Interview
How EF Polymer is Saving Water and Enabling Climate-Smart Agriculture

Rajasthan, a state in northwest India, is known for being an arid region and a difficult place to grow crops. Narayan Lal Gurjar witnessed first-hand how climate change was making rainfall even less predictable, stressing farmers in his home village, including his father, who grew corn.

“He said to me...you are interested in science, and always making a science project. Can you help us?,” recalled Gurjar. “At that time I didn't know how I could solve this, but I said okay, I will try to work on this.”

Gurjar was still in high school, but he got to work on how to help farmers like his father deal with water shortages. There were plenty of high-tech solutions, like drip watering or sprinkler irrigation, but they weren’t accessible to low-income, rural farmers like many in India. Gurjar wanted to develop a solution that his father, and those like him, could access and use.

After three years, he had a product, and soon launched a startup. Gurjar is now the CEO of EF Polymer, which produces a super absorbent polymer derived from upcycled, inedible fruit parts, such as orange peels. When mixed into soil, EF Polymer’s product can absorb approximately 50 times its weight in water, greatly enhancing the soil's water absorption capacity. This results in approximately 40% water savings and around 20% fertilizer savings.

“We believe that this product is helpful for society and sustainability,” said Gurjar. “Every farmer who is facing water shortages can use this.”

There is a huge need for scalable solutions for farmers. According to a report in Yale Climate Connections, there is a clear correlation between droughts and climate change, and mega-droughts, which last 10 years or more, will become 4 times more likely by 2050. Farmers will be among the worst impacted, and already droughts have harmed the crops of hundreds of millions of farmers in India, China and Indonesia. There is immense potential for EF Polymer in a world where drought is becoming both more frequent and less predictable due to climate change.

In 2019 after being selected for the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Innovation Accelerator, Gurjar relocated to Japan, and established the headquarter in Okinawa.

“We found a very good team in Okinawa, very supportive,” said Gurjar. They also saw a local need. “In Okinawa, agriculture is also facing some drought issues.”

They also participated in BRAVE GLOBAL, hosted by Beyond Next Ventures, OIST and JETRO held in October 2022 in Okinawa and Gurjar noted that JETRO has provided “360 degree support for us since we came to Japan.”

From Japan, EF Polymer was also able to get support from institutions to expand to one of the world’s largest agriculture markets – the United States. According to Gurjar, going to a new country is a painstaking process that requires significant human investment.

“You need to go there and spend time on the ground,” said Gurjar. “This is the biggest challenge because when you are entering the market you need a lot of time for verification of your technology and then to build customer trust.”

To meet their goals, they’ll need investment. EF Polymer raised 550 million yen ($4 million US) during its Series A funding round in April 2023. The round saw contributions from Universal Materials Incubator, Nishimoto Wismettac Holdings, MTG Ventures, Beyond Next Ventures, Life Time Ventures, and Okinawa Development Finance Corporation.

EF Polymer has also been selected as one of the "2022 APAC Cleantech 25" by Cleantech Group, which is an annual list of private companies that strive for sustainable innovation and are expected to have a significant social impact over the next five to 10 years. In March 2023, EF Polymer was also chosen for the Global Sustainability Accelerator 2023. This program supports ten Japanese startups committed to promoting sustainability through guidance and backing from Google for Startups and Creww inc., for six months.

While Gurjar is still focusing on agriculture, in Japan, he sees potential applications of EF Polymer in other daily necessities and cosmetics. For example, in October 2023, EF Polymer collaborated with Iwatani Corporation to develop Cy-Cool, an innovative ice pack made from naturally derived raw materials from upcycling discarded crop residues. Moreover, the contents of this product are entirely biodegradable, providing an eco-friendly alternative.

Being able to expand beyond agriculture has another benefit – increase of the demand can lower the production cost which allows EF Polymer to provide its product to farmers at a low price in the future, making it accessible to millions in rural India and elsewhere. EF Polymer is hoping to reach more farmers in the US, Japan, and India, but also other markets, with France and Thailand being the next targets. This will allow them to not only scale, but also benefit a greater number of farmers and improve water usage in agriculture.

Back in Rajasthan, in Gurjar’s home village, there is one customer who’s particularly satisfied – Gurjar’s father, who is using EF Polymer, along with many other farmers across the state.

“Now in India we already work in five states,” said Gurjar. “In the next two or three years, we want to capture at least 10 to 20 percent of this market.”

It’s an incredible journey. A request from his father for help has turned into an ambitious Japanese startup that, Gurjar hopes, will pave the way towards more sustainable water use around the world.