Grameen Intel’s mrittikā receives BRAC Manthan ‘Special Mention’ Award

Grameen Intel’s eAgro solution  ‘mrittikā’ has received the ‘Special Mention’ award in the category of ‘e-Agriculture and Ecology’ at the BRAC Manthan Digital Innovation Award 2016 . This year the 29 best projects from all around Bangladesh participated and showcased their innovation.

mrittikā, a fertilizer recommendation software of Grameen Intel is like a blood test for soil and its solution. It tells farmers about the health of their soil and what fertilizers they should use.  mrittikā recommends optimum quantity of fertilizers depending on the soil analysis and crops’ nutrient requirement. Thereby, mrittikā is capable to cut down input cost and helps to improve yield and margin for smallholder farmers. With simple information like land type, irrigations, season, land size and crop name mrittikā can generate fertilizer recommendations. The recommendations not only defines how much fertilizer to be applied but also provides dosage and application direction to ensure effective application. 

mrittikā software can be used in any region of the world for recommendation for which only little information needs to be changed. For example, since the crop benchmarks of USA, Peru and Bangladesh are not same, therefore the crop benchmarks need to be customized according to the country in which the recommendations are provided. mrittikā runs on low cost computers and notepads makes it very mobile. As a result, the recommendations can be accessible to the people living in remote rural areas. The rural people are deprived from any interactions with agriculture experts. As a result, mrittikā by providing optimum fertilizer recommendations can often act as a medium to eliminate the barrier.

Currently, mrittikā is operated in around 40 locations in Bangladesh with national and international partner organizations and clients. Our partners and clients are including IDE Bangladesh, Solidaridad Network Asia, HELVETAS Swiss Incorporation Bangladesh, Practical Action Bangladesh, ACI Fertilizer Ltd., Rahimafrooz Renewable Energy Ltd., Padakhep Manabik Unnayan Kendra, Rural Reconstruction Foundation and Gono Unnayan Kendra. Farmers in India and Cambodia also use mrittikā.

Earlier mrittikā was also nominated for the prestigious WSIS (The World Summit on the Information Society) prizes 2016.