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IIT Kanpur’s rapid soil testing device launched
IIT Kanpur’s invention rapid soil-testing device Bhu Parikshak that came out last year has been launched as a product in market, the institute said in a press release
IIT Kanpur’s invention rapid soil-testing device Bhu Parikshak that came out last year has been launched as a product in market, the institute said in a press release. The device developed by a team led by Prof Jayant Kumar Singh from the department of chemical engineering and others is licensed to an agritech company, AgroNxt Services.
“Within a short span, the product has now been made ready for use by general public. It was launched in the market at an event on May 26, 2022 at the auditorium of IIT Kanpur’s Startup Innovation and Incubation Centre (SIIC) in Noida,” the press release said.
Director, IIT Kanpur, Prof Abhay Karandikar said, “Our primary objective is to offer our farmers relief in terms of testing the health of their soil. This is a task that is usually very tedious for them as they have to rely on laboratories far away from their homes.”
“We’re proud to share that now that the device is launched as a product, it’ll be a great boon for our farmers in lessening the hassle of testing their soil. I congratulate again the team led by Prof Jayant Kumar Singh and the AgroNxt team on making the device ready for market in a short period of time,” he said.
“This first-of-its-kind novel device is capable of detecting soil health in just 90 seconds through an embedded mobile application. It would assist individual farmers in obtaining soil health parameters of agricultural fields with recommended dose of fertilisers without having to go to a laboratory,” an official said.
The device is based on Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) technology that provides real-time soil analysis reports on smartphones with an embedded mobile application named “Bhu Parikshak” available on Google Play Store.
