Best Leaders in Agri-Tech 2021

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BEST LEADERS IN AGRI-TECH 2021

TOP 10

SEPTEMBER 2021

ALOK DUGGAL

CO-FOUNDER & COO

TARANBIR SINGH CO-FOUNDER & CEO

FAARMS

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From the

EDITOR A

griculture and agriculture activities have a major role in human’s life as we cannot survive for long if we lack in food supply. Farmers are the one who keeps us moving energetically throughout our entire journey of life.

But, those farmers were suffering from multiple issues which were unsolved for decades. Agri-Tech startups in India are shaping the farmer’s life and creating a platform for them to have a standard life style. These startups are not just benefitting them; they are helping our environment as well by leading the charge in sustainable farming model.

On cover story we have Mr. Taranbir Singh, Co-Founder & CEO and Mr. Alok Duggal, Co-Founder & COO of FAARMS Efarms Solutions Private

Limited. This agri-tech startup addresses flaws in farming industry and deliver solutions to it. They are majorly providing the seeds and fertilisers, allowing digital payments, providing necessary information according to season and few more. They have a longterm plan to transform Indian agriculture industry.

for a moment in that miraculous way words can. There seems to be an increasing level of confidence displayed by our team in practice, as they realise that the market demand for their skills is growing at an almost exponential rate. I would like to take privilege to thanks my team for the work undertaken.

SwiftNLift magazine is not just a It’s always a pleasure to bring this print or digital platform anymore magazine to all the readers. The but, everything we do derives real strength for any magazine is from its long-standing character, its audience; without their support approach and quality – while nothing would have been possible. we continue to produce the I am encouraged by the feedback print publication with as much received from the readers and the dedication as ever. institutions/companies which are in association with our magazine.

I wanted to be here not just as an editor but because I had something that might unite us

- Nilesh Sabe Nilesh Sabe Chief Editor

Cover Story

10 24 Modern way of farming: Aquaponics Farming

FAARMS Efaarms Solutions Private Limited

Articles

32 How Agri-Tech Startups are revamping Agriculture in India?

40 Changing Farming Trends in India

Profiles

16

20

Simply Natural Foods Pvt Ltd

EM3 Agro Services

26 Ninjacart

34 Agrostar

22 Agribazaar

28 Efresh Agribusiness Solutions

36 FreshoKartz Agri Pvt. Ltd.

30 Waycool

38 CropIn Technology

TOP 10

BEST LEADERS IN AGRI-TECH 2021

FAARMS

EFAARMS SOLUTIONS PRIVATE LIMITED

ALOK DUGGAL

COFOUNDER & COO

TARANBIR SINGH

CO-FOUNDER & CEO

FAARMS EFAARMS SOLUTIONS PRIVATE LIMITED

ALOK DUGGAL

TARANBIR SINGH CO-FOUNDER & CEO

COFOUNDER & COO

How can technology assist farmers?

Internet over the years has made knowledge & best practices closer to the farmer and the growth of Many instances around the world have shown that smartphones have made it easy to access all information. technology like precision and predictive analytics, This is where the transformation starts as to what to do smart irrigation & farm management system has helped and then how to implement the same. farmers improve their productivity and profitability.

Penetration of the internet and mobiles have reached Faarms addresses a large gap in the market for farmingrural India but what we don’t always realize is how slow related services. Currently, the farmer faces several challenges in all the stages of the production cycle the pace of adoption is. limited market information and knowledge, limited This is where our team comes in. We try and understand access to quality seeds, fertilizers and agro-chemicals, farmer’s behavior and develop applications that we know low mechanization, insufficient labor, inadequate will appeal to them for their day-to-day use. Today, we storage and transportation facilities, and layers of are one of the very few companies to come out with apps middlemen - all of which result in a subsidized return to for the farming community which is available both on the farmer. Faarms removes these hurdles by digitally android and iOS. We use open-source and cloud-native empowering them so they can procure farming inputs tools and technologies like VS Code, Postman, Swagger, in a timely manner (via the e-store), avail of farmingGitlab, Terraform, Python, React Native, Docker, related advice, obtain farming equipment, services MySQL for building our applications and we rely on and sell their crop (via the marketplace and trading AWS for our cloud infrastructure. In terms of futuristic platform). technologies, we have started working on microservices architecture, data cleaning to apply AI/ML, exploring Amazon Alexa to integrate What unique services do you our services at the same provide to the customers? time.

Why should one prefer you?

