Agrograde installs automated onion grading system at Nashik market

Agri-tech company Agrograde has installed its GradePlus Pro automated onion grading system at a farmer producer company in Pimpalgaon, Nashik district, a major onion trading and export hub in Maharashtra. The system can process up to 10 tonnes of onions an hour and reduce labour requirements for grading by nearly 80 per cent compared with manual sorting, with accuracy up to 99 per cent, the company said.

The system uses Wave Motion Technology designed to reduce skin scuffing and peeling, which has been a key barrier to automated grading adoption. It increases throughput by three to five times versus manual grading and automates unloading and bagging. Agrograde has also developed a tractor-mounted version that can be moved between farms, packhouses, cold storages and mandis.

Co-founder Rakeshkumar Barai said grading costs have been brought down to almost Rs 0.05 per kg at speeds of up to 200 tonnes per day. Founded in 2018, Agrograde uses computer vision and robotics for grading, sorting, weighing and packing systems for onions and potatoes, and has deployed more than 130 machines across 14 states.