While technological advancement is resulting in progress, there are issues we are facing as a society — global warming, depletion of water levels, drying up of rivers and scarcity of conventional resources. Thankfully, there are people who are making conscious efforts to conserve water resources for the rain-deprived areas. One of them is Maithili Appalwar, the CEO of Avana, a business initiative of Emmbi Industries Ltd.
Under Avana, which is a B2C (business to consumer) venture started in 2016, Appalwar helps farmers in water-deprived areas by directly offering them affordable water conservation solutions.
Making a mark
Being born in the family of Emmbi Industries founders, Appalwar always had the option of being a part of the parent group, but she chose otherwise. Speaking about the same, she says, “Emmbi has been known for polymer processing in India. A lot of products created here are used for water conservation application throughout the world. I realised that with a little bit of adaptation and changes in designs, we could utilise these products for farmers. That is why we created Avana which is the first B2C venture under Emmbi. Under this, we have 300 direct retail touch points packed with viable and sustainable end-to-end solutions.”
When asked why she chose to lend help to farmers, she says, “I have seen a lot of people coming up with solutions for the urban population. But 70 per cent of Indian population is still dependent on the rural economy. Although we use water for basic purposes, for the rural citizens, it’s different; their entire livelihood is dependent on water. So 80 per cent of water in India is being consumed in the agriculture sector. If we are able to optimise the rural water usage, we can also save a lot. That is why I wanted farmers to be a vocal group for us.”
The environment cause
Students moving abroad for higher education and settling there with high paying jobs is not new, but they coming back and taking the unconventional way surely is. Appalwar, who is a graduate from Georgia Institute of Technology, speaks about what made her come back. “Coming back was always a part of the plan. After graduation, I realised I wanted to use my engineering skills in a way that would help the masses and create an impact. Water scarcity is one of the worst issues faced globally, and climate change is another. Through Avana, we are taking an opportunity to tell people to put their minds, skills and talent in contributing to society,” she says.
Under Avana, Appalwar has successfully managed to build 6000 artificial ponds in various rural areas starting in Maharashtra, later moving to Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. Speaking about the same, she says, “Artificial ponds are one of the solutions we offer, where the inner sides of the pond are covered by recyclable polymer lining. We have two projects, ‘Jalasanchay’ and ‘Jalasanchay Super’. The artificial ponds with a black lining come under Jalasanchay. And Jalasanchay Super is an improved version of artificial ponds with sky blue lining. It is because blue lining helps in less evaporation of water unlike the black ones.”
She adds that blue liners help lower the evaporation rate and facilitate algae presence. This helps in creating the natural habitat for fish. So these ponds can be used for fishing as well and that would give the farmers an additional source of revenue. Through these projects, Avana has managed to save nearly 200 billion litres of water.
She adds, “We not only build these ponds but work from scratch. For instance, we do awareness programmes for the villagers to understand. If farmers don’t have money, then we have tie ups with four different banks to help them get the loans. Also, we give them advice on what kind of crops they should grow.” Her business started small, but ever since the results started showing up, it gained momentum.
Challenges
Rural areas have mostly close knit communities and getting them on board can be a task. Appalwar says, “In parts like Yavatmal, water conservation is something that is not talked about or accepted, so we had to be more patient. To tackle it, we hired employees from their areas and not from urban areas. There are two reasons, firstly, people can easily relate to us through their people working for us. And secondly, this will improve the rural employment graph. Also, another challenge was to gain a strong foothold in a male dominated sector like manufacturing and agriculture.”
Recently, Appalwar was the youngest speaker at a seminar organised by the Ministry of Water Resources. She put up a presentation on the use of ‘Technical Textiles in Water Conservation’. “Technical textiles are the same fabrics as pond liners. We wanted to say was that they can be largely used for water conservation application. It was a great opportunity to speak in front of the bigwigs. We are working with government to make canal system more efficient. It is basically called as Command Area Development, under which every single canal that ends up going to farm is channelising water in a proper way. So that the land is optimally irrigated,” she concludes.