The Indian subsidiary of the US agri-tech company Plasma Water Solutions Inc and the Heartfulness Institute (an NGO) have signed a collaboration agreement to promote the common purpose of enabling food security in the most sustainable manner and introducing the Green Revolution 2.0 from India to the rest of the world.
A media statement said that Plasma Water Solutions’ proprietary cold-plasma technology converts water from any source, in continuous flow and real-time, to ‘Plasma-ized Water’ (PW). PW technology is used for seed treatment, crop spray and irrigation to enhance productivity through faster and more efficient germination, accelerated growth, preventing the transmission of plant pathogens and enhancing stress tolerance during the crop cycle, it said.
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Quoting Robert Hardt, President and CEO of Plasma Water Solutions Inc, the statement said, “The institute has been promoting good practices in agriculture, training farmers in natural solutions and methods to promote plant health, soil health and water health without harming the environment while enhancing food productivity and farmers’ income which is in perfect alignment with the value proposition that Plasma Waters technology offers.”
Different teams at Kanha Shantivanam (headquarters of Heartfulness) in Telangana have been testing the effects of Plasma Waters treatment on seeds, disease and plant health for the last several months as this was the first site of the company through Samunnati in India.
The statement said that this 1700-acre campus has been extensively using Plasma Waters sprays on multiple crops, vegetables, fruits, medicinal plants and trees. Applications range from treating 250 neem trees’ dieback issues, 350 papaya plants’ mosaic virus infestation, 74 date palm trees and 22 Pongamia pinnata trees’ infestation to seed treatment and sprays on a wide range of food crops, horticulture, hydroponics and nurseries.
The collaboration agreement states that the joint validation trials of ‘Plasma-ized Water’ application for agriculture, research and development activities, agro-forestry and other agriculture-related uses will be conducted at a large scale and at multiple centres/nurseries of the Heartfulness Institute. The existing and new use cases will be tested and demonstrated to the farming community, various stakeholders and agriculture value-chain players to benefit the community at large, it said.
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The President of Heartfulness Institute, Kamlesh D Patel (Daaji), said, “Our experience with Plasma Waters has been very positive. It has shown significant results in germination, stand quality and disease management. Since this is a natural sustainable solution, Heartfulness would not only use it, recommend it but also meaningfully contribute to the research and development activities of the company in India.”
Pragya Kalia, MD of Plasma Water Solutions India Pvt Ltd, said the diverse platform for demonstration and continuous refinement of the tech that is offered by Heartfulness through opportunities ranging from traditional farming, hydroponics, aeroponics, tissue culture processes, horticulture, floriculture, oil seeds, fruit orchards to agro-forestry and afforestation projects is very exciting and reassuring for Plasma Water Solutions’ India journey.