Inspiration: Azad Ahmed belongs to a rural agrarian family of District Naushahro Feroze, Sindh. He is a fourth-generation agriculturist who spent his childhood in the farms at his village before embarking to big cities in the pursuit of higher studies. He has been actively engaged with family farms in crops’ planning, operations management and bookkeeping in parallel to his studies initially and then professional commitments. He is a member of the two progressive alumni networks i.e IBA alumni network and Pak-US alumni network. He completed his MBA from IBA Karachi in 2014 and attended a professional exchange program on entrepreneurial ecosystem in USA in 2018. Since Jan 2015, he has been an active member of the entrepreneurial ecosystem enablers. He is one of the pioneer members of the IBA Center for Entrepreneurial Development (CED), having served as Acting Head IBA CED from June 2022 till October 2022 and currently, serving as Manager CED at IBA Karachi.

In Jan 2023, one of his IBA Alumni fellows and a serial entrepreneur Hassan Khan encouraged Azad Ahmed to start an Agri-Business startup as it had a lot of potential in Pakistan. After few months they both met again and Azad Ahmed shared his idea of “The Crowd Farms”. Hassan Khan liked his idea and they committed to launch it in the next cycle of crops i.e in May 2023.

What it does: The Crowd Farms (TCF) is an Agri-Tech startup which manages corporate farms and engages different stakeholders to harness the maximum potential of agriculture in terms of productivity, value creation and fair distribution of value. The primary stakeholders are the landowners, farm adopters, and The Crowd Farms. TCF acts like a bridge connecting all these stakeholders to achieve high productivity and efficiency in the agriculture sector.

Below are the main stakeholders in our business model: I) Landowners: Those persons who have got agriculture land and they do not have running capital to invest in the crops can register themselves with TCF. TCF fixes a base rent of the agriculture and a certain percentage of the profits are also given to the landowners. The percentage of the profit depends upon the per acre yield which is defined at the time of agreement. II) Farm Adopter: Those persons (mainly living in urban areas) who aspire to adopt a portion of any crop or animal in rural areas are given adoption opportunities of various crops and animals. The adoption plans contain financial projections. These projections include the expected input cost (ploughing, seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, labor charges etc.) and expected output. As the agriculture heavily depends upon the climate and weather conditions, therefore, following three scenarios are included in adoption plan: a. Worst Case: In this scenario the expected output is calculated based on the assumptions that there are unusual rainfalls, outbreak of crop diseases and shortage of timely water supply from canals. b. Average Case: In this scenario the expected output is calculated based on the assumptions that there are usual rainfalls, outbreak of crop diseases and adequate water supply from canals. c. Best Case: In this scenario the expected output is calculated based on the assumptions that there are usual rainfalls, with little or no outbreak of crop diseases and abundant water supply from canals. At the conclusion of each crop cycle or animal flock, the farm adopter receives a certain percentage of the profits after paying all applicable expenses. The Farm Adopters can assess and evaluate their return on investments based on these assumptions and make decision accordingly. III) The Crowd Farms: It is a corporate farm which possesses farm management expertise. Once it has got the landowners onboard, it makes adoption plans of various crops and livestock as per the area and fertility of land. These adoption plans are shared with potential farm adopters. Once the farm adopters are on board and provide input cost in advance, TCF executes the crops or livestock adoption plan. As TCF has input cost at the start of the crop cycle, it is in a better position to apply modern techniques, quality seeds, fertilizers, pesticides depending upon the changing climate. Furthermore, bulk buying of input material gives us bargaining power and we are able to purchase it directly from the company at wholesale price. Hence, it contributes to saving costs which ultimately increases profitability.
At the conclusion of each crop cycle or animal flock, receives a certain percentage of the profits after paying all applicable expenses.