Comment: The role of modern agriculture in implementing smart agricultural Internet of Things solutions.

There have been developments in the agriculture industry, ranging from advanced tools to techniques that result in an efficient, sustainable environment and better food availability. Quite a several global trends are influencing the sustainability of the agricultural system and food as a whole. The world’s population is expected to exponentially continue to rise – increasing the demand for agricultural produce.

Our USP lies in our village-level customer connect, the ease of doing business, and our offering of certified agri-input products with our lastmile delivery system. We have spent a quality, duration of two years to understand the pain points of the farmers and designed our services to address each of those challenges starting by providing knowledge on farming best practices & quality inputs at their doorstep.

The top reasons why a farmer will benefit from being a part of the FAARMS platform;  Doorstep delivery of large size bags of fertilizer, fodder, seeds in the interior states of the Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan & Gujarat covering more than 30,000 villages.  Access to cashless transactions through various online modes of UPI & card payment

 Offering certified top-quality inputs from globally recognized brands on a single platform  Knowledge sharing on framing best practices by experienced & qualified industry experts

Simply put, digital is about how technology can help farmers meet their daily needs. This over the years has become crucial for a farmer to have more control over his crop, that’s what FAARMS is dedicated to delivering.

If a farmer gets his inputs delivered home without incurring extra costs, not only does it save transportation What factors affect crop production? What costs, but it also saves time and coordination efforts that sometimes end up taking days. Moreover, FAARMS solutions do you have? helps farmers with fulfilling other needs such as cattle The quality of the seeds and fertilizers used is directly insurance, health insurance, etc at their fingertips. proportional to the quality of the produce by farmers.

With current changing climatic conditions and soil quality, there is a shift observed in the harvest season.

Hence, having access to a platform where farmers can receive information using predictive analysis for the ongoing crop season in a year resulting in farmers preparing well in advance and taking corrective measures. This step could change the demographics of the farming community.

FAARMS brings farmers into contact with experts in agriculture who evaluate and predict yield based on climate and soil conditions. We also provide farmers with direct access to internationally recognized brands for crops, fertilizers and livestock feed, as well as access to cashless transactions that help them avoid debt.

How do you manage the promotion of your products through social media outreach and email campaigns?

Yes, we engage in social media, but on the ground, word of mouth is what we discovered to be the most powerful tool in these circles. If a farmer receives some service, the news travels fairly quickly. We use the knowledge channel FAARMS TV for providing best practices to farmers. We also have made first of its kind emojis (Faarmo-JIS) which farmers can use for communication among themselves.

Which kinds of farmers will benefit most What do you think about the expansion of Efaarms Solution Private Limited? from digital farming?

Currently, we are operating in 30,000 villages and aim to reach out to 70,000 villages by the end of this financial year. We are working not only to expand our presence in the new states but to add new products and services for farmers as well. For example, we recently introduced livestock insurance and health insurance for farmers, available at their fingertips while sitting at home.

impacted a lot especially on farmers?

Faarms started operations at the peak of this pandemic last year and the entire team of Faarms is committed to delivering products at the doorstep of the farmers every day.

We regularly take feedback from the farmers and try our best to improvise our technology and supply chain to At the same time, we are working for providing many fulfill the needs of the farmers as fast as possible so that features in APP such as Utility bill payments, advisory they don’t have to travel to the cities to buy products. support, etc to help him get the right information and save time on day-to-day activities.

We are at an expansion stage and are growing 3X quarter on quarter by deepening our relationship with the Farming community. We have accessed the reach to 30000 villages by offering a quality product with farm door delivery. We were bootstrapped for initial 12 months by raising money from family and friends, however strong business traction has put us on the radar of the investment community at a very early stage and we just recently raised $2 mn seed funding which will be used for penetration across geographies.

 Year of Founding: Jan 2020

Are family farms disappearing?

 Funding Information: $2mn Seed round

Our country has 700+ districts and 6,70,000 villages, so it would be wrong to say that Family farms are disappearing. Yes, farms are getting smaller, but at the same time, farmers are gaining knowledge and using advanced techniques, and successfully growing new varieties of products.

 Founding Members: Taranbir Singh (Co-founder & CEO), Alok Duggal (Co-founder & COO)

Off late we have seen the young generation entering the space and bringing with them a lot of fresh ideas. This is not only resulting in increased yield but also introducing sustainable alternatives in agriculture production which are essential to reduce carbon emission impacting climate change.

 Company Strength: 200+

What does the future of farming look like?

