Strategist| December'21| Agriculture and Farming

ConQuest CONSULTING AND STRATEGY CLUB IIM SHILLONG

presents

STRATEGIST Agriculture & Farming

ISSUE 4 | VOLUME 9 | DECEMBER EDITION

ABOUT THE CLUB ConQuest, the Consulting & Strategy Club of IIM Shillong, was founded in 2008 with a vision of delivering sustainable solutions to society by acting as a forum between the industry and students passionate about strategy and consulting. It strives to equip the students with domain knowledge and skills by facilitating consulting assignments, expert talks, online newsletters, and competitions.

The team publishes a quarterly magazine to bring to light a trending sector of the economy. Through this magazine, we aim at giving a platform to candidates of B-Schools across the country to share their thoughts along with bringing forth enticing discussions from the industry stalwarts.

SENIOR TEAM MEMBERS:

ADITYA AGARWAL

ANURAG KUMAR THAKUR

SANYAM JAIN

SATYAM GOYAL

SURAJ AGARWAL

AVNI DHINGRA

SAURABH AGGARWAL

VIDHI MUNDHRA

JUNIOR TEAM MEMBERS:

AANCHAL CHOWDHURY

ADITI PATHAK

NAVAL MITTAL

PARIDHI JAIN

SHRUTI GUPTA

VIVEK BANSAL

DEEPALI SINGH BAGHEL

PRATIK RATHI

YUGADHYA MATHURIA

EDITOR'S NOTE In this edition of Strategist, we take a look at the Agriculture and Farming industry, which is the largest source of livelihood in India. 70 percent of its rural households still depend primarily on agriculture for their livelihood.

The edition begins by covering how technologies like artificial intelligence, big data, and blockchain are disrupting the sector. Due to the ongoing advent of the technical revolution, this sector has garnered special attention.

The organic farming vs conventional farming section talks about the environmental concern related to conventional methods of farming and how sustainable farming has become a priority.

Another major thing impacting the sector is the startup ecosystem, and the articles have highlighted the start-ups that are making a big impact in the sector.

We are honored to have Mr. Ananda Verma, Founder, and CEO at Fasal share his views on how agriculture has evolved over the years and technologies are helping bridge the gap between farmers' understanding and start-up work.

CONTENTS 1

Evolution of the Indian Agriculture Sector: Pre-Independence, Revolutions & Present Scenario

2

How can technologies like artificial intelligence, big data and blockchain transform the sector in the coming years?

3

Organic farming or conventional farming

4

Impact of COVID-19

5

Start-up ecosystem

6

In Talks with

EVOLUTION OF THE INDIAN AGRICULTURE SECTOR: PRE-INDEPENDENCE, REVOLUTIONS & PRESENT SCENARIO -Team ConQuest The Indian agricultural sector has undergone a mammoth of changes over the course of a century to evolve from being a minor sector to contributing a massive 20% share in the Indian GDP. However, the history of this sector dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization, with earliest links to 9000 BC indicating cultivation of wheat and barley. The rich history which India entails has also had a significant impact on how the face of agriculture has unfolded. The sector witnessed stark changes across the precolonial, British Raj, and modern times.

The pre-colonial times saw rulings of various dynasties within the Indian subcontinent, with significant advancements in human capital and plantations dealing with sugarcane, crops, and spices. At the same time, Europe witnessed technological advancements and an induced taste for sugar and spices. These substantial factors were responsible for the East India Company to be lured to settle and establish the British Crown in India. The British Raj saw a stagnated agricultural environment in the subcontinent and shifted its focus on cash and plantation crops. Food crops were forced to take backstage, leading to increased atrocities on the farmers and mass impoverishment.

GREEN REVOLUTION The induced impoverishment by the British policies and less production of food crops led to a heavy reliance on imports to meet the daily food needs.

This profound import culture was significantly prevalent till the mid-1950s. Severe drought situations in the subcontinent further aggravated the situation leading to strict policy reforms. The government realized that it is not a sustainable solution to rely heavily on imports to meet the food needs that the country needs to be self-reliant for its food security. The Green Revolution was spearheaded by M.S. Swaminathan over the period

of 1967-68 to 1977-78 changed India's face from being a food deficit country to an agricultural leader.

The revolution converted the agricultural system in India to an industrial design by the adoption of modern methods and technology like high yield variety seeds, tractors, better irrigation methods, pesticides, and fertilizers. The revolution funded by the Indian and the US government, along with Ford and Rockefeller foundation was primarily a wheat revolution and increased production by three times.

