Plasma Water Solutions, which produces plasma-activated water through a patented machine, has launched commercial services commercially at the premises of two farmer producers organisations (FPOs) in Rae Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh and Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
“We are launching (the services) in several other locations in India including Rajasthan, Gujarat and Telangana,” said Pragya Kalia, Managing Director of Plasma Water Solutions (I) Pvt Ltd, India.
Plasma Water — a 100 per cent subsidiary of Plasma Water Solutions Inc. based in Miami, US — makes plasma-activated water, which contains certain oxygen radicals that are important for the growth of plants. “Plasma water is nothing but like lightning, which contains reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species,” said Kalia in an online interaction with businessline.
Product’s uses
Plasma Water uses its patented machine to “mimic lightning” and create “plasmized water”. Seeds treated with the treated water can withstand diseases and germinate faster and better. “They become stress-tolerant and disease-resistant,” she said.
“Plasmized water” can be used like foliar spray in place of pesticides and insecticides to control various infestations.
On its commercial service, the chief of Plasma Water India, which was launched in August 2022, said the company puts its patented machine that converts water into “plasmized water” in the premises of farmer producer companies or organisations.
“The machine is serviced and maintained by us. We also bear the cost of placing in the premises and for consumables in it. Everything is taken care of by the company. FPOs only provide services and they are paid a margin for that,” she said.
Working with FPCs
Farmers, on their part, bring their seeds, for example to the premises, get it treated and pay for it. At Rae Bareilly, Shri Aura FPC has taken up the commercialisation.
The company did a pilot for over six months with the State government paying for the farmers. With the project being commercialised, for the first time, farmers will begin to pay.
Keen to take its technology to small and marginal farmers, Plasma Water is working with farmer-producer companies (FPCs) in association with Chennai-based Samunnati Financial Intermediation and Services Private Ltd. It is also working with Heartfulness Institute, Hyderabad, which trains farmers at its horticulture nursery. Plasma Water has set up a research and development centre there, said Kalia.
Scientific partners
Plasma Water has two scientific partners in the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, and ICRISAT, Hyderabad. She said in the case of ICAR, it has been working with its seed division and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) over the past 7-8 months.
“We are integrating the technology and our practices with the traditional farming practices so that it becomes easy for farmers to adopt. They are standardising the usage of our technology now so that it can be integrated into the traditional farming practices,” she said.
With both these organisations, Plasma Water is working on wheat, lentils, chilli and tomatoes. A few other crops will soon follow, said the company’s India Managing Director.
“With ICRISAT, we are working with sorghum and millet. We are also working with them on watermelon and some other crops,” she said, adding that through the institute it could work in Bihar and Odisha.
Integrating technology
As ICRISAT runs programmes for Asia and Africa, Plasma Water is looking to integrate its technology, founded in Chile, into the Hyderabad-based institute’s programmes so that States will benefit. Later on, African and Asian countries will also gain, she said.
Plasma Water India is working with the Uttar Pradesh government’s horticulture department and diversified agricultural support project. “We have demonstrated our technology, perfected over 14 years, to these two departments,” said Kalia.
In Rae Bareli, the company demonstrated its technology in real farming practices to the FPO and 77 farmers took part. The farmers all benefited reporting good results without using pesticides or insecticides.
“UPDAS rolls out new technologies and innovations for farmers through FPOs. The UP Horticulture department has 60-70 nurseries each around 100 acres. Farmers bring the seeds to the nurseries and grow them into saplings of a certain size. Farmers are charged at ₹1 per sapling. Our intervention with the horticulture department is at the level of seedling growth into sapling,” she said.
Talks with other States
Plasma Water is in talks with the Uttar Pradesh government to commercialise its service to all horticulture nurseries. In the case of UPDAS, it concluded its discussion and launched the commercial service through Shri Aura.
“We are in talks with other States too. We would be taking this ahead with Telangana, Orissa and Bihar,” said Kalia.
Plasma India will launch its services for more crops once it completes its research and development studies. It is holding trials for several vegetables and moringa (drumsticks). The company receives farmers’ feedback at the flowering stage for most of the crops.
On the impact of plasma water, the company’s managing director said on average between 10 and 20 per cent improvement in yield has been reported. In outlier cases, it has been 30-35 per cent for local varieties and in the case of hybrid seeds, the increase has been 15-40, she claimed.
Plasma Water is focussing on the US, India and Latin America. Besides India, it has subsidiaries in Germany and Chile. “We plan to expand into Africa and South-East Asia from India. The Indian subsidiary will act as the regional hub for catering to Africa and South-East Asia. That is why we have some important partners to help us realise this goal,” she said.
On what it charges farmers for plasma water, Kalia said it would depend on the crop as each needs a different kind of treatment. “Sometimes, crops like vegetables need 3-4 sprays. Based on crops the pricing ranges from ₹6,000-20,000 an acre,” said the company’s managing director.
Giving an example of the benefits, she said, “In Uttar Pradesh, potato farmers have reported an increase in their income by almost ₹1.45 lakh per hectare. We saw similar kinds of benefits in rice, wheat and mustard for the farmers,” said the company’s managing director.
Plasma Water is now working on expanding into poly houses and hydroponics.