In a pioneering environmental breakthrough, young agritech innovators Hemant Singh,Rajeev Singh and Ashesh Chaudhary of Agri-Chikitsa, with support from the IIT BHU Incubation Centre (I3 Foundation), have leveraged seed ball broadcasting drones to re-green the barren slopes of the Vindhya ranges. This initiative has drawn attention from government agencies, environmental bodies to make the success rate of 70% in ecological restoration of mining impacted and climate sensitive areas.
When Science Meets Aerial Precision
This technology works on biodegradable seed balls which is embedded with native seeds such as neem, mahua, grasses within the clay, compost bio fertilizers and soil. Each ball is roughly around 2–3 cm in diameter, loaded into drones of 18.5 kg weight (capable of carrying nearly 8 kg i.e. 500–700 seed balls per flight) they are dispersed accurately over rocky, inaccessible terrain at altitudes of low broadcasting area i.e. 8–10 m, these drones executes multiple flights thus achieving efficient and precise coverage compared to traditional manual planting.
This incubation reflects the visionary thought of a nation, in 2021 at CoP 26 meet PM Shri Narendra Modiji said about environment and how the campaign can re green our mother earth: “This word is LiFE, which means ‘Lifestyle For Environment’. Today, there is a need for all of us to come together and take Lifestyle For Environment forward as a campaign. This can become a mass movement towards an environmentally conscious lifestyle.”
The Union government is actively supporting through innovations like drone technology for surveying forest cover and aerial afforestation. Local administrations in state’s like Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh is supporting technical and logistical support. Whereas forest departments are involving the community-based organizations or women’s self-help groups for preparing and distributing seed balls.
The Agrichikitsa team’s-controlled testing have demonstrated germination rates of 60–80 per cent, highlighting the technical feasibility of the product. Hemant and Rajeev’s project, which is mentored by Prof. Rajneesh Tyagi of IIT BHU, has already planted 30,000 seed balls in 2022 and has a reported survival rate of over 60 per cent, which rose to 70 per cent in 2023. With the support from IIT-BHU (I-3) centre, the drone navigation and sensor systems helps in optimizing the dispersal patterns and data collection platforms are being deployed whenever is required. In year 2023-2024, total of 2,50,000 Seedballs has been deployed using drone in rural and tribal areas.
The results are ground breaking, deforested areas of Sonbhadra and Singrauli has been scarred by unregulated mining, through seed ball bombarding the preciousness has led to regeneration of native plant species, reduction in soil erosion and improved infiltration.
Hemant Singh shares that “We are complete Make in India startup, we select a Gram panchayat and set up our lab, this lab helps Agrichikitsa of our field and monitored by the students who have skill for this project. Seed ball costs around Rs 8 per ball which remains cost-effective.”
This project generates income for rural women, especially women associated with self-help groups. The team of Agrichikitsa also engages school children in environmental awareness drives, providing skill development, earnings and eco-literacy among the rural and tribal areas. The project of Hemant’s startup Agri Chikitsa has also won the Best Innovation Award 2023 from IGNOU.
As the monsoon of 2025 has arrived, Hemant and Rajeev plans for a major drone seeding programmes in Sonbhadra and Singrauli region, targeting over 200,000 seed balls. Their aim is to develop a model that can be replicated across arid and degraded zones of mining belts, drought‑prone areas as well as forest buffer zones. They have also to integrate AI and satellite imaging GPS enabled module to track seedling between grassroots restoration and precision environmental management.
The Vindhya seed‑ball drone initiative offers the innovation, policy, science and community convergence. With state support, NGO or CSR collaborations, the demonstrable ecological gains will embody India to restore the degraded lands through sustainable and technology. If it achieves its next goal a cumulative 1 million seed balls across central India by 2026 it may well become a flagship for global low-cost and high-impact afforestation solutions.
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