OPERATION FLOOD (WHITE REVOLUTION) Motivated by the significant results of the Green Revolution in increased production of wheat and rice, the GoI initiated ‘Operation Flood,’ popularly known as White Revolution, to increase production of milk, making India one of the largest producers of milk in the world. The program headed under the leadership of Verghese Kurien focused on adopting new ways of animal husbandry and altering the composition of feed ingredients in specific proportions.

The operation focused on creating a national milk grid for linking milk producers across the country with the aim of reducing the regional and seasonal price fluctuations in milk. Parallelly, it also aimed to remove middlemen, ensuring that the producers got a significant share of the profits. Overall, it helped improve the income levels and living standards of rural households.

YELLOW REVOLUTION

MODERN AGRICULTURE

Another significant revolution that shaped the journey of agricultural reformation in India was the Yellow Revolution. Launched in 1986-87, it aimed at increasing the production of edible oilseeds to meet the domestic demands and increase the net exports.

The focal point was increasing the production of sesame and mustard seeds by implantation of hybrid seeds, increasing agricultural land, and using modern methods, naming it the Yellow Revolution.

The oil production in India was initially 12 million tonnes which increased two-fold in a decade.

The year 2000 and onwards has seen a significant push and support to agricultural production due to multiple factors like the introduction of supporting reforms, new policies, and technology adoption.

Some key highlights from this period include: Better technology adoption Rise in institutional credit for agriculture National Food Security Mission (NFSM) to increase the production of commodities Schemes like National Horticulture Mission (NHM) and Bringing Green Revolution in Eastern India (BREI) helped achieve record production.

The National Mission on Oilseeds & Oil Palm Commodity exchanges that helped in fair pricing of commodities

BLUE REVOLUTION Launched in 1985-90 during the 7th five-year plan, the revolution was launched with an objective to develop, manage, and promote fisheries, thereby increasing the net income of the farmers. The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries restructured multiple promoter schemes and merged them under a single umbrella term of ‘Blue Revolution.’ This focused on developing and managing fisheries controlled by the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB).

The road ahead for agricultural reform in India lies in the continuous adaptation of digital reforms and amendment of government policies as per the changing scenarios. Additionally, with the everincreasing demand for food grains, there is a certain need for a second green revolution and more enhanced technological adaptations in this sector.

HOW CAN TECHNOLOGIES LIKE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, BIG DATA, AND BLOCKCHAIN TRANSFORM THE SECTOR IN THE COMING YEARS? -Raghav Charan IIM Shillong

“Investment in agriculture are the best weapons against hunger and poverty, and they have made life better for billions of people.” -Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Agriculture plays a significant role in India’s socioeconomic sector. The share of agriculture in GDP increased to around 20 percent in 2020-21 from 17.8 percent in 2019-20. The growth in gross value added of agriculture and allied sectors has fluctuated over time. However, during 2020-21, while the gross value added for the entire economy contracted by 7.2 percent, growth in gross value added for agriculture maintained an increase of 3.4 percent, according to the Economic Survey 20202021. However, India grapples with many challenges associated with agriculture such as scarcity of groundwater resources, climate change, farmers' unable to get good quality seeds, extreme weather conditions like floods and droughts, exhaustion of soils resulting in low productivity, improper irrigation facilities, lack of mechanization, inadequate storage facilities, and transportation, etc.

Some essential modifications needed right now are organizing agriculture, bringing in technology, and, above all, the economy of scale is necessary. Not having a proper application is one of the areas of concern.

World’s population is expected to increase from 7.5 billion to 9.7 billion people by 2050, and it translates to increase food production efficiency by 70%.

Unless countries use modern technologies, the farmers’ output will remain low, and the people of those countries will stay dependent on others to feed them. Without access to modern farming techniques or machinery, let alone science-based climate and weather data, farmers’ livelihoods hinge precariously on a changing environment that they are struggling to understand.

PREDICTING THE FUTURE ISN’T MAGIC; IT’S ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Agriculture has always required lots of hard work, human supervision, and skilled eyes for different purposes like recognizing when crops are ready to be picked or identifying diseases. Harvesting and picking are some of the most popular robotic applications in agriculture. Harvest CROO Robotics, based in Florida, used robots for fruit picking.

Research shows that one robot can pick the same number of fruits as 30 humans in a day.

trust artificial intelligence with anything- and so in farming.

BIG DATA IS THE MOST DISRUPTIVE FORCE THIS INDUSTRY HAS SEEN SINCE THE INTRODUCTION OF THE RELATIONAL DATABASE It also includes a camera system to figure out whether the fruits are ready for picking.

Pests are a significant issue in agriculture. Drone and satellite imagery can be used for crop analysis.

