With current penetration of only 1%, it is estimated that India’s agritech industry could reach $24 billion in revenue by 2025.
As India’s agriculture sector modernizes, the agritech industry holds immense promise.
When you think of technology, what comes to mind?
What is artificial intelligence (AI)? Blockchain? An electric vehicle (EV)? What about robots?
These are all exciting megatrends of the future and are being adopted rapidly around the world.
In addition to these, there’s another which will solve an important issue in the future.
By 2050, the global population is expected to reach 9.7 billion. At that point, resources might be in short supply. Food might become scarce.
Feeding the world’s growing population will be easier with this technology.
We now enter the world of Agritech.
What is Agritech?
As the word implies, agritech integrates agriculture and technology.
In agriculture, technological innovations are used to increase yield, quality, efficiency, and profitability.
Agritech uses modern methods to enhance farming, and is rapidly transforming agriculture for a more prosperous future.
It also uses robotics, big data, artificial intelligence, and other technologies to deal with the never-ending challenges of the agriculture industry.
Plants can grow in various environments with its help, there is faster planting, and the crops are also harvested more successfully.
Approximately $24 bn in revenue can be generated by the agritech industry in India by the year 2025, despite its current penetration levels of only 1%.
The technology used in Agritech
#1 Smart farming
There are different types of intelligent farming. Following a thorough investigation and inspection of previous conditions, it is used.
Smart farming involves weather forecasts to increase yields, automated irrigation, and more. This represents the application of various innovative technologies to agricultural innovation as a whole.
With smart farming, farmers can use collected data, analytics, and machine learning to make better decisions about growing and feeding the planet.
#2 Drones and Satellites
A farmer can cover large tracts of land quite quickly and easily using drones and satellites.
To monitor and measure the crops, drones and satellites are used to scan them. Terrain maps are also generated using them.
Several billion dollars are expected to be generated by the drone market within a few years.
In addition, drones are used for pest control, pollination, planting seeds, and food security.
#3 IoT Sensors
Agritech develops internet of things (IoT) based software that can provide accurate weather, humidity, and soil condition information.
What used to take a lot of time and resources from farmers is now available instantly.
#4 Blockchain
You may be wondering how blockchain technology impacts agriculture.
In other words, blockchains connect farmers directly with their customers.
Consumers can now easily track where, when and how the produce originated. This also cuts out the middlemen.
#5 Vertical farming
Vertical farming involves growing crops using vertically stacked layers. Plants can be grown both during the day and at night using LED lights to stimulate photosynthesis.
#6 Automation
With the aid of software and hardware solutions, automation replaces manual labor to increase speed and reduce quality loss.
Apart from these, there is also big data, robotics, and biotech.
The agricultural and food industries have been changed for the better by all of these advances.
Big-bang government initiative
India’s agriculture industry is growing as a result of various government initiatives.
PM Narendra Modi has signed agreements to modernize the agriculture sector with US giants Amazon, Microsoft, and Cisco Systems.
Starting in 2014, tech companies will have access to data and statistics about India’s agricultural ecosystem.
All information such as crop patterns, soil health, insurance, credit, and weather patterns should be seeded into one database. This information can then be analyzed by artificial intelligence or data analytics.
The companies will then develop personalized services for overcoming challenges like peak yields, water stress, degrading soil, and lack of infrastructures, such as temperature-controlled warehouses and refrigerated trucks.
Modi also signed agreements with Indian companies and local businesses, including Jio Platforms, ITC, ESRI India Technologies, and Patanjali Organic Research Institute.
To date, more than 50 million farmers have been seeded with publicly available information. The government identifies 120 million landholders.
Increasing the deployment of AI and machine learning models and networks in India will enable e-commerce firms like Amazon to take on the grocery market.
However, why did the government think of this now? We should be thankful to have thought of it then!
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 40% of the food produced in India is wasted each year. Furthermore, inefficient supply chains and fragmented food systems are likely to be to blame for this wastage.
This initiative is aimed at rectifying all this. Soon enough, agritech startups will also want to grab a piece of this.
Rise of Agritech startups in India
In the midst of the pandemic, farmers were struggling to buy inputs for the harvest. Lockdowns limited access to marketplaces and mandis. The logistics and transport systems were disrupted.
As a result, the farmer suffered losses post-harvest and had trouble covering unsold produce costs.
For startups interested in agritech, it was a perfect opportunity to introduce their products to farmers.
In the agritech sector, there are more than 450 Indian startups.
Between January and August this year, agritech startups in India raised US$426 m, a 3x rise over the same period last year.
Here are few Indian agritech startups which are changing the industry.
#1 Ninjacart:
Ninjacart, founded in 2015, allows retailers and restaurants to source fresh produce directly from farmers at competitive prices and also delivers it to businesses.
In India, the startup has more than 200 collection centers and 1,200 warehouses. It moves over 1,400 tonnes of fresh produce daily and supplies stores in seven cities.
Ninjacart was valued at US$ 502 million after its last fundraising in May 2021. Flipkart India is a notable shareholder.
#2 WayCool:
WayCool is a B2B startup that connects farmers and food producers with restaurants and hotels. The company has a network of 50,000 farmers and handles 350 tonnes of food products per day across more than 18,000 clients.
After its latest funding in April 2021, it was valued at around US$199 m ( ₹14.5 bn).
#3 AgroStar:
AgroStar is a platform that uses farm and farmer-specific data to provide real-time solutions to reduce farmers’ cost of production and improve yields.
AgroStar bills its app as a one-stop solution that contains about India’s 135 m farmers need.
It was last valued at US$42.2 m.
#4 Nurture.farm:
The agritech startup fosters farmers, making agriculture simple, profitable, and sustainable through technology-led solutions.
It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of UPL.
The startups have, in general, been instrumental in easing the burden on farmers.
Here’s what’s ahead…
India has a huge untapped potential when it comes to agritech. Capital investors (VCs) have recently been paying increased attention to it.
Agriculture is going to undergo a paradigm shift thanks to agritech, which is still in its infancy.
We won’t have long to wait before we see another green revolution-like transformation in India.
It will undoubtedly be a positive development for companies involved with the agricultural industry.