Credit: Special arrangement.
Shivamogga: A city-based startup has designed the first India-made four-wheeler quad bike priced around Rs 2.5 lakh to help small and marginal farmers who can’t afford to buy tractors.
Vishwanath K S, founder and director of Farmland Industries India Private Limited and engineering graduate from Shivamogga, has sold over 100 such bikes to small farmers in the state in the last four years. Now, he is getting orders from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu.
Vishwanath told DH that earlier, quad bikes were imported from China and Japan.
“I made up my mind to create a quad bike, while I was doing my engineering degree in 2015. I had created three-wheeler bikes for the army and films. Later, I thought of manufacturing four-wheeler bikes exclusively for small farmers.” He said the first bike was sold to a farmer in Shivamogga in 2016.
“I had manufactured it in my house itself. I borrowed money from my friends and parents, initially. Later, I started taking money from customers as advance, manufactured the bike and sold the product to them. This year, IIT Madras has bought 1% share in my company by paying Rs 10 lakh. UAS Dharwad has given a grant of Rs 10 lakh,” the entrepreneur said.
The quad bike can easily navigate in plantations and perform essential farm tasks, where tractors and tillers are difficult to reach.
Equipped with a trolley attachment capable of carrying 500 to 800 kg, the quad bike is expected to ease labour shortages and make application of fertilisers and manure easy for farmers.
Conventional tractors and tillers cost Rs 8 lakh to Rs 10 lakh and Vishwanath’s invention gives farmers the cost advantage.
Farmers usually spend Rs 3,000 per acre to remove weeds from their fields. but the quad bike performs the task at a much lesser cost. It can easily reach the corners and interiors of agriculture fields.
Vishwanath said last year, the startup saw a business of nearly Rs 1 crore by selling around 40 vehicles. It plans to set up production units in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, creating employment opportunities for people. Over 10 workers presently work out of the unit on Sagar Road in Shivamogga.