A drone will capture images of the entire field, analyze them and create a detailed health report that tells whether the crops have been affected by any disease or need any herbicide. Early detection of diseases reduces the chance of spread and ensures quality control. Sky Squirrel Technologies claims to scan 50 acres of fields in 24 minutes and provides a 95% accurate health report.

Blue River Technology, based in Silicon Valley, fits a camera system on the back of the tractor. As the tractor sweeps the field, the computer system recognizes weeds and sprays herbicide wherever necessary. It claims to use only 10% of the herbicides which are used in conventional methods.

It increases efficiency, reduces wastage, and makes the product safer.

90% of crop losses resulting from weather events, and 25% could have been prevented by predictive weather modeling. Temperature, rain, humidity, solar radiation, etc., affect crop yield. AI can combine data from satellites, on-ground sensors, and weather stations to give better predictions of the weather and advise farmers on the best time to sow plants and harvest. Trace Genomics in CA analyses soil samples informs about different microbes present in soil and recommends fertilizers to treat the defects in the soil. Farmers will also be able to utilize precision farming. AI represents a different way of being in the world and thinking and responding to the world. It will create new quandaries and dilemmas for us, some of which portend great danger. Society must be mindful at every step of AI integration into human society. A wrong AI software choice can waste a lot of time and require more human input than needed, and it may even reduce efficiency. But once we trust a selfdriving car with our life, we pretty much will

Data from different sources such as sensors on the ground or bots, drone and satellite images are stored and mined using supercomputers, providing a foundation for developing data-driven applications by extracting critical operational information. The information generated by the application after preprocessing, development and validation of algorithms can be visualized in a format that

pinpoints current issues and enables the farmer to make more informed decisions by providing optimum solutions, trends, identifying relationships, generating control signals to control different appliances, and estimating yield months in advance.

For production scheduling, accurate crop production estimation and associated risk analysis help the agriculture sector plan supply chain decisions. Big data can also explore and show hope to the problems like market accessibility and losses incurred. It will also assist in the policymaking of the government for supply chain operations. One can have data without information, but one cannot have information without data. We are moving from an economy of scarcity in data to an economy of abundance that will change the face of agriculture.

Farming is becoming increasingly technical, and modern machines allow farmers to be more accurate, decrease wastage and boost productivity and profit margins.

BLOCKCHAIN CANNOT BE DESCRIBED JUST AS A REVOLUTION It’s a tsunami-like phenomenon, slowly advancing and gradually enveloping everything along its way by the force of its progression. The food supply chain is complex, with multiple intermediaries.

Consumers want to know the provenance of the food they are consuming, including the various claims made on the label, e.g., organic, allergen-free, etc.

For manufacturers and suppliers, there is an onus to increase transparency, identify and isolate contaminated and adulterated farm and food products in the chain. All these combined poses enormous challenges for reliably tracking food origination.

Consumers are expecting more accountability and higher levels of transparency from corporations including the various claims made on the label, e.g., organic, allergen-free, etc. For manufacturers and suppliers, there is an onus to increase transparency, identify and isolate contaminated and adulterated farm and food products in the chain. All these combined poses enormous challenges for reliably tracking food origination. Consumers are expecting more accountability and higher levels of transparency from corporations.

Blockchain provides supply chain capabilities that were not possible in the recent past. Now, any activity can be documented and thus making the

network more trustworthy. From food provenance to commodity tracking and trading, the role of blockchain for agricultural supply chains is significant. Monitoring processes and linking agricultural shipping adds value to farm products because the recipient can trace it to prove authenticity and therefore assign greater premium value. Asset or product tagging using IoT devices will help track farm and food products through the supply chain. It can also facilitate payments more cost-effectively, including for agricultural subsidies and trade financing. It automates smart contracts, validates steps, and provides a traceable provenance from farms to consumer homes.

Change is inevitable; growth is optional. Our technology will transform the farm value chain to grow more healthy and sustainable food for a growing world population amid scarcity. However, agriculture technology should not be taken to an extreme where we have industrial farms that are not good for nourishment or the environment or animals.

I believe in the future of agriculture, with a faith born not of words but deeds. There are infrastructural issues, interrupted power supply, lack of internet connectivity, and financial constraints slowing down our advancements. Farmers are ready to embrace new technologies. However, the application is not enough, but educating them on the use of devices and basic troubleshooting is the need of the hour.

Though opportunities are in plenty, the best use cases are yet to happen.

ORGANIC FARMING OR CONVENTIONAL FARMING? -Abhimanyu Mukherjee KIIT School of Management

Renewable energy use followed by waste reduction is the most prominent consideration by the media

for sustainability where the food system gets completely overlooked (Eyhorn et al. 2019).