How we built it: Proof of Concept in Cotton Crop 2023

This idea was launched in May 2023 in which three farm adopters were engaged for five acres of cotton crop. We estimated input cost at Rs. 80,000 / acre and accumulated Rs. 400,000. As it was experimentation stage, we used four seed varieties in five acres to see the productivity of different varieties so that our planning for next year become more accurate. Everything went well till the flowering stage in the first week of August 2023. Then three days of continuous rain damaged the first cycle of flowers which resulted in achieving worst case scenario. However, each farm adopter sold his crop and earned around 13% profit in six months which is 26% annual ROI. In this proof-of-concept experimentation, we learned following lessons: • Cultivate cotton in early stage preferably in the month of April due to climate change impact. • Introducing portfolio concept in farming i.e having alternate crops in some fields i.e sugar cane, corn, onions, cucumber etc • Parallel cropping: Potato crop can be sowed within cotton fields which will give additional income with relatively lower input cost.

Idea Testing in Wheat Crop 2023-24 After successful engagement of farm adopters to five acres in cotton crop 2023, we expanded it to 21 acres for wheat crop 2023-24 in November 2023. Following table shows the farm adoption distribution among four adopters: Farm Adopter Acres Amount (PKR) Farm Adopter 1 06 540,000 Farm Adopter 2 06 540,000 Farm Adopter 3 05 450,000 Farm Adopter 4 04 360,000 Total 21 1,890,000

Wheat crop was concluded in April 2024 and even after the lower market price (mainly due to untimely wheat import) we were able to provide 25% annualized ROI to the Farm Adopters.

Challenges we ran into: The cotton crop in 2023 was hit by moonsoon rains and we did not have projected ROI. In wheat crop in 2024, the prices went down due to untimely import of wheat by interim government which also affected our profitability. After learning these lessons, now, we have made a portfolio of crops to deal with market risk and have planned the sowing time based on weather conditions to deal with climate risk. These both strategies are paying off as our four crops (Brinjal, onion, hot pepper, and sugarcane are growing well.

Accomplishments that we're proud of: So far, we have engaged 42 adopters who commutatively invested PKR 13.45 Million in various crops and livestock since May 2023. The flow of capital from urban to rural areas resulted in creating jobs in rural areas and improving the income of farmers.

What we learned: We learned to plan the crops as per climate conditions and integrate technology to reap its maximum benefits.

What's next for The Crowd Farms: We are developing "Alert Device" which integrates Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) which would help the farmers to take informed decisions based on real-time data.

Alert Device uses Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and Crop Sciences to promote precision farming in Pakistan. The integration of these technologies provides real-time data of the farms which leads to the timely decisions related to irrigation, pesticides, or any other required treatment. It improves the crop productivity and reduces the cost which lead to the higher profitability. The contemporary climate change conditions in Pakistan require the application of precision farming in which farmers make data-driven decisions. Alert Device makes it possible by facilitating the farmers that what is needed, when is needed and how much is needed for their crops to maximize the productivity of their crops. How it works? Alert Device consists of different state-of-the-art sensors based on 3 sections explained below: I) Soil Sensors: These are the sensors which provide data related to soil temperature, and soil moistures. This data helps the farmers to make decisions related to irrigation of the crops. The perfect soil condition for crops is neither too dry nor too wet but in moderate condition. Hence, farmers can plan irrigation to keep the soil near to the perfect condition by using real-time data. II) Central Control Unit: It is the brain of the Alert Device which consists of different sensors which monitor and optimize the crop conditions. First sensor measures the intensity of the sunlight and the level of temperature. This data provides crop-specific alerts. The second sensor measures the Air TPH (Air Temperature, Air Pressure, and Air Humidity). This data helps in measuring the atmospheric conditions surrounding the crop. The third sensor monitors the wetness of the leaves and analyze that how long dew and moisture stays on the leaves. All these microclimatic insights help in assessing crop health and provide warnings against potential pest attack and the health level of the crops. III) Weather Monitoring Sensors: It consists of two sensors i.e wind speed and wind direction sensors. The data of these sensors help farmers to plan their sprays better. The rainfall sensors help to forecast the rains which help in better planning the irrigation. The real-time data collected from these sensors will be analyzed by using artificial intelligence based on the crops models developed by The Crowd Farms Team.