With a lot of startups working in this space and new-age entrepreneurs taking a strong interest in this area, we would say the future of farming is looking quite bright.

Agriculture was the backbone of India’s economy and with a little push from the government and the next generation, we are sure to get back to the glorious days when farming was a pride profession.

Please tell us if there is a useful solution to the current COVID19 scenario as it

 Office Locations: Bangalore  Website: www.faarms.com , FAARMS app on Android / iOS

TOP 10

BEST LEADERS IN AGRI-TECH 2021

Simply Natural Foods Pvt Ltd

“SwiftNLift Business Magazine conducted an Interview with Mr. Dinesh Rawat, Founder of Simply Natural Foods Pvt. Ltd.”

M

r. Dinesh Rawat, Founder, SIMPLY NATURALS, is a Management Postgraduate from LUMBA, Lucknow University, Lucknow. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture & Animal Husbandry from prestigious from G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand.

Mr. Dinesh Rawat has more than 25 years of professional experience in Trading and Supply chain management of Agri Commodities.

Mr. Rawat is Pioneer of Feed Grains business in SOUTH ASIA. Introduced to commodity trading world the vitality of India Corn flows for Regional supply lines.

Mr. Dinesh Rawat has extensively travelled within Africa, South Asia and South East Asia and has deep understanding of structure and functioning of agricultural markets in South Asia and Africa.

Mr. Dinesh initiated his career with largest Asian Poultry House VENKY’S. Later he worked with multiple prestigious international companies which were CARGILL, EDELWEISS, and OLAM INTERNATIONAL, ADM.

Dinesh Rawat Founder 16

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Why do you choose to promote indigenous varieties? Which factors motivated you to go with environment friendly process in the farm?

Coming from Agricultural education and working in the Agri environment, we observed that in last 30-40 years of fast paced Indian economic boom to catch up with population growth the High yielding varieties have replaced indigenous varieties to major extent across India, resulting in large scale usage of Chemical & fertilizers to match nutrient requirements of the crops. This unchecked unplanned usage has resulted in loss of Taste, Flavor and Nutrient profile of the crop produce. There is an evident change in taste and flavor of almost all major pulses & cereals which we gathered from the large-scale consumer research.

Further processing of any original crop produce also reduces nutrient value, this is evident from extensive studies on micronutrient deficiencies in the population particularly zinc and iron impacting immunity levels, and rise of food supplements (nutraceuticals) is a living proof to it.

Organic products are also made from natural ingredients and they are grown without the use of chemicals or pesticides and same is certified by certification agencies.

In our opinion both are good if they are authentic, however from consumer perspective organics are costlier then naturals as it involves high certification cost.

How many varieties of agriculture produce does Simply Naturals have in the basket? What kind of cultivation you have?

We have more then 50+ SKUs from different agroclimatic zones in India which are GI tagged (Geographical indicator), encompassing pulses, cereals, oils, spices, super foods and apiculture products.

How do you maintain the cultivation quantity and quality? What procedure do you follow?

On farmer front due to low productivity and poor price realization farmers are motivated to change their age old farming systems and furthermore inefficient We have an Integrated Agtech platform where Agri value chain makes consumer pay more, resulting consumers, farmers, processing partners are linked in low farmer share in consumer rupee spent. and all quantity, quality, supply chain is managed end As Simply naturals our endeavor is to strengthen age to end from farmer to consumer with traceability. old sustainable farming system and crop rotations to For bulk supplies we have direct linkages with farmer conserve indigenous varieties, soil and environmental groups and FPO’s (Farmer Producer organizations). health, and reduce non value adding intermediaries We facilitate to register them in our portal where in Agri value chain to reduce cost to consumer and they provide information in advance for upcoming better price realization to the farmers and thereby crop cycle i.e. varieties, acreages planned, sowing and encouraging farmers to continue with Heritage harvest timings and tentative production for different traditional native varieties and improved sustainable crops in their geography. farming practices.

For quality we have established linkages with FPO partners and other local scale processors who do What is the basic difference between sorting, grading and process minimally based on our natural and organic food? Which one is quality specifications.

better in your opinion?

Natural Food does not contain artificial ingredients or preservatives and the ingredients are only minimally processed (as per USDA). Generally speaking, a product claiming to be natural is free of common chemicals such as artificial fragrances, colorants, preservatives, and other synthetic additives.

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Further consumer orders and deliveries are also managed through our portal thereby giving visibility to entire supply chain from farmer to consumer and helps in maintaining quantity and quality .