However, the research confirms that the food system is the largest contributor to environmental degradation which starts from production to transportation consumption. Agriculture contributes a third of the global greenhouse gas emission for land conversion and global food output would be doubled by 2050. Hence, it is high time to look beyond and select a proper system of food production to actually be sustainable.

Source: (Fess, & Benedito, 2018)

The culture of increased environmental concerns has confirmed proliferation regarding sustainable food options. Sustainable eating is becoming a regular concern for most countries, where people usually seek organic rainforest-friendly products in grocery stores. Most people are sure that organic food is the most environmentally friendly option. Recent research however has pointed out conventional and organic food system differences where the fact has proclaimed that organic food is not the most sustainable product always, surprisingly. Despite the efforts of the people to adopt a sustainable diet, it needs to be realized that most of the pairs do not know much regarding the sources of the food or their implications for the planet.

Organic farming is done without synthetic inputs like synthetic fertilizers or chemical pesticides. Organic farms mostly use natural fertilizer and approach like manure crop rotation for controlling disease and paste. It minimizes exposure of farmworkers, the environment, and consumers to harmful pesticides.

In conventional agriculture, fertilizers and pesticides play a key role in environmental issues. Some pesticides even poison non-target organisms like plants, fish, and weeds which affect organisms of ecological importance like algae and bees. Pesticides even contaminate soil and surface as well as groundwater sometimes. United States geological survey study has conveyed that more than 90% of fish and water samples from streams carry one or more pesticides (Fess, & Benedito, 2018). Fertilizers which gate carried by streams or other waterways get followed by eutrophication the process where excess Phosphorus and nitrogen builders en-suite excess production of carbon dioxide and algal blooms. The process outcome is acidic waterways carrying dead zones which do not have enough oxygen to support marine life.

As organic farming does not use synthetic pesticides, thereby it is sustainable in several aspects. Organic farms expectedly have better fertile soil and use less energy to sequester carbon. As per research, organic farms exercise 45% reduced energy and release 40% lower carbon emissions to foster 30% better biodiversity as per the comparison by traditional farming.

Source: (McDougall, Kristiansen, & Rader, 2019)

Having said this, practices of organic farming are not always most sustainable. In order to control weeds and paste without exercising pesticides, organic

farms cover the soil with a sheet of black plastic surrounding the crops (Gomiero, 2018). The procedure makes the soil poor which eventually accelerates plant growth rate preventing erosion Black plastic even allows irrigation usage where water drips slowly to the roots of plants which saves water. The glaring issue however with lining offers a huge amount of waste due to the use of plastic.

United States department of agriculture does not even allow biodegradable plastic as it contains petroleum.

From the perspective of the sustainability of organic agriculture can be referred to as complicated land use would be taken into consideration. As it does not use synthetic fertilizers like traditional farming, thereby, it has a 25% decreased crop as per the comparison with conventional farming. Several organic farms even rely on tally which is a process of standing up the soil through running blades to kill weeds instead of exercising herbicides for pesticides (Knapp, & van der Heijden, 2018). It is followed by loss of topsoil which is the most productive component for the soil in agriculture and thus the yield gets lowered. It is important for farming to use the land for feeding the ever-growing population where resource optimization is really crucial. Greater development in the aspect of agricultural land incentives, land clearing, and deforestation would be threatening for carbon stock reduction and biodiversity.

On the other side, as traditional farming is not having the level of organic that doesn't confirm that traditional farming is not at all sustainable. Many community or small farms grow crops in a way that

it can definitely be called organic, if not more sustainable than that. However, the organic certification of USDA is really expensive and demands a heavily bureaucratic process. It can be a barrier for small farms, weeds, though not even use simple pesticides and confirm the implementation of other sustainable practices which are more sustainable than requirements of USDA still cannot apply for the registration and thus cannot get the level of organic (McDougall, Kristiansen, & Rader, 2019). For example, the organic requirement of USDA instructs farms for wrapping food in plastic which smaller organizations do not do. On the other hand, they plant more diverse crops compared to conventional industrial agriculture. Locally sourced food even creates less carbon emission for reduced transportation distance. Organic is not necessarily equated with being local and thus local farming in traditional respect often can be better sustainable than organic farming.

Due to process excellence and other procedures, mostly price of organic food is a bit expensive which is not affordable for most of the market specifically for developing and underdeveloped countries. Most of the countries are either developing or underdeveloped where the majority cannot really afford organic food due to its expensive nature.

