Akshay Shrivastav is an engineer from Uttar Pradesh who has launched a startup, called LCB
Fertilisers. The company makes a biofertiliser that can help farmers boost their yield and substantially
reduce water requirements.
Growing up, Akshay Shrivastav saw his father, a farmer in UP’s Kushinagar area, struggle with a slew of
challenges, including insufficient irrigation infrastructure, rising production costs, fertiliser inefficiency,
and so on.
According to Akshay, over use of chemical fertilizers reduces agriculture output and promotes
environmental damage. Because water retention capacity is diminished, soil quality deteriorates,
resulting in increased demand.
He says, “I chose chemical engineering to obtain a deeper grasp of the issue and to discover solutions for
increasing agricultural productivity. My father’s experiences on his farm inspired me to aid the
community.”
For this, the 23-year-old has developed a biofertiliser that he claims can boost agricultural yield by 35%,
benefiting over 3,000 farmers throughout India.
Akshay began his research, when he was a college student. He says his college professors and family
assisted him with technical and financial aid.
Due to a lack of sufficient facilities in college, Akshay traveled to various universities across Uttar
Pradesh, including the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), to complete his prototype. During his
vacation, Akshay also interned to assist in the development of the product.
He also sought the sugar and alcohol companies to learn how to commercialize his invention.
Corona virus hit the world during his senior year of high school. Akshay was forced to pick between his
ambition and giving up on it in order to find work in such difficult circumstances.
He says, “The problem was made worse by the market’s economic instability. I came to a standstill after
all the progress I’d made over the years.” Finally, Akshay decided on his ideal project. “I pushed myself
to keep going. In August 2020, I will have a market-ready biofertiliser based on 60 different bacteria.
These bacteria can improve nine different nutritional levels, including potassium, nitrogen, zinc, and
carbon. I manufactured 2 kilograms of the product and submitted half to the National Accreditation
Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) for lab testing, and the other half to the National
Accreditation Board for Ground Trials (NABTCL). The results were impressive, and agricultural output
increased,” he says.
Akshay has created an extremely absorbent granule that can store 300 times its weight in water and
gently release it.
“It also contains nanoparticles, which accelerate biomass degradation and boost microbial activity in the
soil.”
He says, “Depending on the type, the combination increases crop production by 15% to 40% while
decreasing irrigation demands by 33%. (according to NABL research).”
In March 2021, he founded LCB Fertilizers to market this biofertilizer under the brand name Navyakosh.
After his work was featured in a newspaper, Akshay started receiving orders from farmers all across the
country.
“At first, I received orders from 350 farms in 150 cities.” As a result of the positive reaction, I filed for
funds from different government startup financing initiatives, such as Capri Foundation and Startup
India, to establish a manufacturing facility,” he says.
Making farming easier LCB biofertiliser innovative company Akshay has been recognized by the Uttar
Pradesh government for his contributions to agriculture.
