Rockwell Automation, the world’s largest company focused on industrial automation and digital transformation, is helping to modernize farming practices in rural India in partnership with ISAP India Foundation.
The initiative, titled “Economic and Social Development of Indian Village Through Technology-Enabled Dairy Farming,” aims to help modernize dairy farming practices in the water-scarce region of Antargaon (near Nagpur) in Wardha District, Maharashtra. This also involved collaboration with a technology implementation partner – eVerse.AI, to implement this corporate social responsibility (CSR) project.
Digital Transformation for Livestock Development
The on-ground implementation utilizes cutting-edge digital technologies and scientific veterinary practices to improve livestock development. The interventions of this project undertaken over the last six to seven months, beginning in May 2023, has already yielded promising results. 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.
Early Signs of Success and Community Impact
Speaking about the project, Dilip Sawhney, managing director, Rockwell Automation India, said: “We are thrilled that our CSR project at Antargaon, Maharashtra, is already showing early signs of success and providing tangible benefits to local farmers, and augmenting their incomes. Rockwell Automation is committed to give 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.”
Positive Feedback and Increased Milk Production
In a recent field visit to Antargaon, progress of the project was shared with local dairy farmers through an interactive session. Farmers expressed positive feedback, citing a 15-20% increase in milk production within the last six months. Milk quality has also improved, helping them to achieve higher prices and increasing household income.
The session was facilitated by Prafull Kalokar, project coordinator – ISAP India Foundation and Nitesh Budhabaware, village coordinator, in 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.
Addressing Challenges in India’s Dairy Farming Sector
India has the world’s largest bovine population and is a leader in milk production. However, it faces challenges such as low milk-yield per animal and insufficient quality of milk products. The decentralized structure of dairy farming in India and limited awareness about scientific veterinary practices among rural farmers contributes to these issues. By partnering with ISAP India Foundation, Rockwell Automation aims to improve 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.
CSR Philosophy and Community-Centric Investments
Rockwell Automation’s CSR philosophy is based on the foundation of community centric investments that lead to the long-term improvement of their wellbeing. It strives to build positive, proactive connections in local communities through innovative projects with measurable outcomes.