While considering sustainability concerns, consumption and waste both need to be taken into account. Organic food is mostly being consumed by people with affordability; thereby improper market evaluation, sudden changes in requirement can at once increase waste amount (Röös et al. 2018).

Such concern cannot be referred to as sustainable.

On the other hand, the majority of most of the countries depend on traditional farming thereby chances of waste, low consumption cannot be much due to its necessity in most of the people's life. In this concern, traditional farming is much more sustainable compared to organic one.

Considering the benefit and cost for both conventional and organic agriculture, experts are of the view that, both conventional and organic agriculture can be sustainable as per its food type.

Vegetables and fruit, where nutritional value is a primary concern, need to be grown organically whereas grains or staple crops where cal density is a prior concern need to be grown conventionally to make them more sustainable (Meemken, & Qaim, 2018). Basically, food production is the tradeoff between minimizing environmental degradation and optimizing needs. Thereby neither organic nor traditional farming can be at once said as more sustainable as in some respect organic food are much more sustainable where through some consideration traditional farming is much more sustainable than an organic one.

Having said this, it even needs to be remembered that organic food by itself is sustainable as it projects concerns for sustainability specifically.

Organic farming depends on several building elements like biogas, large kitchen waste, biopesticide, biofertilizer, crop residue, organic residue, nitrogen-fixing microorganisms, farm composting, crop rotation, organic manure as these elements are helpful for maintaining the texture and health of the soil. The use of the elements is ecofriendly which helps to develop sustainable agriculture. Further, the organic agricultural approach accommodates certain basic principles of fairness, ecology, and health. The principles are a prior concern for organic agriculture which ensures sustainable development as in this type of farming, environmental health is the utmost concern. It even helps in lowering air, water, and soil pollution. Thus, it acts as a natural tool to protect the environment confirming sustainable development.

From the aspect of waste, sustainability even is judged for both organic and traditional farming. As per the research, the lowest environmental impact is there for local seasonal farming which surely belongs to traditional farming as it does not produce that much waste like other types of food (Muneret et al. 2018). In this concern, traditional farming is sustainable compared to organic farming as it accounts for a 6% lower climate footprint in the food system where the local market is only to meet the necessity.

In short, a final sentence cannot be produced for organic farming or traditional farming in the aspect of sustainability. The entire discussion conveys that sustainability for both organic and traditional farming depends on the type of food and production procedure.

IMPACT OF COVID-19 -Arohi Pandey KJSIM George Washington once said, “Agriculture is the most healthful, most useful, and noble employment of man.” He was undoubtedly correct, especially for an agrarian economy like India, where agriculture not only has a significant impact on food security but is also a critical sector for economic prosperity.

Agriculture is the only sector with a positive contribution to GDP even during the economic slowdown due to imposed nationwide lockdown. This sector currently contributes over 17% to the Indian gross domestic product and employs close to 43% of the country’s workforce. Given these statistics, the importance of the sector is evident.

The pandemic set its roots in India in January 2020 and crept into the masses at an increasing pace by April 2020. Also, the agricultural year ends on 31st May and begins on 1st June each year. This time is usually very crucial for agriculture markets in the country. Wheat harvest and sale starts in April and may, summer fruits and vegetables begin finding market places and are regularly transported for sale.

Demand for labor is high due to harvest season peaks mainly in the “nation’s granary” state of Punjab, Haryana, and the remaining Indo-Gangetic belt. Nationwide strict lockdown initially for just 14 days was imposed on 23rd March 2020 without much initial intimidation. This lockdown extended week after week and rendered the farming community, laborers, marketers, and other sector stakeholders helpless like most other industries.

Agricultural labourers also began reverse migration to their native places, which left ripened crops unharvested on fields, the crops that got harvested couldn’t reach markets due to failed transportation systems and got rotted in storehouses. The rabi season crops were facing tough times, and the zaid and kharif season crops were also bound to suffer if the situation prevailed for another two months. This caused heavy losses and a rise in prices of most agricultural and allied commodities, even for the commoner.

COVID-19 and the lockdown wrecked considerable social, economic, physical and emotional havoc on

all stakeholders in Indian Agriculture. The constraints on production, marketing through labour and logistical mechanisms, and the effect of negative income on comsumption patterns gave the sector a heavy blow. The system is primarily subsistencebased; the pandemic became harder for communities utterly dependent upon agriculture.

The times became extremely trying with passage of each day; land could not be prepared for the next season, crops couldn’t reach markets, farmers had absolutely no income, loans began getting heavier, and the little support offered by authorities could not suffice for the loss that was born.

India GDP from Agriculture (values in INR Billion) The importance of agricultural commodities is such that the glut in the storehouses couldn’t last long.

