New Delhi, February 3, 2024: Rockwell Automation has partnered with with ISAP India Foundation to modernize farming practices in rural Maharashtra.
According to the officials of Rockwell Automation, the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative - Economic and Social Development of Indian Village Through Technology-Enabled Dairy Farming - aims at modernising dairy farming practices in the water-scarce region of Antargaon (near Nagpur) in Wardha District, Maharashtra. The company has involved technology partner - eVerse.AI, to implement the corporate social responsibility (CSR) project.
The on-ground implementation utilises cutting-edge digital technologies and scientific veterinary practices to improve livestock development. The interventions of this project have been undertaken over the last six to seven months, beginning in May 2023.
The initiative provides a suite of services to dairy farmers, including supplying IoT (Internet of Things) enabled collar devices for tracking vital health parameters of dairy animals, providing mobile phone-based alerts and advice to farmers from veterinary experts, use of muzzle-based biometric identification system to provide digital identity to animals along with 12-digit Pashu Aadhar, use of eVerse.AI’s newly launched CowGPT platform to provide accurate insights and advisory to dairy farmers about animal health, ration balancing advisory services, fodder development activities, supply of quality animal feed, village level animal health services, dairy farming extension programs (training, demos, expert visits), market integration activities for milk sale and the creation of additional revenue sources for families of dairy farmers utilizing animal waste products.
Speaking about the project, Dilip Sawhney, Managing Director, Rockwell Automation India, said: “We are thrilled that our CSR project at Antargaon, Maharashtra, is alrea
dy showing early signs of success and providing tangible benefits to local farmers, and augmenting their incomes. Rockwell Automation is committed to giving back to the communities where we operate by engaging in tech-led initiatives to create impact at a societal level. We are confident that this project will continue to help the people of Antargaon to benefit from the technology-enabled scientific management of the health and reproductive cycles of their farm animals. Projects like this will eventually lead to improved incomes and better quality of life in rural communities throughout India.”
In a recent field visit to Antargaon, the progress of the project was shared with local dairy farmers through an interactive session. Farmers shared that they have witnessed a 15-20% increase in milk production within the last six months. Milk quality has also improved, which is helping them to get higher prices and increase their household income.
The session was facilitated by Prafull Kalokar, project coordinator - ISAP India Foundation, and Nitesh Budhabaware, village coordinator, in the presence of Sameer Subhash Khobe, deputy village head, Antargaon; Gaurav Vats, director-Agriculture Services, ISAP India Foundation; Dr. Dhanvij, veterinary specialist, Wardha district; Ashish Sonkusare, founder, eVerse.AI; Dipanjan Banerjee, head of corporate affairs, Rockwell Automation India; and Ankit Singh, lead-EHS, Rockwell Automation India.
By partnering with ISAP India Foundation, Rockwell Automation aims to improve the livelihoods of dairy farmers in one of the most water-scarce areas of the country, by using innovative products and services that leverage cutting-edge digital technologies for livestock development through scientifically proven veterinary practices.
Rockwell Automation is a global leader in industrial automation and digital transformation. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Rockwell Automation has operations in more than 100 countries.
ISAP India Foundation is a not-for-profit agency headquartered in New Delhi, engaged in leading national-level livelihood promotion and agriculture marketing consultancy. ISAP works for rural livelihood promotion with interventions in areas like agriculture-based livelihood promotion, including its allied activities like dairy, poultry, fishery, horticulture etc., sustainable agriculture, water resource management, women empowerment, and skill development. ISAP has worked extensively in projects wherein it has established more than 300 FPOs (Farmer Producer Organizations) across different states of India. ISAP’s work with FPOs involves organizing farmers’ crop-wise, foster technology penetration, improve productivity, improve access to input-output markets, and increase in farmers’ income levels.
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