A failed crop can wipe out months of work for a small farmer. And as summers get hotter, rains become harder to predict, and water grows scarcer, even a carefully planned growing season can unravel in days.

For Sathya Raghu Mokkapati, the human cost of that uncertainty became clear when he was just 17. In his village, he once saw a farmer eating mud. When Sathya asked him why, the farmer replied, “My crops failed. My stomach doesn’t know my pockets are empty.”

The words stayed with him. Years later, they would help shape an idea designed to give small farmers greater protection from the high risks that can destroy a harvest.

In 2015, Sathya, along with Kaushik K, Saumya and Ayush Sharma, founded ‘Kheyti’, an agricultural startup that developed the ‘Greenhouse-in-a-Box’, a compact greenhouse designed specifically for smallholder farmers.

Keeping crops protected from extreme weather

Unlike crops grown in open fields, plants inside the Greenhouse-in-a-Box are protected from harsh weather conditions. The structure creates a controlled growing environment where crops are less exposed to excessive heat, rain, and pest attacks.

Explaining the idea, Sathya says, “We build houses to live in safety and to protect ourselves from environmental factors like heat, rain, insects, etc.........

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