100 disease forecast stations to come up in Nashik

Agrocom Software Technologies Ltd (ASTL), a spin-off company based in IIT Bombay's Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, is planning to install 100 disease forecast stations (DFSs) in Nashik district, particularly for grapes, in the next three years.

ASTL provides agro-weather network engineering, information technology and agri-insurance support services. It helps farmers' organisations in installing automated weather stations for farm-level disease forecasting, weather record validation for weather insurance and weather forecasts for decision support. It has, so far, installed 24 weather stations in Nashik district.

"The company collects weather data from its disease forecasting station using the mobile network and uses crop disease algorithms to send out disease alerts to farmers' mobile phones. Subscribers receive our forecast message daily, which helps them plan their spray schedule. Farmers can save 10-30 per cent of total costs and reduce pesticide residues and maximum residue limits for chemicals if they can forecast diseases," Sunil Kulkarni, vice-president (Marketing), ASTL, said.