Agro Modernization — India

What if India's rice farmers could save money, reduce their environmental impact, and increase their yields?

Company
IDEO.org
Client
Distinct Horizon
Disciplines
Product Design
Strategy Design
Role
Project Co-Lead
Year
2018–2019
6×

increase in efficiency of urea deep placement with the new tractor attachment design

24%

higher rice yields from the UDP method vs. traditional broadcasting

The Project

"Urea deep placement offers real benefits — but current methods are back-breaking, time-intensive work."

Over the last several decades, urea has become the main fertilizer for India's rice farmers. Current broadcasting methods are extremely harmful to the environment, and while there is an alternative, urea deep placement (UDP) is labor-intensive and physically demanding work. Our IDEO.org team joined Distinct Horizon to help craft a product that would allow farmers to leverage the benefits of UDP without the physical cost.

During a rapid design sprint, our teams collaborated to conceptualize, engineer, and test a tractor attachment design with the potential to propel both an industry and a country's agricultural output.

My Role

As Project Co-Lead, I managed the engineering development of critical features for the physical product design and drove organizational strategy design in collaboration with client leadership.

Disciplines
Product Design Strategy Design Field Research Engineering Development
Collaborators

IDEO.org in partnership with Distinct Horizon

From the Field
Rice harvesting in India
Farmer interview
Design brainstorming session
Furrow attachment design
Manufacturing and fabrication
CAD engineering development
Prototype field test
Final tractor attachment render
Product design render diagram

"Working with IDEO.org's team has been extremely productive and educative. It has brought major shifts in the way that we perceive things and do things."

— Ayush Nigam, CEO Distinct Horizon