V Nandagopal, a cattle owner in Thandam village near Madurantakam (100 km south of Chennai), panicked for a minute when his veterinarian said he could not come over to check his sick cow. But his problem was solved through Dvara Surabhi Index (DSI), a mobile application developed by Dvara E-Dairy Solutions, a Chennai-based agfintech firm.
The farmer just clicked a picture of the bovine’s back and the app provided all the information about the state of the animal within 40 seconds. He sent the information to his veterinarian who advised him what to do.
Another farmer from Puducherry, Iniyan, who had used the app, describes how it identified infertility issues in his cow. “I was surprised to know that a mobile app could tell that the cattle was overfed, and there was excess cholesterol.”
“A veterinarian looks at specific areas in the cattle’s back and can talk about its health. We also look at the same areas and leveraging technology identify the problem the animal faces,” says KA Ravi, Founder and CEO, Dvara E-Dairy Solutions, incubated at the Dvara Venture Studio of Dvara Holdings. The venture was also an incubatee of Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University’s Veterinary Incubation Foundation.
Acceptance
Since launching the app in July 2021, over 55,000 farmers across the country have downloaded the app. Through the app, which is available for free, users can check the cattle’s health while buying and selling as well as understand its feeding management.
“We help dairy farmers to expand their herd size, increase their income through the enablement of formal finance, insurance, and cattle management solutions,” says Ravi. “We are not replacing veterinarians by giving treatments. We focus only on prevention,” he added.
V Hemanth, veterinarian in Puducherry said that the app helps the farmer to know the correct feed and understand the reproductive disorders in the cattle. However, a farmer cannot fully depend on the app. They need to seek veterinarian’s advice rather than engaging in self-medication, he added.
DSI is more a tool for cattle management, agrees the company’s Chief Technology Officer Balaji Lakshmanan. There are around 300 million cattle in India. Ninety per cent of them belong to small farmers who have just a couple of bovines. The app empowers the small farmers to manage their herd better.