The market for hydroponic and organic farm-fresh products saw rapid growth after the Pandemic due to Covid-19. This motivated budding entrepreneurs to invest in hydroponic and organic farming businesses when existing players were already performing remarkably in the market. Being in this business since 2018, Ela Sustainable Solutions is a major player in this domain.
It has witnessed a major change in the consumption of farm-fresh organic products during the post-pandemic. “There has been a huge difference in the market share and the revenue between 2020 and 2018, as lifestyle changes have taken place across the society due to Covid 19. People have grown aware and conscious of what they are eating and willing to pay more for the chemical-free fresh farm products,” says Amal Mathew, Co-founder, Ela Sustainable Solutions.
Established by a group of young and determined engineers, Ela is working towards the mission to serve sustainability in society. Offering different types of fresh grown hydroponic and organic products, the farm has indoor farming, container farming, and polyhouse solutions facilities to offer. However, the speedy growth has given rise to many challenges that Amal and his team have been facing lately. “A lot of people are trying to change their profession and starting venturing into hydroponic business since they are all fed up with traditional agriculture.
But the main issue here is the lack of knowledge they have about hydroponic farming on how to manage and sustain in the long run,” Amal states. He also confirms that the increased usage of pesticides in agriculture today has been a growing reason of concern for many consumers. They want to consume organic and hydroponic food products giving way to more farmers shifting their interests from traditional agriculture to organic farming opportunities. However, the establishment and infrastructure costs are the challenging factors in this regard.
For Ela too this is a big challenge and thus it has built a team of agronomists who help with the right set of advice on how to monitor every commission from its office to door sensors. “We install sensors to get current data value. Thus, data management is something really important for us and our company mainly focuses on providing customized solutions for each farm. Each system will be customized by considering factors such as temperature, humidity, water quality and other variables of each locality. So, our internal team strictly monitors everything data-related details on a timely basis,” Amal quotes.
Offering end-to-end solutions in building sustainable farming support with the potency to grow products as every customer is willing to invest in a hydroponic farm. It also offers a buyback system which is a trial model used by the company to build confidence in the producers to invest more in the hydroponic farm. This also helps in increasing the productivity of the farm’s land mostly from the urban cities. “People from the urban areas are changing their food habits and are shifting towards sustainable food products than ever before,” Amal adds.
Our company mainly focuses on providing customized solutions for each farm. Each system will be customized by considering factors such as temperature, humidity, water quality and other variables of each locality
Striding to build a proper marketing channel, the farm is trying to identify the right kind of customers for automation and help them grow their business and fulfill their ambitions.
It also helps in managing its customer’s farm’s bank systems as well as conducting in-depth research and development for performing better in the hydroponic business. “Right now, we have a successful model in Kochi and we are trying to expand our business to Bangalore by the end of this year after which we are aiming to go to Chennai and Mumbai by the next two years,” Amal concludes.
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