Hyderabad, TELANGANA :

Hyderabad :

Concerned over the plight of farmers, whose fortunes depend on the vagaries of weather, four engineers have shouldered the task of developing an app to help them out.

S Saquibuddin, Shaik Mukheet, Neha Bandari and Asma Fatima, working at the T-hub in Hyderabad are in the process of developing ‘Niyantran’, an app to provide crop related information to the farmers and help them seek help of experts for better yield.

“Initially we wanted to create an identity for ourselves and decided to take the startup route instead of a waiting for a job. As agriculture is the most neglected sector in spite of being the most important one, we decided to concentrate on this area. As we came to know about the plight of farmers, who land in debt-trap due to vagaries of weather, we decided to develop an app for the farming community,” said S Saquibuddin, CEO and co-founder of the startup christened ‘Toe-Up’.

Saquibuddin, Mukheet and Neha have graduated from Institute of Aeronautical Engineering, Dundigal and being aeronautical engineers they have experimented the use of drones to monitor crops. But as it proved unviable due to practical difficulties and cost factor, they have decided to come up with a more convenient and easy tool for farmers.

“After downloading the ‘Niyantran’ app, farmers can seek expert opinion regarding the problems they face in farming. They can click the picture of the plant or crop affected by pest or other problems and send it to the experts. He will immediately receive guidance from experts regarding pest control. They can even record their voice and send it like in WhatsApp for information and guidance,” explained Neha.

The quartet has been working on the app for the past eight months and it will be ready for launch in a month.

While these youngsters are not keen about financial returns through this app, they are ambitious about building a profile to catch the attention of venture capitalists and investors. The start up received a shot in the arm as NASA selected it to conduct its space app challenge in Hyderabad.

“Besides being selected for T-Hub we are also part of Collab House, co-working space launched by Mozilla in Hyderabad. This has given us good mentors and exposure. Our focus is on developing apps that will bring out a positive change and Niyantran is part of that effort. Once we add value and bring in a positive change, we believe that success will follow,” stated Saquibuddin.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by J. Deepti Nandan Reddy / Express News Service / June 16th, 2016