17

Why did you choose to cultivate and process with the help of marginal farmers when you had the option to go with big farmers?

realizing better returns and share in consumer spend.

Further govt programs for promoting small farmers through FPO is helping us to consolidate production in different geographies and our portal is helping to integrate and bringing them nearer to consumer.

It is a certainly a good question, in India 90% farmers are small and marginal with less than a Hectare land holding and they cannot afford to go for high How can one avail your products? From commercial cultivation while normally big farmers where to purchase Simply Natural are resource rich and they have capacity to invest in products? commercial farming (using High yielding varieties and Our products are available through undermentioned advance farming practices) thereby reducing unit cost channels of cultivation.

■ Direct to Home through WhatsApp(https:// When crop produce reaches market and prices are wa.me/c/917303866963) determined by demand and supply factors largely bigger farmers take advantage of price as there unit cost ■ or customer care (+91-7303866963) of cultivation is less and even though on quality front ■ Portal www.simplynaturals.co.in or Simply Naturals produce of marginal farmer is much superior however ■ Mobile application SWADco (Android application) he is not in position to demand higher price (variety, can be downloaded from play store: https:// natural farming methods etc.). play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.

In our model we plan to integrate small and marginal farmers (organized under various groups / FPO) as they are already cultivating native varieties with traditional farming system and by providing them market linkages through our Agtech platform we are facilitating in 18

simplynaturals

■ Online retail stores – Amazon, Flipkart & Meesho ■ Retail Chains – Le Marche, Modern bazaar (available in NCR region) SEPTEMBER 2021

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 Year of Founding: 2020  Funding Information: Family and Friends  Founding Members: Dinesh Rawat  Office Locations: Delhi  Company Strength: 25  Website: https://www.simplynaturals.co.in/

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EM3

Agri Services About EM3 Agri Services

 Assurance – Organization assure famers about the EM3 Agri services is a tech driven Samadhan Footprint standardized quality, startup for the Indian agriculture transparent billing and timely EM3 is currently serving in three market; focused on helping small major states of India from farming service. farmers to grow by providing big point of view, which are Rajasthan, machines and required data in  Convenience – booking an Madhya Pradesh (MP), and order to improve the farm produce appointment is convenient for Uttar Pradesh (UP). They have quality and increase the volume of famers by just making a phone partnered with State Government produce. call. They can also approach of Rajasthan and have established They have developed an IT to the company through their almost 300 franchise based enabled system through which website, which is designed for services centers and are planning any famer can contact them everyone to understand and to increase the number to 1240 easily and get what is needed. communicate swiftly. Famers franchise centers in next three Company has developed FaaS can monitor their field and years.

(Farming as a Service) platform the work being done and also In Madhya Pradesh, they reach that enables technology to reach has functions to manage all his to the farmers from the network the farmer and farm in an efficient transactions. of 100 centers to approach. and affordable manner through a They have a dedicated team Madhya Pradesh Government network of Farm centers or they of proper cycle management has also partnered with them. In call it as “Samadhan Kendras”. to constantly record the data Uttar Pradesh they are dealing at Each Kendra is managed by Agri- and monitor the process from initial stage and have focused on professionals and is equipped to land preparation, sowing/ Sugarcane farms. handle a comprehensive suite transplanting, crop management, of basic and precision farm harvesting, post-harvest farm operations throughout the entire management. crop production cycle.

EM3 provides technology and  Website: http://em3agri.com/ mechanization services for the  Industry: Farming complete cultivation cycle. As the  Main Focus On Company size: 51-200 majority of the Indian farmers employees  Quality – Every service line (over 90%) are small with land  Headquarter: Noida, Uttar & its constituent machine & holdings of less than ten acres.

Pradesh operators on the samadhan Services are offered in a Pay-forplatform go through rigorous Use standardized quality. It helps  Type: Privately held selection and training for small farmers to lease the machine  Established: 2013 highest level of quality and and return it back when not delivery. needed.

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TOP 10

BEST LEADERS IN AGRI-TECH 2021

Adwitiya Mal CEO

Farmer’s Response

“I own 12 acres of land and live in Chandauli. Every implement of Samadhan that goes to the field has created great farmer values”.

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SwiftNLift

“I own seven acres of land and requested Samadhan for harvesting.

Their machines do a quicker and better job.

The harvested crop is cleaner”.

“I own four acres of land.

Samadhan is professional, they come on time. I have less of a headache managing labour which is unpredictable”.

