VIP Bio-Products, Madurai

Bacteria and viruses that affect poultry have become immune to antibiotics. IR Guard is a herbal innovation that, through its ingredients, raises the immunity of chicken.

Villgro helped formulate the product and conduct field trials to determine its efficacy in raising the immunity of chicken (both layer and broiler). The trials showed that the product is effective and reduces chicken mortality. Villgro is studying the provision of pilot marketing support to take the product to small and marginal poultry farmers.

Aarvin Products, Chennai

Mastitis is a killer disease that affects cows and buffaloes leading to milk losses and ultimately their death. Conventional mastitis testing kits require specialized expertise, are expensive to administer, and cannot detect mastitis before the onset of symptoms.

Sri Kumar, Dharmapuri

The mini-weeder is a new weeder designed for narrow plantations of crops like sugarcane, groundnuts etc. that are traditionally spaced too close for commercial weeders. Currently there are no weeders available that suit the agricultural conditions of crops such as sugarcane, maize and groundnut.

Villgro provided support to complete prototype development, and negotiated with Southern Agro Engine Pvt. Ltd. to transfer the technology.

Glotech Organics, Trichy

Nemate is a pesticide-fertilizer formulation that combines the pesticidal properties of neem with potassium compounds to reduce the intake of inorganic fertilizers and improve soil quality. Excessive use of synthetic fertilizer has resulted in pesticide resistant pests, and agricultural land becoming deficient in potassium.

Servals Automation Ltd, Chennai

The stove is a hybrid that can use both kerosene and plant oil. Though accessible for the poor, the availability through the public distribution system is limited. The plant oil stove aims at using plant-oil and thereby reduce the dependence on kerosene.

Provimi Products, Gobichettipalayam

The sheep rearing sector is an important but unorganized sector with many rearers being nomadic and unable to enjoy a decent quality of life. The Shreyas Model integrates all the critical components necessary for sheep rearing. It uses twin innovations – a service innovation and a product innovation – as a result of which rearers' incomes increase and stabilize.

Chennai

The novel sprinkler is an innovation that creates a spray of water without the need for any moving parts in the sprinkler. Sprinklers currently available suffer from a lot of wear and tear, calling for frequent replacement, the cost of which burdens the poor.

Villgro enabled a tie-up with IDEI, and performance testing took place from August to October 2008. The results showed a need for modifications to be made, and Villgro identified a consultant at IIT for this.

Poly Sense Private Limted, Mumbai

Polysense Aqua is a low cost, easy-to-use, portable, sensor based device to test the purity of drinking water. Water in many rural areas is contaminated, but is not tested because existing methods are either expensive, time consuming and complex, or cumbersome and inaccurate.

Villgro enabled market research for the innovation. Villgro interns also undertook a business development mapping exercise.

Madurai

Alginate Band-Aid is an advanced and affordable product used in the care of wounds/foot ulcers which can be slow to heal in diabetic patients. Existing products and methods takes longer time to heal foot ulcers in diabetic patients.

Villgro’s support was directed at developing a prototype to manufacture alginate band aid and to produce band aid at the lab scale using the prototype.

Bangalore

Bamboo mat production is currently mainly done by hand. This leads to lower productivity and a lower quality product. A weaving machine for these mats can help to supplement income by increased quality and quantity of production. This device mechanises the bamboo mat weaving that is currently done manually by traditional artisans.

Villgro enabled completion of the first prototype

Sree Jayashree Industries, Coimbatore

The penetration of sanitary napkins is very low in villages due to reasons such as high cost of branded napkins and cultural barriers. The machine makes low cost sanitary napkins at the village level.

Villgro incubation support has helped strengthen the business model and pilot marketing of the machine. Over 50 machines were marketed, leading to an impact on over 100,000 women

Trivandrum

Existing rodenticides kill rats and this causes foul smell, requiring dead rats to be removed. The Rat Vanisher is a unique herbal formulation that repels rats without killing them.

Villgro supported the innovator in validating the product through systematic trials and undertaking market research.

Kochi

The innovation is an egg incubator specially meant for small capacities. It uses solar energy to provide the warmth required for the eggs to hatch. The innovativeness lies in the application of solar energy to an egg incubator and its size, which makes it suitable for household poultry industry.

Villgro support was directed at carrying out field trials to validate the product

George Eapen, Coimbatore

Based on his experience with the brick kiln industry, George Eapen, a Coimbatore-based innovator, has come up with key improvements in the construction and operation of BT brick kilns. This includes several design improvements such as better insulation for the firing chambers, better fuel efficiency, lower emissions, prevention of air-leaks, and better worker safety.

Villgro support was directed at testing and validating the brick kiln

Damodara Rao, Chennai

This is an innovative way of extracting fresh-water from coastal aquifers in a more sustainable manner. The innovator, Damodara Rao, is a retired engineer of Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board (TWAD) board and a resident of Chennai. Villgro supported was directed at piloting a market based model for water extraction and distribution along with select panchayats in coastal Tamil Nadu.