Food supply was mandatory, whatever the situation be. The rules began being eased for agricultural commodity supplies in some areas to provide food for the suffering population. The GDP growth estimated for the first quarter of 2020 also showed robustness and resilience in Indian Agriculture, registering a growth of 3.4%.

Trailing through difficult times, Indian Agriculture tried to find opportunities from adversity. Innovative ways of maintaining the supply chain, value addition to products, automation of

production systems and efficient marketing methodologies came to the forefront. Farmers and other stakeholders found alternative ways to drive out of this situation.

A number of case studies came up that were more effective and profitable ventures came up due to challenges posed by the pandemic from various parts of the country. Small and big start-ups came up that transformed the job-seeking population into job providers and employed a number of migrants and other members of the society.

Some commendable real-time examples where the agricultural community took to innovative solutions to problems that arose due to pandemic are as follows – the use of ICT tools rose unfathomably in the rural areas, and various state and the central government took to the internet to train and advise farmers about how to make the best out of the prevailing situation. Krishi Vigyan Kendras across the country enhanced the skill of local communities to take up integrated farming to ensure alternatives to income when the regular crops fail. KVK Ernakulam, KVK Alapuzzah, and many others improvised upon the area's fish rearing and apiculture technologies. Self Help Groups across the countries observed the shortage of masks and started manufacturing by ASHA workers and other women members of the community, providing them employment opportunities. Strawberry growers in Dhaulakuan, Himachal Pradesh, faced marketing problems for their produce.

They prepared value-added products that could be stored for a longer duration and marketed even after some time. Local NGOs in Uttrakhand came forward and helped farmers establish contacts with local vendors to sell summer squash ready in fields at minimum transport cost.

This venture became more profitable than the conventional marketing methods. Grape growers in Karnataka and Maharashtra resorted to converting ripe grapes to raisins to improve the shelf life and fetch them a higher market price. Farmers in Uttar Pradesh joined hands with e-rickshaw drivers who had also lost business in the lockdown to transport and sell vegetables in urban and semi-urban areas.

Various start-ups like KisanKarts.com in the Cooch Behar area of West Bengal procured the produce from farmers at good rates and sold them door to door through online orders. They also exported produce to Bangladesh and other neighbouring regions. This not only helped farmers but also provided local service to food delivery to COVID affected families. Many farmers got an opportunity to turn to organic farming in shortage of supply of agriculture inputs, which turned out to be profitable for them and the soil health. These were only some innovations to mention, and there have been many such interesting cases nationwide. This supported the agriculture system during the pandemic and provided cost-effective and eventually profitable alternatives to conventional methods.

START UP ECO-SYSTEM -Moksha Shah IIM Shillong In India, the agriculture industry is disorganized and fragmented. To capture the sector's potential and make it sustainable, it is necessary to tap into its potential. The requirement for technological innovation to discover solutions to everyday challenges is urgent. Long-term economic growth will be aided by cost-effective agricultural advances.

The lack of market linkages, services, and networks that can be utilized as a cohesive whole is one of the pressure points afflicting the agriculture industry.

Incubators' experience has aided Agri-tech businesses in obtaining funding, grooming entrepreneurs, providing on-the-ground pilot testing facilities, and maximizing business

START-UPS THAT HAD A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON AGRICULTURE, FARMING, AND RELATED PRACTICES

GRAMCOVER

The Noida-based firm is working to establish a retail market for insurance goods in rural India.

Essentially, the startup distributes commissions on premiums. "On our platform, we offer a variety of goods such as personal injury insurance, hospicash, two-wheeler, and livestock insurance,

potential. The incubators' boot camp activities enable Agri-tech firms to scale up by facilitating back-links to market, driving networks to reduce wastage, creating sustainable logistics systems to support marketing initiatives, and facilitating backlinks to market.

Agri-tech businesses have a lot of potentials to help rural Indians improve their livelihoods. Intervention in sustainable agricultural processes, livestock management, skill development, market linkages, an effective logistics infrastructure network, sustainable pricing conventions, and strong market linkages will all help the country achieve its rural economic development and food security goals.

among others, with ticket sizes ranging from Rs 35 to Rs 2,000. "We are paid brokerage by insurance companies for the access we provide for rural customers through our tech platform and point-ofsale partner network, which ranges from 10-16.5 percent of the premiums issued," Singh explains.

GramCover's target market is unmistakably rural Indians. Small-holder farmers with landholdings of less than 2 hectares are an important client category in this regard. Landless cultivators who take land on a tenancy basis and undertake agriculture would also be included. These farmers are the most vulnerable, with limited access to institutional financing and insurance," he adds.

