Home - Bhungroo

About Naireeta Services

Naireeta Services is a social enterprise which is established in 2011 in Ahmedabad, western part of Gujarat State of India.

Naireeta Services Private Limited’s (NSPL) innovative two-fold solution can increase India’s annual agri-income by

$1.5B and globally $208B, empower poor women engaged in agriculture.

In the next five years, NSPL will equip 1,000 women to become agriculture and irrigation consultants to small

farmers. Their support to poor farmers on crop survival, package of practices, irrigation and installation of 10,000

Bhungroo units will enable 50,000 farming families to triple their income.

Product & Services

Bhungroo: a proprietary World Bank-awarded rain water harvesting technology and product.

Advice from NSPL and trained smallholder women farmers – Women Climate Leaders (WCLs) who provide fee-based agriculture advice.

Competition

Alternative irrigation products exist in the marketplace including: tube wells, farm ponds, check dams and canals. In contrast to Bhungroo, each presents enormous challenges for small scale farmers in terms of access, expense and maintenance. NSPL’s WCL sales force is unique.

Business Model

NSPL has a hybrid business model. Wealthy and mid-income farmers pay NSPL directly. Subsidies from federal and state agricultural departments, Corporate Social Responsibility programs, Foundation and NGO grants pay for poor farmers. The WCL program is also funded through grants.

Founders

NSPL is led by co-founders Trupti Jain, expert in engineering, sustainable development and gender inclusion and Biplab Paul, technology/product developer and an Ashoka Fellow.

Problem

Environment Barriers: In India, more than 6.72 million hectares of land is affected by seasonal water logging and salinity, which threatens the food security of nearly 5M smallholder farmers.

In India, smallholders have less than two hectares of land and primarily practice rainfed cultivation. Recurring droughts and floods accentuate their food insecurity and indebtedness which will be resulted farmers’ suicide

Economic barriers: The services to address these problems i.e. scientific water and soil analyses, geo-hydrological survey, are costly and not locally available. Poor farmers can’t afford to have it resulted to work as bond labors as they have uncultivable land.

Social Barriers: Poor rural women who doesn’t have rights over land are most vulnerable and possessing very low social status. Those who have experienced desertion, divorce or their husband’s death, risk falling into a vicious debt cycle often resulting in exploitation as a urban workers or bonded labor.

Solution of Problem

Naireeta Services provides two kinds of solution : Bhungroo product and ‘Goon’ capacity development program to develop micro agriculture entrepreneurs.

NSPL solves farmers’ water and crop problems through an innovative product and agriculture advisers.

Product

Bhungroo (in Gujarati: straw or hollow pipe) filters, injects and stores storm water subsoil. It has 17 technical designs for a variety of agro-climatic zones and can be customized based on 27 variables. It works in environments where annual rainfall ranges from

400 to 2,100 millimeters, in salt affected and seasonally eroded soil. Using only one square meter surface area, each Bhungroo augments 1 to 4 Mlts of water/year and allows farmers to retrieve stored water. Multiple Bhungroos with a serial injection model can be used in flooded areas to capture and store excess water.

The “Bhungroo” word and logo are secured under the Trademark. Installed Bhungroo are labeled, but in our markets, getting an enforceable patent is not possible. Furthermore, our desire is to work with more partners and make the technology more widely available.

Service

The Women Climate Leaders (WCL) program trains women smallholder farmers to provide fee-based services to other smallholder farmers in their village.

WCLs undertake Bhungroo feasibility and preliminary geo-hydro studies, supervision of Bhungroo erection and distribution of irrigation water. WCLs are paid by farmers for providing these services. Additionally, poor women smallholder farmers who own a Bhungroo earn

income from the sale of crops and from helping other smallholders in their village gain access to water. To date,

21 women have been trained as WCLs. The training of WCLs is funded through grants.

www.sgifgoon.org

Customer Benefits

Without a Bhungroo or WCL advice, farmers are at risk of harvesting one or no crops per year. Bhungroo and WCL services, enable farmers to harvest two crops a year and access threefold increase in income, increases in soil productivity, reduction in salt deposition of topsoil, and reclaimed land from desertification. In addition to economic and environmental benefits, women smallholder farmers have reported increases in land ownership and social status.

With a 30-year life-span, each Bhungroo frees 5-10 acres from waterlogging in

each monsoon and irrigates 22+ acres each winter. In each monsoon, 1 to 4 milli on liters of runoff are conserved

by each Bhungroo. It ensures food-security to 30-100 rural poor. Each unit generates income of approximately

USD $5700+ per year and family-income rises from $189 to $710 in last 5 years.

Status and Market Differentiation

NSPL has itself, already constructed 242 Bhungroo benefitting 9060+ poor (majority ultra-poor & widows). Government programs have facilitated the installation of 3375+ Bhungroo i.e. positively impacting 100,000+ rural poor.

Compared to traditional irrigation methods, such as tube wells, farm ponds, and check dams, Bhungroo require less space and are more cost effective, durable, and environmentally friendly.

Unlike tube wells that artificially recharge water by injecting it into the existing subsoil water table, Bhungroo retain existing water and respond to natural environment conditions. It filters, injects, and stores rainwater at multiple subsoil strata, which can take place in the water table or use soil that is comfortable for water storage.

Since Bhungroo technology is handmade from locally available materials, it eliminates the cost of a production facility and only requires a one-time low capital investment that pays for itself in less than two years. Except for the filtration chamber, Bhungroo is maintenance free. End users are personally involved in erection, maintenance, and self-propagation. These benefits make Bhungroo and WCLs the most accessible, preferred solution for small holder farmers.

Impact

Five Year Goals

In next five year Naireeta plans to construct 10000 units across the globe, enabling 50,000 farmers to triple their agricultural income and impacting 250,000 rural poor indirectly. Fifty thousand acres of landholding will have improved soil fertility and become cultivable and 220,000 acres of land will be served with winter irrigation for the first time.

With grant support, like CWIAs and other grantors we have cultivated relationships with, NSPL will train 1,000 women (who are landless or working as agro-laborers) as WCLs. Each will be identified, trained to undertake Bhungroo feasibility studies, simple geo-hydro analysis, and supervision of Bhungroo erection and distribution of irrigation water. Future WCLs will be identified by current WCLs, local women self-help groups and local communities.

They will provide and be paid for services including Bhungroo feasibility studies, geo-hydro analysis, supervision of Bhungroo erection and distribution of irrigation water to farmers. NSPL will design and construct Bhungroo for these farmers. In the initial three years, NSPL will not take an override or percentage of the service fees made by WCLs. Instead WCL’s will train other women farmer/laborers to become WCLs and get more get more farmers to use Bhungroo. Over time, NSPL will take an administration charge from WCLs.

NSPL also continues to support small and marginal farmers through mobilizing grants/contracts from governments, local authorities, international institutions, corporate social foundations and industries.

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