UPL-backed firm WRMS to expand farm services in 150 districts

UPL-backed agro-chemical major Weather risk Management Services (WRMS) is planning to expand its presence to 150 districts from 40 at present.
UPL Ltd had last year acquired 26 per cent stake in Weather Risk Management Services Pvt Ltd for Rs 10 crore.
WRMS, incorporated in India in 2004, is primarily engaged in providing agriculture risk management solutions which include weather information and forecast services, agriculture decision support system services, precision farming services, and crop insurance products to farmers.
With the help of funding from UPL, WRMS Founder and MD Sonu Agrawal said the company is expanding its presence to 150 districts from 40 districts.

"Our turnover is also expected to rise at Rs 15-17.5 crore this fiscal from Rs 10 crore last year. With UPL coming on board we are expecting a significant growth in the coming fiscal," he added.
In order to boost farmers income, he said the company has launched many new services such as 'Plant Doctor' and 'Soil Doctor' to diagnose plant and soil diseases.

"WRMS is also planning to introduce drone for data collection and analysis," Agrawal said.
Elaborating on the new service, Agrawal said the company is running a pilot program for Soil Doctor in Haryana, and it plans to procure soil-testing equipment to make the process more efficient and scalable.

"Plant Doctor provides real time plant disease diagnosis service to farmers. Farmers need to Whatsapp a photo of their plant to receive an instant disease diagnosis from the WRMS experts," he added.
Under 'Crop Secure' service, it facilitates weather and yield based crop insurance products to farmers.
"So, based on the historical data, the team of WRMS studies the climatic conditions and also the yield of farmers over the years. The insurance is thus provided accordingly to the farmers," he said, adding that the company provides price information about the closest mandi to the farmers.