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Agribazaar E-Mandi Agribazaar

of

India: Software Upgradation

Agribazaar is one of the finest and innovative platforms for small farmers to sell their produce across India. They mainly work on transforming the agro value chain through technology. They mainly focus to deal with small farm owners in order to bridge the market gap and help those farmers get the right and deserving price for their produce.

It is not just about selling farm produce; potential buyers can purchase goods at a fair price tag with assurance of quality while mitigating counterparty risk and enabling secure payments. Company is mainly trying to empower millions to feed billions.

addresses’.

Agribazaar mobile application came  Automatic Settlement: the into operations with main focus of platform offers transparent endeliminating middle-man trading to-end automatic settlement system for farmers to earn the true options for both buyers and value for their produce. The idea sellers. was focusing on catering farmers, traders, financial institutions, and  Zero brokerage: No involvement governments together on one of middle-men while you trade platform to integrate and create a your produce. Sell crops with transparent trading system. zero brokerage interference.

After completing 5 years of existence in revolutionizing the  Tracking of logistics: goods can agro-market system, they came up with providing a more delightful experience for end users by designing the mobile application easy to trade, faster & simple.

With the launch of new UI, Agribazaar has bought in a lot of new features to make it more convenient for the stakeholders to create, explore or bid in trades of their own choice.

Currently they have over 1 lakh users, 33,000 listed auctions and over INR 14, 000 crore GMV as on June, 2020 on their digital platform.

This organization has Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), big data, Internet of Things USPs of the application are: (IoT) and drones as tools in their  Trade Creation in mission. Back in 2017, Agribazaar 3 steps: User can launched a wallet named as ‘AgriPay’ simply tap on ‘Create that has facilitated transactions of trade’ and fill in over $1 Billion. the commodity information.

Then choose the ‘Quality parameters’ in the next step. And finally, select the ‘Billing and Delivery 22

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TOP 10

BEST LEADERS IN AGRI-TECH 2021

now be tracked in real-time with regular updates.

Founder’s Message

At Agribazaar, we believe new  Reach many bidders: Create a models of trading are required trade and reach out to a wide base to meet the opportunities and challenges of modern agriculture. of bidders in auctions at once.

This is why our platform leverages  Better warehousing: improved cutting-edge AI for agri value chain warehousing management system optimization, resulting in increased with quicker access to facilities yields and greater profit for small and instant payment directly to farm owners. bank account.

Today, agriculture accounts for 18% of our economy’s output  Daily Mandi Prices: now receive and 47% of our workforce. India current mandi prices with a is the second largest producer of wide range of market prices for fruits and vegetables in the world. commodities and the availability Yet, according to the Food and of multiple mandis nearby.

Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, 194 million Indians are undernourished, the User Experience largest number of hungry people in “Agribazaar has provided any single country. convenience and ease to traders to Addressing the problem requires carry out their business smoothly in improvements in the productivity the pandemic times”. and efficiency of the agriculture “Traders are well advised about their sector, particularly small farm trades and market prices for the food owners. At Agribazaar, we are grains and oilseeds being traded in bridging this fundamental gap, bulk via the Agribazaar platform”. creating next generation agri-tech “Our e-mandi centre at Alanpur, solutions for those facing the greatest Rajasthan has given great need. This is why our business model opportunities to local farmers to get is 100% aligned with small farm owners. better prices for their stock”.

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Amith Aggarwal CEO Agribazaar started with the idea that a technology-driven platform could help the agri value chain operate with significantly less overheads and hidden inefficiencies. We digitized the agri value chain with proof of origin and authenticity, enabling traceability whilst bringing down agri-trade commissions from 2-3% to 0.5%.  Website: https://www.agribazaar.com/home  Industry: Information technology & Services  Company Size: 51-200 employees  Headquarter: Maharashtra

Mumbai,

 Type: Privately held  Established: 2017

23

Modern way of farming: Aquaponics Farming

W

e have witnessed innovation and constant development in traditional farming. New technology is being introduced to improve the method of cultivation. Until humans are alive on this planet, demand for agriculture produce will keep on rising as we are developing day by day.

in ways we have not seen before. Farmers worldwide will need to increase crop production, either by increasing the amount of agricultural land to grow crops or by enhancing productivity on existing agricultural lands through fertilizer and irrigation and adopting new methods like precision farming.

Over the last century, the global population has quadrupled. In 1915, there were 1.8 billion people in the world. Today, according to the most recent estimate by the UN, there are 7.3 billion people — and we may reach 9.7 billion by 2050. This growth, along with rising incomes in developing countries (which cause dietary changes such as eating more protein and meat) are driving up global food demand.