The company has grown at a compound annual growth rate of more than 100% during the last three years. "We've surpassed '100 crore in gross premium this year," Singh says.

Since its beginning, GramCover has sold insurance to over 1.7 million farmers across the country.

GramCover has operated in seven states, 28 districts, and over 3,000 villages in the last few years.

CLOVER VENTURES Based in Bengaluru, this greenhouse Agri start-up delivers fresh produce through tech Clover Ventures.

It started with the founders setting up a greenhouse farm on the outskirts of the city and growing fresh produce. It was sold to B2B clientele such as internet kitchens and fine-dining outlets.

They realized that most farmers who have greenhouses were unable to leverage this asset smartly as they were facing challenges of demand know-how, yield, productivity, and access to markets. They then started with such farmers and offered a full-stack agronomy service and ensured yields and high productivity to the farmers. Now, Clover is working with over 350 farmers across Bengaluru and more than 75 farmers from Hyderabad. It grew at a CAGR of about 40% from April to December 2020. They have introduced 40 new stock-keeping units (SKUs) in 2020 and has expanded to Hyderabad in 2019. Revenue has increased 4x over the last six months.

FRESHOKARTZ This start-up, which is based in Jaipur seeks to connect farmers through tech.

Freshokartz was incorporated in 2016 when founder Rajendra Lora noticed a huge difference in the prices of vegetables sold in cities and villages. Ora’s startup Freshokartz provides soil data-based crop and fertilizer recommendations to 1.2 lakh farmers through a network of 40 physical centers and an application. Based on these recommendations, the Jaipur-headquartered start-up delivers quality seeds, pesticides, and fertilizers to farmers directly minus the middlemen at their doorstep. They have about 100 B2B partners in the market linkages section and 60 Agri input

companies like UPL and Sulphur Mills as partners.

Freshokartz is currently present in 25 districts of Rajasthan and is soon aiming to expand to Haryana and Madhya Pradesh as well.

NINJACART Ninjacart is one of the few agriculture supply chain companies in India based in Bangalore. It was founded in 2015 by Thirukumaran Nagarajan. At present, it moves more than 60 tons of produce a day from the farm to the store in about 14 hours at a lower than traditional supply chains. Ninjacart has helped about 2,000 farmers to sell more than eighty types of vegetables and fruits daily to more than eight hundred retailers and restaurants in Bengaluru. They also claim to have wasted 4% wastage in the entire supply chain.

As of 2021, Ninjacart raised total funding of around $194.2 Million, of which Flipkart and Walmart recently invested $30 Million in this Agri-tech supply chain start-up. It is currently equipped to move 1400 tons of perishable from farms to businesses every day in less than 12 hours.

This is how the above start-ups are leveraging technology to connect and create a comprehensive ecosystem in the agriculture sector of India. This sector that accounts for 18% of GDP of India promises a great future prospect for businesses to leverage. A cohesion of all the agriculture processes from growing to distribution will enable lower prices to consumers, higher yields and greater productivity thereby benefitting the farmers and the economy.

IN-TALKS WITH How do you see the agricultural space in India evolving, considering it is a scattered sector and India is a country predominantly dependent on weather for farming?

Ananda Verma

Founder & CEO at Fasal, ForbesUnder30Asia, Co-Founder Fossbytes

FASAL: A full stack platform for horticulture anchored on an IoT-SaaS platform that provides farm level, crop specific and crop stage specific actionable intelligence to optimise cultivation costs, increase yield and the quality of the yield.

FOSSBYTES: An Indian technology platform that would be a unification and intersection of diverse interests aiming at fulfilling all needs of people who are interested in trending science and latest technology news.

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Farming is essential to the developing countries in Southeast Asia, particularly India. Looking at agriculture as an industry, the kind of innovation in this industry in the last 30-40 years is mainly in machinery or mechanisation. Over time, the other area that innovated consists of the "inputs in farming," comprising seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, etc.

The last 10 years, especially post the "Climate Corp" deal, have brought in a wave of digitisation in agriculture. The requirement of digitisation in the industry was because the entire agriculture industry is fragmented and not streamlined. In countries like India, there was a significant existence of information asymmetry. The farmers were unaware if they could sell the produce at better prices and in different geographies, rather than just in the local mandis.

With companies like Reliance Jio enabling and making it possible for every Indian to have a smartphone, a digital device has come into every hand. This marked the beginning of digitisation in India that connected rural India to each part of the world in terms of information.

With the penetration of digital technologies, a few have predominantly helped farmers provide easy access to information, procure better produce at better costs, and connect them to more markets and more companies.

