TN Agriculture University enters into a strategic partnership with WayCool to Digitise Package of Practices for 133 crops
- The partnership will enable farmers to access information of PoPs in the Crop Production Guide 2020 through Outgrow’s mobile app
- WayCool will also offer live projects, Internships and placements for TNAU students under the MoU
Coimbatore, February 3rd, 2023: Aspiring to provide farmers with access to Package of Practices (PoPs) of impor tant crops under the Crop Production Guide 2020, The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), has signed a mutual pact with WayCool, India’s leading food & agri-tech platform, today. With the strategic collaboration, TN AU will enable the digitization of its existing PoPs to benefit farmers, in a quest to empower the farmer commu nity in Tamil Nadu and support WayCool’s endeavours. The PoPs will be made available to farmers’ under Outgr ow, WayCool’s farmer engagement arm, through its mobile apps.
The collaboration will provide TNAU faculty members as resource people to train farmers and open grounds for them to research on organic farming in the Outgrow Agriculture Research Station (OARS). Moreover, WayCool will extend opportunities to the varsity’s students to take part in live projects, facilitate internships and placem ents, and organize field visits to the OARS facility, and help in their journey toward entrepreneurship.
Commenting on the partnership, Honourable VC Dr. Geethalakshmi Vellingiri, Tamil Nadu Agricultural Univers ity said, “We established the university with the vision of promoting scientific agriculture and allied sectors to the farm ers and agri-based industries. Our association with WayCool aligns our vision and our end objectives to encourage the pr oductivity and profitability of farms while ensuring environmental safety and rural livelihood. We are also keen to te am up with the agro-player since our students will gain exposure, enhanced skills, and better opportunities. We take pleasu re in supporting the company to transform the agricultural sector and create value for the Indian economy through its de mand-based supply chain module. We would further be happy to contribute towards capacity building- technical assis tance funds, Climate Funds, and Regenerative Agriculture, along with both pre-harvest and post-harvest aspects in han dling produce from farms.”
Commenting on the occasion, Mr. Sanjay Dasari, Co-founder, WayCool Foods, said, “With an ever growing populat ion, it has become all the more vital for India to adopt proper agricultural practices that produce high quality food at a la rge scale. This has been driving a shift towards precision farming, giving farmers more control over their agricultural prac tices. There is a need, now more than ever, to create a robust and standardized package of practices and simultaneously work with farmers for their adoption. We are happy to associate with Tamil Nadu Agricultural University who will suppo rt us in our endeavours of making natural precision farming accessible, and profitable”
Adding to this, Mr. N Sendhil Kumar, Head – Outgrow & Farmer Engagement, WayCool Foods, said, “ This partner ship is another milestone in our efforts to revolutionize the agri-space and empower farmers holistically. The Crop Produ ction Guide 2020 will play a pivotal role in helping the farmers across TamilNadu to acknowledge important crop varie ties, farm implements and technologies that will suit the prevailing climate change scenario and accustom the ir agricult ural techniques accordingly. Moreover, the digitization of PoPs developed by TNAU will render easy access to informatio n to them, whilst also extending knowledge base of the same through videos. We are delighted to have TNAU onboard an d are confident that this MoU will help us achieve significant strides in the sector.”
About Outgrow : Outgrow is the agricultural and farmers engagement arm of WayCool, established on 4th Mar ch 2020. The AI-based platform – Outgrow app has over 2 lakh downloads. Backed by a team of agri-doctors, Out grow provides comprehensive advisory and customized solutions to over 150000+ farmers. The Outgrow app of fers services like crop information on health, automated soil testing, climatic condition real-time mandi price, an d holistic farm advisory for the farmers network in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana.
About WayCool : WayCool Foods is India’s leading food and agri-tech platform. Focusing on food development and distribution, the company leverages innovative technology to scale and operate a complex supply chain fro m soil to sale. Through its farmer engagement program – Outgrow, the company works closely with 200k farme rs. WayCool operates a full stack, broadline product range across multiple channels and categories such as fresh produce, staples, and dairy, serving over 1,25,000 clients in the general trade, modern trade, and food services sp ace. WayCool’s consumer brands basket consists of Madhuram, Kitchenji, L’exotique, Dezi Fresh and Freshey’s.
About TNAU
The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) had its genesis from establishment of an Agricultural School at S aidapet, Madras, Tamil Nadu, as early as 1868 and it was later relocated at Coimbatore. In 1920 it was affiliated t o Madras University. TNAU assumed full responsibilities of Agricultural Education and Research and supported t he State Agricultural Department by delivering research products. Till 1946, the Agricultural College and Resea rch Institute, Coimbatore, was the only Institute for Agricultural Education for the whole of South India. In 1958, it was recognized as a Post-graduate Centre leading to Masters and Doctoral degrees. The Agricultural College a nd Research Institute,Madurai was established in 1965.These two colleges formed the nucleus of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University while it was established in 1971.