This village boy started a farming biz at 15 to pay his 11th grade school fees – now runs an organic pesticides startup worth Rs 50 Cr

At the age of 15, when Ansh Patidar secured 91% in his 10th board examinations, he was beyond happy. He was finally certain that his dream of becoming an engineer was beginning to become tangible.

“I already had a plan of action ready. Complete the 11th and 12th standard and then move to Indore to prepare for JEE,” Ansh Patidar, founder of Agriwa Organics, tells Startup Pedia in an exclusive interview. 

But a shock awaited the 15-year-old. Ansh’s father, a farmer, suffered a huge financial loss. He didn't have the money to pay for Ansh’s further schooling or accommodation in Indore. 

Despite that, he told Ansh not to worry. His mother, on the other hand, was ready to sell her gold jewellery to send her son to Indore. 

But Ansh Patidar didn't take the easy way out. That situation had turned him into a man. He decided to do something to improve his household’s condition and support his parents.

After multiple attempts and errors, Ansh Patidar founded Agriwa Organics in 2022. It is a Madhya Pradesh-based biotechnology and drones solutions startup that helps farmers spend less and grow more.

The startup has helped more than one lakh farmers improve their yield, minimize their spending, and increase their harvest and income. 

Agriwa Organics is now valued at Rs 50 crore.

And it all began with a young boy's resolve to arrange his school fees and uplift the farmers around him.

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FOUNDER'S STORY 

Hailing from a small tribal village in the Barwani district of Madhya Pradesh, Ansh Patidar comes from a family of farmers. 

“Farming has been our bread and butter for many generations. Even my great-grandfather was a farmer,” Ansh shares with Startup Pedia.

An academically bright student from the beginning, Ansh dreamt of becoming an automobile engineer. His family also wanted him to move out of the village and study in Indore. 

Growing up, Ansh Patidar saw the struggles involved in farming. He would see his parents wake up at odd hours of the day and night to water the field and tend to it. He knew that farming wasn't a very easy job to do. 

“Seeing that kind of daily struggle also made me develop a soft spot for other farmers around me. At the back of my head, I thought about ideas that could help them,” Ansh Patidar says.

But when he finished his 10th standard, secured 91%, and received the news of his father being in a huge loss, Ansh decided to do something to become independent and pay his school fees for the 11th standard himself. 

“I kept thinking of many things and shared business ideas with my parents. But they didn't want me to get into any of it. They said I was just a child and needed to focus on my studies. My mother told me she would sell her gold jewellery to send me to Indore. That broke me. It made me want to become independent all the more,” Ansh Patidar opens up. 

“To a woman, gold is one of the most important things. It is a symbol of security. I couldn't take that away from her. I decided to do something regardless of what anyone thought,” he adds.

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JOURNEY AND CHALLENGES 

During the summer following the end of his 10th standard, Ansh Patidar often accompanied his father to the field. He started helping him with farming activities. 

“One day, we went to a pesticide shop. My father picked up a pesticide product that was more expensive than the other kept on the counter. I was surprised because both of these products had the same chemical content. When I asked him the reasoning, he told me that he trusted the branded one more and didn't mind paying extra for it,” Ansh Patidar shares. 

After this happened, Ansh’s brain flooded with ideas. He realized that the pesticide products reach the village shops after the margins for the manufacturer, middleman, agent, and retailer are looked after. 

The result? Expensive pesticide for the end consumer, which is the farmer. 

As a 15-year-old, Ansh Patidar had got his startup idea.

He decided to eliminate the middlemen involved, slash everyone's margins, and make the same pesticide products available to the local farmers at reduced prices. 

At the time, he only had Rs 3,000 to spend. 

“Some of it was from my earlier savings. And some of it was the money that my relatives had given me for scoring a decent percentage in my 10th board exams. I utilized it as my capital,” startup founder Ansh shares. 

He looked up manufacturers on the Internet and tried convincing them to send him pesticide products for a minimum quantity worth Rs 3,000. 

A Gujarat manufacturer agreed.

This was how Ansh Patidar founded ABC Agrocham in 2019. 

He procured high-quality pesticide products and medicines from manufacturers and sold them directly to farmers in and around his area. 