Furthermore, this has led to agriculture being discovered as not the last resort but a progressive profession. Earlier, farmers had to work in silos, but they had better connectivity and technology, which essentially started a revolution called Agritech. Earlier, the sector was dominated by conglomerates like Syngenta, but this has brought multiple small scale companies like Fasal, enabling the farmers to do better.

IN-TALKS WITH 02

We do not have very known agricultural-based companies in India. Do you see e-commerce disrupting the space?

Farming is looked at as the last profession that essentially clouds one's thinking regarding a viable career option existing in this domain as well. This leads to no visibility of big organisation names in the farming sector. E-commerce in farming is already disrupting the space currently. We have companies for all functionalities. Dehaat is the Byju's of agriculture, Fasal, could be seen as the Practo of agriculture, helping farmers understand what is happening in the farm and make very datadriven decisions. Fasal puts voice to the crop and makes the farmer a better crop doctor.

The market that existed in agriculture across the globe was gigantic, be it input, crops, food that we eat, entire logistics or supply chain applied in the industry. However, now it has evolved astronomically. The entire consumer behaviour in terms of output has changed. Earlier, people were not as cautious of their food, but people have become very informed and care about what they eat and if it is safe. All these changes are necessarily changing the entire ecosystem. All the agriculture facilities that already existed now have become pronounced. Hence, the space is already disrupted, which will be the trend in the coming years.

What is your view on the emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and blockchain making forays into this sector?

03

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and blockchain technologies have become the buzzword today. In the agriculture sector as well, AI has helped farmers tremendously. AgriTech can essentially be segregated into 3 stages: Pre sowing stage is characterised by preparing the field to plant the crop, where earlier big corporations understood the requirements of inputs of the farmer though tracing the farms on foot and talking to the farmers. However, AI has now filled that space and helped the farmers procure the correct quantity and quality of the inputs for their farms. In the crop growth stage, which is the next stage, AI is being used to help farmers talk to their crops. With the help of the data collected about soil, weather and plants, the farmers' understanding of their plantations became better. The technology has also helped farmers predict irrigation and pesticide requirements through prediction models. At the last stage of output, there is a seismic shift in the supply chain.

Earlier the quantity and timing of the output used to be a rough estimate. However, AI has now given enough visibility to the farmers to estimate their output accurately.

As far as blockchain is concerned, it is still in the nascent stage. However, as consumers become more conscious about the traceability of the products they consume, this technology can bring about a revolution in this space.

Consumer behaviour will ultimately drive every development in these technologies.

IN-TALKS WITH 04

How do technology-based start-ups in this sector bridge the gap between farmers' understanding and the start-up's work?

Generally, companies and start-ups working in this domain have to speak the language of the farmers and not the other way round. All the advice the companies provide is given in such an easy language that a layman farmer understands. Suppose AI technology tells us that the plant needs more moisture; the start-up employees convert that need into a digestible dialect. Farmers understand their profession much better than we do; however, we communicate that technology facilitates better farming. They are not very concerned about the complex processes behind the scenes; instead, they want to get the work done. It is essentially what any consumer needs.

Additionally, it is challenging to change the behaviour and mindset of the farmers who have been doing this job for generations. Initially, it was not easy to convince the farmers to use technology. However, most start-ups use the strategy of gaining the farmers' trust through results. The farmers are requested to divide their farms into two portions, one where they use their traditional methods, and on the other, the technology is used to provide better yields. We generally tell them that if they make losses, the company will pay them back, but the entire profit belongs to them if technology yields better results. This entices them to participate, and it provides us with a chance to prove the advantages of technology to the community. Also, word of mouth helps in building the trust of the community.

Changing behaviours requires persistence, and many start-ups are educating the farmers and bringing life-changing technologies to them.

How do you think Covid-19 impacted the sector?

05

Covid-19 disrupted the very base of the sector, the supply chain. The farmers neither had the inputs nor the means to distribute their produce. However, it acted as a boon for the start-up ecosystem in the agriculture sector. The pandemic made the farmers realise that their existing farming methodologies and traditional distribution channels have limitations. Most farmers were out of inputs or could not procure them due to supply chain disruptions. At this critical time, the start-ups pitched in to provide the farmers with the inputs, right from seeds to farm equipment. Many start-ups collaborated and pooled their resources to aid the farmers in distributing their products. The community saw the help that these companies were providing. The demand for the food products was still there, but suddenly, the pandemic shut down the mandis (markets), and the middleman was absent. This created a gap that these start-ups filled in.

Covid did bring many difficulties, but it made the farmers realise that it would be challenging to survive until they adopted technologies.

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