In a landscape where farming still often means guesswork, BharatRohan is rewriting the rules. Founded in 2016 by engineers Amandeep Panwar and Rishabh Choudhary, the startup uses drones equipped with hyperspectral cameras to give Indian farmers a bird’s-eye view of what’s happening under the canopy, literally. Their core platform, CropAssure, helps detect pests, diseases, and nutrient deficiencies weeks before they’re visible to the human eye. For India’s 150+ million farmers, this isn’t just cool tech, it’s a lifeline. And the results speak for themselves: over 50,000 farmers, 2 lakh acres under monitoring, and a 196% spike in revenue in FY23 alone.
The Science of Saving Crops
At the heart of BharatRohan’s approach is hyperspectral imaging, a technology that reads hundreds of light wavelengths bouncing off plants. Sick leaves reflect light differently than healthy ones. Drones fly over fields, capture that data, and AI algorithms translate it into actionable insights. Farmers get reports telling them where to spray, when to irrigate, and how to optimize harvests. Less guesswork, fewer pesticides, higher yield. There’s also SeedAssure, which helps seed companies test hybrids faster using drone data. And SourceAssure, which links farmers to institutional buyers, creating full traceability from farm to fork.
Scaling Smart and Ethically
Unlike many agri-tech ventures that burn fast and fade, BharatRohan has chosen a slow, data-backed growth model. It’s also doubling down on sustainability. The company encourages Integrated Pest Management (IPM), a smarter way to farm with fewer chemicals. It’s piloting alternative wetting and drying methods in paddy fields to save water. And it’s created bio-pesticide products like HumeShakti and SilverShakti that nourish rather than poison the soil. In a space where rural India often gets left out of the tech conversation, BharatRohan is launching a franchise model to empower local entrepreneurs, bringing drone-driven agriculture to the grassroots.
What’s Next?
In 2025, the company raised $2.3 million in a pre-IPO round. The funds will go into building proprietary drones, miniaturizing sensors, and expanding nationwide. Collaborations with global agri-research bodies like ICRISAT are also in the works. But the real question is: Can data beat drought, pests, and climate change? If BharatRohan’s model proves scalable and equitable, it might just become the blueprint for agri-tech not just in India but across the Global South. Because in the fight to feed 1.4 billion people, it turns out the future may not lie in the soil but in the skies.
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