March 16, 2022: Aravind, a 15-year-old boy from Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu, often noticed farmers in his largely agrarian town worrying about low crop yields which were often the result of either wrong crop selection or using the wrong variety of seeds. To help these farmers out, Aravind decided to develop an app titled ‘Golden Crop’ which provides guidance to farmers on multiple aspects pertaining to growing crops including areas such as the right crop selection and helping them understand the soil type.
The app recommends crops that could provide the user with a better yield for the selected month leveraging geolocation to identify the type of soil in the farmland as well as local climatic conditions in the area. Further, the app also provides specific details including the days required to harvest a crop, the market price of the crop etc. to help the user understand the true yield value.
Moreover, the app also allows farmers to test the soil and connects the user directly with local soil testing labs thus helping farmers make the right crop selection. Using the ‘Your Crop’ feature, farmers can keep a track of their crops and get notified about the next important event coming up. Farmers can also check their crop health by comparing their crop with a healthy crop image. The app, while currently functional, is being further updated by Aravind as he continues to fine-tune the features. An in-built app feature allows Aravind to get feedback from the farmers directly which is aiding him in refining the app further. He soon hopes to make the app available to farmers in local regional languages as well.
Speaking about the app, WhiteHat Jr student Aravind said, “It was always my dream to create a company which would solve as many problems as possible in our day-to-day life. After joining WhiteHat Jr this dream has now become a reality. I named my company ‘INBO’ which is inspired by India and Rainbow which highlights my idea about making India unique and attractive just like a rainbow. Growing up watching farmers around me, I often heard them talk about the issues they faced. ‘Golden Crop’ is a small attempt to aid them in the decision-making process so that they can earn a better yield and lead a better life. I will keep working on this app by adding more features. I hope the farmers in the area where I live, for whom I am making this app, will find it useful.”
Neelakantan S, Aravind’s mentor at WhiteHat Jr, said “Aravind impressed me with his keen and insightful observations. His zeal to make a meaningful contribution and sheer commitment in learning React Native helped in making a very user-friendly yet complex application.”
What began as a coding project, soon turned into a problem-solving app for the farmer community. Apart from technical challenges, Aravind faced obstacles in research work. Amidst the pandemic, it was very difficult for him to carry out field research and reach out to people for obtaining information. He took guidance from WhiteHat Jr teachers, his parents, and other people around him to find out relevant information for the app. Aravind believes that technology can be used to solve a lot of real-life problems and apart from farmer problems, in future, he also wants to solve other major existing problems.
Aravind’s another mentor at WhiteHat Jr, Jasmeen Khan said, “I mentored Aravind for the second part of his app creation process. Aravind is an amazing student, every session with him was fun and challenging for me. His enthusiasm to learn new concepts made me push my boundaries and teach him above and beyond. I am really happy with his final app and wish him all the best for his future.”
Aravind’s father, Saravana Kumar, added, “We are very proud of Aravind’s attempt to help the farming community. It is fascinating to see how beautifully he has married technology with his understanding of issues faced by the farmers. I hope this inspires other children and young people to create solutions to the problems they see around them in their community.”
When not working on his app, Aravind loves playing with the Rubik’s cube. Going forward, he hopes to make ‘Golden Crop’ available to farmers across the country and eventually wants to create a career for himself in the field of computers and technology.
To download the ‘Golden Crop’ app, please click here:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aravind.goldencrop
