Friends Sathya Raghu V Mokkapati, Kaushik Kappagantulu, Saumya, and Ayush Sharma, who believe water conservation is critical right now, are among five recipients of the Prince of Wales’s annual Earthshot Prize.
Prince William established the annual awards to fund environmental projects.
The CA-turned-entrepreneur Sathya Raghu, Co-founder and President, Kheyti, claims that his solution, Greenhouse-in-a-box (GIB), can achieve this goal, and he wants his product to reach all farmers in the country.
Kheyti has earned a $1.2 million by Prince William on Friday in Boston, Massachusetts in the Protect and Restore Nature category, which garnered hundreds of submissions from around the world.
“Prince William is the one who is so committed to climate change that his foundation will pay these awards for five winners, who are proposing answers to restore the earth,” says Raghu.
Five Earthshot Prizes of £1m ($1.2m) are being awarded each year until 2030 in support of environmental innovation projects for the future.
“This will be a catalytic assistance to help us be bolder and braver in our path to deliver climate smart incomes to smallholder farmers in the few hundreds of villages where we presently work, so that we can reach tens of thousands of villages and tens of thousands of households. More importantly, we hope to motivate many other groups, companies, and governments to collaborate in order to bring climate resilience to as many millions of smallholder farmers as possible,” smiles Raghu.
When friends come together to work on climate-smart agriculture, Kheyti was born in 2015.
“For roughly six months, we met with hundreds of farmers to learn more about their lives. And from that journey, we attempted to synthesise the challenge. We discovered that farmers need a consistent and stable income to keep out of poverty. In his previous company, Kaushik worked in hundreds of remote communities during skill development, where he witnessed people who dropped out of school,” Raghu explains.
The goal of Greenhouse-in-a-Box is to cut costs and enhance yields, which will help farmers protect their livelihoods.
“This basic approach has far-reaching ramifications than the Greenhouse-in-a-Box, which can grow crops while protecting them from unforeseen influences such as damaging pests. Notably, the plants cultivated in this greenhouse consume 98% less water while yielding seven times more than those grown outside. Furthermore, it is 90% less expensive than a typical greenhouse,” adds Raghu.
Another Indian concept, Fleather, produced by Founder and CEO Ankit Agarwal’s Phool in the state of Uttar Pradesh, was among the 15 finalists.
The project began with the goal of cleaning up India’s holiest river, the Ganges, and eventually they were able to collect flowers thrown into the river and turn them into Fleather, a sustainable leather.
