Inakolla Venkata Mirdula and Chiruthoti Maheswari hail from rural areas where farming is the major source of income. Both the girls, currently in Class 9, have grown up seeing how uneven climatic conditions and insufficient water resources hamper crops.

While it was not in their hands to change the big problems, the girls took the challenge to solve the issue of animal threat to the farming fields.

These students of APSWR School, Prakasam district in Andhra Pradesh undertook a survey in their village and found how cattle and birds are adversely affecting the crops.

“Farmers here cannot afford manpower or machines that could keep animals at bay. Irrespective of which season it is, farmers have to guard their fields all through the day and sometimes even during the night. The old methods of installing scarecrows, beating drums or using bird resistant hybrids do exist. But they are not effective enough to prevent damage,” says Inakolla.

The duo, thus, decided to create a one-stop solution and came up with a prototype of the Cattle Alert System. The system is user-friendly and it protects crops without harming cattle or birds.

This sensor-based prototype alerts farmers every time an animal enter the fields and also deploys counter measures to scare it away.

The duo then found that birds are scared of laser lights. “For birds, the system has laser lights on two sides of the field. So, whenever a bird tries to enter, a light is switched on to scare them away,” Inakolla, further adds.

The girls hope to make their prototype a commercially viable product version which could ease the woes of farmers.

As per a report released by the Ministry of Agriculture, 63 bird species of birds cause damage to crops. Close to 53 bird species attack cereals and 14 bird species attack pulses. Birds like Grey Partridge, Blue Rock Pigeon and House Sparrow are most damage-causing birds.

In such a scenario, there is a dire need to address the issue of animal and bird attacks and with the help of Agri Mate, a lot can be done to address the issue.