Urban Water
Rural Futures
Technical Consulting
Platforms and Partnerships
Futures Research
The Rural Futures programme was designed to answer a deceptively simple question: how can we increase rural income without degrading land and water quality? As WELL Labs turns 3, we look back at the programme’s journey and impact across Karnataka’s Raichur and Chikkaballapur districts.
Despite many women holding elected positions in Panchayats, the decision-making power largely rests with their male relatives. Our training sessions showed that reservation alone does not ensure empowerment; it also requires knowledge and solidarity.
Published in Deccan Herald
Seed treatment is a simple, low cost, and highly effective method of improving seed germination, root health, and nutrient uptake across cotton, maize, pulses, and vegetables.
To ground-truth and ensure accuracy of satellite data and AI models, rural women in Chintamani are locally collecting soil moisture sensor readings, supporting drought identification and targeted investments in water-saving interventions.
Published in Scroll.in
Published in Scroll.in
Improved agronomic practices often demonstrate clear results, but adoption fades the moment external support ends. Sustaining them requires rebuilding the larger ecosystem to both support and sustain the last-mile farmer.
A recent pilot across three villages in Raichur district demonstrates the power of local enterprise in advancing rural mechanisation. Farmers, women entrepreneurs, and rural youth are turning farm machinery into shared village resources through local service hubs, improving access to technology and strengthening livelihoods in the process.
India’s drive to integrate technology into agriculture promises innovation, ease, and greater rewards, but women farmers are often left behind. This analysis delves into the gender disparities shaping the future of agricultural technology in India.
A systematic, step-by-step approach is needed to build a strong, democratic WUCS from the inside out, shift the power dynamics, and give everyone a voice.
The Rural Futures team shares what they learnt from their initiatives in Raichur, Koppal, and Chikkaballapur districts of Karnataka
Introducing a tech component to participatory rural appraisal has changed how farmers engage with the process.
Published in The Federal
Crop diversification could be the key to economic and environmental resilience amid climate change and market volatility. Meet farmers from Chikkaballapur, Karnataka seeding a more sustainable future.
Published in The Wire
We’ve been researching land and livelihoods in Raichur over the past two years. The different strands of our analyses reinforced a known fact of life in the region – that water shapes decisions and livelihoods.
Digging trench-cum-bund pits is a priority under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, resulting in both livelihood and water security.
Published in Revolve
Over the past year, we have been working with our grassroots partner Prarambha and farming communities on a a curated, people-centric set of interventions to revive Raichur’s degraded lands and improve farmer incomes