AgroSplash

Partnership Announcement: AgroSplash is now a part of Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub.

Nekram Sharma, a 59-year-old farmer from Mandi, Himachal Pradesh has been awarded the Padma Shri for reviving the traditional natural farming system called "Nau-Anaj".

Nau-Anaj (‘nau’ means nine and ‘anaj’ is crop) is an intercropping or mixed farming method to grow nine foodgrains on the same piece of land. These crops are a combination of lentils, cereals, vegetables, legumes, and creepers.

The idea is simple — to have backup harvested crops in case one of them fails due to climatic conditions or pest attacks. This ensures that even if the farmer cannot sell the crops for some reason, he still has food for his family. What makes this technique interesting is that unlike traditional practices, where crops constantly fight for sunlight and water nutrients, the nine carefully assorted crops aid each other’s growth instead.

Using Nau-Anaj, nine food grains are grown on the same piece of land, cutting down water usage by 50% and increasing land fertility.

In addition to producing local indigenous seeds, Nekram distributes free seeds to more than 10,000 farmers in six states.