offline presence is about 2%. Offline sales require physical presence and involve manpower costs, but our popularity lies in the online mode. Currently, Amazon is one of the most successful channels for us, where we receive good traction with an average of 50 to 60 orders per month. Our website has been visited by over 40 lakh people. That’s the power of online, right?
IBT: Tell us a more about the R&D process undertaken. Also, what has been the role of the Atal Incubation Centre?
Puran Singh: At the Atal Incubation Center, we got a space to sit down and discuss things. My co-founder and I found two other friends who wanted to support us. At AIC, we got that dedicated space to discuss our entrepreneurial ideas. All activities, and information related to the start-up could be directly delivered. We got laboratory support from our institution, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology itself. We started our R&D journey from here but we made a major breakthrough in June 2019 in Japan, when we got selected for a startup accelerator program.
Narayan and I visited Japan, where a graduate university was running a program to invite startups to do work in Okinawa. Their incubation labs had the best facilities, and we found all sorts of machinery necessary to build the polymer.
We were doing Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) testing and it helped us in determining the particle size and formulation. Microbe analysis was also conducted to understand the ecosystem, which was possible at a research university with the necessary facilities. The university had a building solely dedicated to polymer science research, with over 600 researchers and 400 scientists. The mentorship from the professors was helpful since they had expertise in hydrogel technology, which is part of the super absorbent polymer technology. The process took around two months in Okinawa.
IBT: Let’s come to the product Fasal Amrit. The products guarantee increased water retention. How does it enhance the quality of the crop?
Puran Singh: We are yet to know any crop which is incompatible with our product. Basically, our product is a hydrogel and its main function is to absorb the water and release it back into the soil when it starts getting dry. This is not a product for any particular crop, it’s a product for your soil. It increases the water holding and water retention capacity of the soil. We mostly focus on the farmers who are into commercial agriculture and those who are doing sugarcane and cotton farming.
Even for humans, if we assume that we are not having enough water to drink, then whatever nutrients or vitamins we are taking will not be fully consumed or utilized. It is similar to plants. If there isn’t adequate water, the crop will not consume organic fertilizer or any micronutrient completely, which may affect the crop yield. This is where our product is helpful. The need to use chemicals or artificial fertilizers decreases, which ultimately results in a healthy crop, better nutrient content, and fresh fruit taste.
IBT: What was the initial valuation of the company and as of today, how has it changed?
Puran Singh: To fund our research activities, we utilized all the capital we had collected over the years through award money and grant money. We registered our company as a private limited company in India via grant money, at a minimum cost of Rs. 1 lakh under Start-Up India. Cut short, our valuation is estimated to reach up to US$ 20 million at the beginning of FY 2023-24.
IBT: What are your plans for business expansion this year?
Puran Singh: We closed the initial seed round of funding two years ago. That was our first equity run. Next, we are about to close Series A and then the focus will be to scale up. We got good traction in the international market such as the US. In the last three months, we exported three containers of Fasal Amrit and we are expecting more demand in the US market.
When we talk to 10 farmers in India and let’s say 10 out of 10 farmers agree to use our product, they may want to start at a bare minimum land like let’s say one bigha (1,600 square yards) area. They want to first have a test for a small geographic area. The equation actually changes when we go to the US, where farmers are having 6,000 acres and 9,000 acres and they test out products on 200 acres, 300 acres, and 400 acres of land.
Before that, we sent our company products to Japan and Thailand, but the shipment was a sample size. In Japan, we started with like 50 kg to 100 kg. Eventually, it went all the way up to 2 metric tonnes and 3 metric tonnes. But in April, we will be sending 11 metric tonnes to Japan.
Puran Singh is the COO and co-founder of EF Polymer. Views expressed are personal
