Niqo Sense camera cuts pesticides 60%
Bengaluru startup Niqo Sense says its camera-based system reduces pesticide use by about 60% and is already moving into U.S. export markets (x.com). The same briefing also flags innovation-friendly crops—like newly reported thornless makhana varieties—that are being developed to make mechanised processing and harvest easier (x.com).
A camera that tells a sprayer where to fire is moving from Indian farms into the United States, and Niqo Robotics says it cuts agrochemical use by about 60%. (niqorobotics.com) The Bengaluru company’s Niqo Sense system uses an artificial intelligence camera and deep-learning software to spot weeds or target plants, then sprays only those patches instead of coating an entire field. Niqo says the camera can retrofit conventional sprayers and turn them into spot sprayers. (niqorobotics.com) Niqo told investors in May 2024 that it had commercialized its system on more than 90,000 acres in 2023-24, with real-time chemical savings of up to 60% and more than 1,800 farmers using it. The same funding round raised $13 million and brought total funding to $21 million. (yourstory.com) The basic problem is simple: most crop spraying is blanket spraying. A camera-guided sprayer works more like a motion-sensor faucet, opening only where the software sees a target, which reduces chemical use and leaves the rest unsprayed. (niti.gov.in) Niqo’s push comes as Indian farm policy is also leaning toward crops that are easier to mechanise. In makhana, or fox nut, official and industry documents describe a labor-heavy harvest and processing chain that still depends heavily on manual work in ponds and during popping and grading. (apeda.gov.in) Government documents say Bihar produces about 80% to 85% of the world’s makhana, and the harvest is still physically demanding enough that mechanisation is a recurring policy goal. A February 4, 2025 Lok Sabha reply said the National Research Centre for Makhana in Darbhanga has focused on high-yield lines, water-efficient systems and mechanisation-linked improvements. (pib.gov.in) That helps explain the interest in thornless or easier-handling crop traits. As of official disclosures reviewed here, the research centre has reported thornless water chestnut varieties, while public reporting in Bihar says scientists are now working on thornless makhana lines to cut handling risks and make machine use easier. (pib.gov.in) (patnapress.com) Mechanisation in makhana is already moving ahead in pieces rather than all at once. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology has published a popped-makhana grading machine that it says removes the need for manual grading, and other industry material describes mechanized popping lines for threshing, cleaning, drying and roasting. (ciphet.res.in) (makhana.org) For Niqo, the next test is whether the same camera logic that saves chemicals on Indian farms can hold up in export markets with different crops, regulations and farm equipment. For Indian agriculture more broadly, the common thread is narrower: build tools and crop traits that let farmers spray, harvest and process with fewer hands and less waste. (blume.vc)
