IT For Farmers: A mobile app that ensures grapes are neither sour nor unsafe

Farmers realise an average Rs 160 per kg on export consignments to Europe, as against Rs 70 or so on domestic sales. “Our first preference is obviously for export. An acre of grapes shipped to Europe fetches Rs 8 lakh, more than twice what we get by selling in the domestic market”, Kamble points out. However, the strict rules governing agricultural product exports — especially meeting the maximum residual limits (MRL) for pesticides — often results in failed consignments. Before the start of the harvesting season from early-February, Kamble, like many other growers in this ‘Grape Capital of India’, sends samples of his produce to one of the three plant quarantine facilities at Mumbai for testing of MRL levels. Failure to meet European country limits forces diversion to either non-European or domestic markets, both comparatively less remunerative.

Grape Mundo, an open source app freely downloadable on Google Play Store, helps farmers chalk out a schedule for application of inputs, based on best practices followed by progressive growers in the Nashik belt. The schedule prescribes the quantum and application date of each input, specified in terms of ‘pre-harvest interval or PHI days’.

“Every chemical or pesticide has a PHI, which is the period after an application when the residues still remain on the crop or fruit. The app tracks these intervals so that each spray is done at the right time, after the PHI for the previous chemical has lapsed,” explains Samir Pandit, director of Rta Technologies. Grape Mundo is an interactive app, which also ensures that farmers adhere to the prescribed schedule. “Alerts have been set up at the start date of each application and an inbuilt alarm keeps on ringing until the farmer attends to it. The only way to silence the alarm is to tick one of the three options: Completed, Cancelled or Postponed,” he adds.

“My experience with the app confirms that if the prescribed schedule is followed, the final produce will actually be residue-free,” claims Kamble. In the pre-app days, he would have to jot down the application schedules on a physical diary and carry it to the field. There would invariably be misses, more so in large vineyard holdings such as his. Even a day’s wrong timing increased the probability of export samples failing the MRL test by 25 per cent. The usual practice, therefore, was to divide the vineyard into smaller plots and select just a few of them to produce exportable grapes. “In 2016-17, thanks to the app and the regular application alerts on my mobile phone, I could grow export-quality fruits on almost 50 per cent of my vineyard. This year, I plan to reserve more than 70 per cent of my holding for exports,” notes Kamble.

The grape cycle in the Nashik region begins with the pruning of trees in April, after harvest of the fruits from the previous crop. In this first pruning, everything is axed, barring the main stem and roots. Farmers, then, apply fertilisers, micronutrients and fungicides on the roots to allow the trees to regenerate and produce fresh healthy shoots and foliage with the monsoon rains. This is followed by a second round of pruning in September-October, to prevent excessive growth that leads to poor air circulation and promotes fungal diseases. Flowering starts just after the second pruning, which sets the stage for subsequent fruit development and harvesting from end-January to early-April. All through, the vines have to be administered insecticides (lambda-cyhalothrin) and fungicides (kresoxim-methyl, mancozeb, mandipropamid, etc.) based on a rigorous application schedule that ensures both crop protection as well as acceptable MRLs.

Last year, the Grape Mundo app was used by around 40 grape growers in and around Nashik for tracking and managing input applications in their vineyards. The app has already recorded more than 4,000 downloads. “Our next aim is to use data analysis to help growers similarly plan their harvesting cycle better. Right now, they mostly harvest their grapes in March, resulting in market glut and price collapse. The app could have a feature allowing the farmer to log in his individual grape plots and estimate the tentative yields and dates of harvest. Our users can factor in these data points to schedule their pruning and harvesting cycles, with a view to escape gluts,” observes Pandit.