But that creates a major concern for the climate of earth as it will require more land mass for crop production which will be acquired from rainforest. Currently Amazon rainforest which also termed as “lungs of earth” is shrinking due to large number of area being utilized for cattle farming and crop production. This will impact our whole environmental activities which will become havoc for the upcoming generation.

Food demand is expected to increase anywhere between 59% to 98% by 2050. This will shape agricultural markets 24

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What is Aquaponics?

Aquaponics is a food production system that couples agriculture (raising aquatic animals such as fish, crayfish, and prawns in tanks) with hydro ponics (cultivating plants in water) whereby the nutrient-rich aquaculture water is fed to hydroponically grown plants, where nitrifying bacteria convert ammonia into nitrates.

Why we should look forward to grow in Aquaponics?

We saw earlier how the population has evolved in last one century and we have predictions on how the population will grow in next 20-30 years. As the demand rise, farmers will strive for chemical fertilizers and pesticides to increase the yield in farms. This will not help in the long run as we As existing hydroponic and aquaculture farming will start losing our fertile soil and the production might techniques form the basis of all aquaponic systems, get hampered. Due to this, demand will surge high and the size, complexity, and types of foods grown in an supply will be less. To have a better alternative, Aquaponics aquaponic system can vary as much as any system found can solve the issue of high quality food. It can provide us fish which are filled with nutrients and one of the most in either distinct farming discipline.

In simple words, a form of ecosystem where fish farming essential elements for human body ‘fish oil’. Side-by-side we and crop farming is conducted where fish creates waste grow chemical free vegetables and crops which are best for which is being used by the crops to grow. Waste created human body. by fish is filled with essential nutrients and ammonia Key-features of Aquaponics which helps crops to grow in healthy manner. It provides a hybrid form of farming where less water is required to  Aquaponics relies on the recycling of nutrient-rich water continuously. In aquaponics, there is no toxic run-off grow the crops. from either hydroponics or aquaculture.

Components of Aquaponics  Plants

 Aquaponics uses 1/10th of the water of soil-based gardening and even less water than hydroponics or recirculating aquaculture.

 No harmful petrochemicals, pesticides or herbicides can Many plants are suitable for aquaponic systems, be used. It’s a natural ecosystem. though which ones work for a specific system depends  Gardening chores are cut down dramatically or on the maturity and stocking density of the fish. eliminated. The aquaponics grower is able to focus on Plants that are common in salads have some of the the enjoyable tasks of feeding the fish and tending to and greatest success in aquaponics, including cucumbers, harvesting the plants. tomatoes, lettuce, capsicum, read salad onions and snow peas. Other species of vegetables that grow  Aquaponic systems can be put anywhere, use them outside, in a greenhouse, in your basement, or in your well in an aquaponic system include basil, coriander, living room. By using grow-lighting, and space can fenugreek, lemongrass, okra, carrots, radish, onion, become a productive garden. sweet potato, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, and ginger.

 Fish or other aquatic creatures

Conclusion

Aquaponics have the capacity to solve our food shortage problem. For that, we need to have constant research in it.

Being an agriculture country, India and its major agriculture universities should step ahead in this and create a healthy environment for aquaponics in order to diversify traditional chemical farming methods. Aquaponics is not just about If we take the example of freshwater fish of India, utilising fish water; we can sell those fish as well to increase we find varieties in each state. Some of the common our income. This could lead us to diversify farmer’s portfolio freshwater fish found in the Indian rivers and lakes and generate income from one model of farming. are Rohu, Catla, Mrigal, Tor Tor, Hilsa, Pulasa, Kajuli, Tialpia, and Rani.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaponics Freshwater fish are the most common species of fish which are used in aquaponics due to their ability to tolerate crowding. Even freshwater crayfish and prawns are also sometimes used. These fresh water fish keeps on changing according to the geographical conditions.

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Ninjacart Ninjacart: Supply Chain Pioneer for Fresh Fruits

 The traditional Supply Chain is highly inefficient, unorganized, and has a high rate of food It takes courage for a new company wastage. to enter in the market for solving a problem existing in the long-run. The Solution Ninjacart is one of those who are  We eliminated intermediaries pioneering in the tech-driven supply by taking control of the Supply chain space for fresh farm produce.

