Hyderabad-based startup Cornext exports baling machines to 15 countries

Hyderabad-based startup Cornext Agri Products Private Limited’s baling machines are a big hit in African and Asian countries, besides Brazil

Hyderabad: After IT services, medical devices and pharma products, now ‘Made in Telangana’ baling equipment too are hitting the shores of nearly 15 countries across the globe. Established in 2015, Hyderabad-based startup Cornext Agri Products Private Limited’s baling machines are a big hit in African and Asian countries, besides Brazil. Cornext’s baling machines are popular for being cost effective and beneficial to small and marginal farmers.

These achievements helped Cornext be featured in the Niti Aayog’s compendium of ‘75 Agri Entrepreneurs and Innovators’ from across the country under the Animal Husbandry sector (Animal Feed and Fodder Supply Chain). Since its inception, the company has produced over 300 units and of these nearly 90 of them have been exported to different countries. The technology that was used in manufacturing Cornext’s baling machines was more effective.

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While a baling machine costs about Rs 1.6 crore in European countries, Cornext offers it for Rs 12.5 lakh to Rs 13 lakh with similar specifications, says Madhav Kshatriya, founder of Cornext Agri Products Private Limited. Small and marginal farmers cannot afford such high-priced baling machines and that triggered Cornext to launch cost effective Mini silage baling machines. Not content with this, the company is now launching more advanced micro silage baling machines at much lesser price for the benefit of dairy farmers’.

“Already necessary certifications have been obtained and plans are being made to launch the micro baling machines in April this year” says Madhav Kshatriya. The company made it to the Niti Aayog’s compendium for manufacturing and selling silage baling machines, besides supplying silage bales to dairy farmers and entrepreneurs. The firm uses a disruptive preservation technology called ‘silage baling’, aimed at addressing India’s feed and fodder crisis.

Cornext supplies the animal nutrition products to dairy farmers in two revenue streams – selling their patented product ‘Silage Bales’ to entrepreneurs and selling their silage to dairy farmers. The company sells silage balers to entrepreneurs and buys back the produced silage. It plays a crucial role in creating a market link between silage entrepreneurs and dairy farmers.

Cornext balers are designed to produce 600 to 700 kg per cubic meter density. In addition to having produced and supplied more than two lakh MTs of silage (20 million cattle rations) across 20 States in India, Cornext has created 200 fodder entrepreneurs across the globe, with a single unit providing village-level employment. Farmers reap good profits as feeding silage improves milk productivity of cattle by two liters a day, besides saving water. For producing good quality silage, the crop should be harvested only at 80 days (120 days when harvested for grain), thereby reducing water usage. More importantly, silage harvesting aids in consumption of the entire crop and prevents stubble burning.

Considering the demand for fodder across the country, Cornext launched a first-of-its-kind mobile app ‘FeedNext’, which offers low-cost quality feeding solutions such as baled silage, mineral mixtures and feed supplements to dairy farmers. This will help deliver the fodder to farmers in a fast and cost-effective manner. For instance, if a farmer in Kerala needs the stock, a rural entrepreneur from Karnataka or Tamil Nadu can immediately supply the stock. This would cut down delivery time as well, explains Madhav Kshatriya.

What’s a baling machine: It collects hay, compacts it and wraps it inside the bale chamber, ejecting compacted bales that are easy to handle, transport, and store. Hay bales are normally made of crops such as hay, cotton, flax straw, salt marsh hay, or silage. What’s Silage: Plants such as maize, legumes and grasses that have been chopped and stored to be used as animal and cattle feed.