“Establishing trust was one of the biggest challenges. But it happened with time. I bought a small pump and gave demos of the medicines. The positive results of the medicines made the farmers place their faith in me,” farming entrepreneur Ansh Patidar says.

In just one and a half years, ABC Agrocham achieved a turnover of Rs 40 lakh.

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A FAILED STARTUP AND A LOAN 

Until 2021, things were going well for the young entrepreneur.

He had become India's first and youngest 15-year-old to get his own GST registration. 

Ansh would wake up early, attend school, come back home, and then go out again to attend to his business, look after farmers, conduct field and farm visits, and make direct deliveries.

“After a point, directly selling the products wasn't possible for me. I implemented a model where farmers became my storeholders, held the stock for me, sold to their friends and acquaintances on my behalf, and took a small commission for it,” farming entrepreneur Ansh Patidar tells Startup Pedia.

After a teacher in his school suggested Ansh attend a startup event in Indore, he decided to visit and understand how the startup ecosystem works. 

He discovered the importance of technology and how it adds efficiency to the process and accelerates a business faster.

After the event, he conducted in-depth market research and came across three problem areas:

1. The local farmers are unaware of the rate of the pesticides and fertilizers being sold at the Krishi Dukans. He cannot compare the price of one shop to the price offered at another. 

2. The local retailers are stuck with a small pool of farmers. They don't have a way to increase their market reach. 

3. Farmers do not know the prices being offered for their crops. They do not have any comparison options here as well.

To solve this, Ansh Patidar brought together a small tech team and developed an app that could solve all the above problems. 

This was the start of Agrostand Technologies Private Limited in 2021. 

Ansh kept reinvesting the revenue of ABC Agrocham to fund Agrostand. 

Even though the app helped to farmers get better prices and retailers to capture bigger markets, the startup came crashing down. 

“The problem was that I had reinvested and circulated a lot of money from ABC Agrocham to Agrostand. One day came, and I was unable to pay a manufacturer I purchased pesticides from. It was a debt of Rs 9.5 lakh,” startup founder Ansh Patidar tells Startup Pedia. 

What followed was a depressive episode. He didn't know what to do and blamed himself for landing in a situation that involved a huge debt.

Eventually, he went into a self-analysis mode with the support of his parents and friends.

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AGRIWA ORGANICS: FUELLING FARMERS’ GROWTH

Barely 17 years old now, Ansh Patidar summed up the courage and went to retailers and krishi dukaandars with whom he had a good rapport. 

“These people had seen my work ethic and trusted me. I asked them to make an advance payment to me, and in exchange, I would offer them organic pesticide products at a discount. It was surprising to see that even though many people rejected this offer, others trusted a 17-year-old with an amount of Rs 9.5 lakh,” farming entrepreneur Ansh Patidar shares with Startup Pedia. 

After repaying his debt, Ansh started Agriwa Organics International Private Limited in 2022. 

He decided to bring organic biopesticides to farmers, improve their crop health, minimize their spending, and thereby increase their income. Another direct benefit of these biopesticides was that they were residue-free and didn’t harm the environment.

The farming startup founder merged this offering with drone technology. 

“Initially, I started providing free drone technology to farmers who bought the bio-organic pesticides from me. So they only had to pay for the products while spraying them would be completely free-of-charge for them,” Ansh Patidar explains. 

Over the past two and a half years, Agriwa Organics has positively impacted more than one lakh farmers. It has provided 5,000 farmers with free-of-cost drone sprays covering 20,000+ acres of farmland.

Through robust drone technology, the Madhya Pradesh-based farming startup helps farmers save 90% of water and 25% of pesticides.

“No amount of manual labour can compare to the quality and coverage that drones spraying pesticides on the farming fields offer. In just one day, a drone can cover up to 30 acres of land. We’ve helped stop 6,000 tonnes of carbon emissions too,” Ansh Patidar remarks.

Currently, Agriwa Organics has a valuation of Rs 50 crore.

“Over the past few years, I have learnt that not just life but also entrepreneurship is a learning curve. You have your ups and downs, but your resilience matters the most. In the future, we want to expand into sustainable agriculture and carbon credit. I also want to empower women and hire them as pilots for our drones. This is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Drone Didi scheme,” entrepreneur Ansh Patidar signs off.