Chain by using technology and Ninjacart is India’s largest fresh analytics. produce supply chain company that is solving one of the toughest problems  We built reliable, cost-effective, and high-speed logistics and in the world through technology. infrastructure to solve for They help connect producers of food inefficiencies in the Supply Chain. directly with retailers, restaurants, and service providers using in-house  On one end, farmers get better prices and consistent demand, and applications that drive end to end on the other end, retailers receive operations. Currently, Ninjacart’s fresh produce at competitive Supply Chain is equipped to move prices that are delivered to their 1400 tonnes of perishables from doorstep. farms to businesses, every day, in less than 12 hours.

Company’s Vision

consumers in their own way.

Benefits for Farmers Convenience for Retailers Savings for Consumers.

20% more revenue pricing Hygienically produce.

Competitive handled

One-stop-sale Doorstep Delivery 100% traceable to farm – Improves food safety.

Payment in 24 hours High quality graded produce Better quality Transparent Weighing C onvenient & time saving.

 Website: https://ninjacart.in/

Our vision is to build India’s most  Industry: Logistics & Supply Chain efficient and largest Supply Chain platform and improve the lives  Company size: 1,001 – 5,000 The Problem employees  Farmers experience price risk, of producers, businesses, and information asymmetry about consumers in a meaningful manner.  Headquarter: Bengaluru, Karnataka demand, distribution inefficiency, We are focused on making the Ninjacart innovation more accessible  Type: Privately held and receive late payments.  Retailers face problems like higher to the most fragmented parts of  Founded: 2015 costs, low quality and unhygienic society. We intend to leverage our  Ninjacart: produce, high price volatility, and strengths and resources to innovate the everyday hassle of going to for new product categories and Supply Chain Pioneer for Fresh customer segments while solving Fruits the market. complex supply chain problems.

Ninjacart’s Point of View

Platform for Everyone Ninjacart 26

provides benefit for Farmers, retailers, and SEPTEMBER 2021

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Public Words “Ninjacart has been attempting to alleviate major issues in India’s fruit and vegetables supply chain over the past several years. The team has managed to get into a clear leadership position in that ecosystem, especially around South Indian cities. With current round of financing, we expect them to continue to scale rapidly, enter new cities, and enable direct relationships with farmers and shop owners across even more categories”.

-Subrata Nitra, Partner at Accel India

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“The team at Ninjacart has made impressive progress and demonstrated that they can think and execute at scale.

Streamlining the agricultural sector using the latest technology and supply chain, benefits farmers with higher prices and consumers with lower costs.

As they scale up nationwide, they will really make a difference and impact on how farmer’s market their produce”.

-Nandan Nilekani

Thirukumaran Nagrajan CEO & Co-Founder “I came across Ninjacart 4 years ago, and since then I have not faced problems like travelling to the market, wasting an entire day, or waiting for weeks for my payment. The collection center team keeps me informed of the produce required for the day and I send exactly the amount required. With all this time saved, I am able to spend more quality time with my family and also grow a variety of other vegetables in my field”.

-Dilip Papanna, Farmer at Biduruguppe

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Efresh

Agribusiness Solutions eFresh Agribusiness Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

through development of of services through the online packaging, branding and exposing mode. Creating awareness about the farm output direct to the the product to the services can be Farming industry in India has the followed up to help the farmers consumer market or commercial potential to feed 1/4th population make informed choices on advance establishments. of the world. But, still our farmers booking, placing purchase orders Promoting good agricultural and farming industry suffers when and payment through digital mode.  practices for production of it comes to grow the produce and if pesticide residue free, quality food For eFresh, the huge advantage will they somehow manage to grow then and linking the same to premium comes the selling part which is not be to reduce the crowding in the buyers. that transparent. Farming business Physical store with products, better space utilization, maximizing the  Enhancing farmer needed the support of technology offerings in each store and also entrepreneurship through market which is being now provided by extend various financial, marketing linkages. some ambitious startups of India. and advisory services through a eFresh value our hard working phased manner over time. farmers and has solutions for the gap Financing Services which has widen in past few years. eFresh will help make FPOs (Farmer Let’s have a look at what exactly Market Linkages Producer Organization) more eFresh has to offer: A vast majority of Indian Farmers professional in their functioning are following the traditional supply through various interventions. In chain where they sell produce in both leading to access to funding E-Commerce Mandi. They are least aware about With having a vision to reach direct selling to the supermarket, sources and also managing accounts, the farmers at their doorsteps at retailors or a community on a expertise is being built. the FDC (Farmer Development regular basis. eFresh has stepped in With the recent partnership with Samunnati, eFresh can get easy Center) locations, eFresh launched to procure and guide at FDCs. access to funding of FPOs. Similarly, e-commerce platform exclusively it can advise how to get finances from for the region of Jagitial, Telangana Market Linkage Activities Agri lending agencies, banks and FIs state. Company is providing only  Identification of the farmers (Financial Institutions) too. popular products in the FDC region produce and linking with to understand the demand cycle. commercial and institutional A customised accountancy service that helps FPOs, Agripreneurs Based on the experience of the buyers. maintain and manage their finances FDCs, eFresh has ventured into a  Connecting the farmer’s has been developed. By adopting e-commerce mode to usher in ease organizations and the buyers to it, FPOs will be better placed to of doing business for the farmers and the supply chain through the raise funds from promoters as the stakeholders. Both information aggregation of service providers. well as banks and other financial accesses from the comforts of home  Facilitate the development and institutions. and product delivery at the doorstep negotiation of contracts with can be facilitated through this buyers. initiative.

