AgrowSure, a startup in Akola is one of 12 in country to win Niti Aayog-backed award

An agriculture products startup by two youths from Akola is among the 12 chosen for funding from across the country in the Youth Co:Lab National Innovation Dialogue (YCNID) 2022-23 held at New Delhi. Akshay Wairale and Akshay Kawale’s AgrowSure manufactures implements which reduce or eliminate manual labour in farms, especially for women workers.

Youth Co:Lab was launched by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Citi Foundation in 2017, but introduced in India in 2019, in partnership with NITI Aayog and Atal Innovation Mission. Wairale and Kawale, both 30 years old, started AgrowSure three years ago in Akola with Rs6 lakh of their own funds. Wairale said, “We manufacture farm tool implements which help in weeding, cultivating etc. We have a variety of implements which can be used as a standalone product or attached to tractors etc.”

Their innovation which caught everyone’s attention was something which proved to be a boon for female farm labourers. “While weeding, workers needed to carry heavy machinery on their back. So we built a self-propelled machine with wheels on which the weeder and even sprayer can be piled up, thus saving unnecessary labour in fields,” said Wairale.