Educating and creating value A key feature will be the availability  28

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BEST LEADERS IN AGRI-TECH 2021 Shrihari Kottela Founder, Chairman & CEO

Farmers Centers

Development Digital Transformation eFresh based on the ground realties in rural areas, the nature of transactions and the skill sets of staff working at the FPOs, leveraged customized , simpler and user friendly technologies for different needs of the FPOs . Guidance documents for statutory compliances are part of the solutions.

Farmers Development Centers (FDCs) are one stop solution mainly established as a physical center in towns and villages to meet the variety of needs of the farming community.

They offer both knowledge service and product information. There are currently more than 70 FDCs of eFresh across India. eFresh technologies will aid in It will Major farming in India is conducted digitizing all the data. financial in small towns and villages. As the help regularly update information as required by the internet connectivity expanded rural areas of India too got in to the financial institutions, investors, mainstream business. But as the FPOs auditors, promoters. In addition, (Farmers Producer Organizations) provision of need based online and Agripreneurs are growing, advisory services, prediction of agri several logistical and supply chain inputs required and expected farm challenges have popped-up. These output can also be made. challenges mainly include, access Under the Digital transformation to quality agri inputs, accounting they provide services in the following solutions, business linkages, credit list: and technology upgrade.  eQMS (Quality Management After reviewing the situation, e Fresh has identified the root causes and developed a ‘Smart & Safe’ platform to provide the supportive ecosystem to the FPOs/ Agripreneurs under the umbrella of a Farmers Development Centre (FDC).

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Syaytem)

 eMerchant  eFreshfdc.com  eFarmery  My farmer Mobile Application

eFresh Mission  Increase in Farm Productivity / Income of the Farmers.  Capacity Building through Exposure and Training.  Empower Entrepreneurship

Women

 Enhance Production of Safe and Quality Foods.  Providing Market Linkage for Trading.

 Website: https://www.efreshglobal.com/  Industry: Farming  Company size: 51 – 200 employees  Headquarter: Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh  Type: Public Company  Founded: 2009

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WAYCOOL WayCool Foods WayCool Foods & Products Pvt. Ltd. is one of India’s fastest growing Agri-Tech companies, driving social impact while transforming India’s food economy. Founded in July 2015, WayCool aims to build the world’s largest food development and distribution Services Company and positively impact the lives of 500,000 farmers. With this goal, WayCool’s operation has spread across product sourcing, food processing, branding and marketing, last mile distribution, and farm inputs. This gives WayCool end-to-end control over the food value chain.

WayCool currently handles 350+ tonnes of food products per day, across 18,900 clients, and from a network of 50, 000+ farmers in more than 50 regions in India. WayCool’s products include staples like rice, pulses, wheat flour, dairy, and value added products.

- and we deliver it every day.

Core Values WayCool works mainly on three core values Humble, Humane, Hungry.

Company highlights these points in this way:  Humble

WayCool’s Initiatives Farmer Engagement WayCool is engaged with a base of 50,000 farmers, out of which nearly 1,200 small and marginal farmers have partnered with them on an agricultural extension program name das Outgrow. Area of around 2,800 acres is under Outgrow programme which consists of more than 150 villages from 5 states which produces 34 types of crops.

We strive to brighten the day of everyone that is involved with WayCool. From dramatically increasing farmer’s incomes to providing our employees with one of the most extensive insurance plans available in all of India, WayCool wants to make everyone’s Outgrow’s initiatives help farmers day a little fresher. across the Seed to Sale process.

Leveraging the technical expertise  Humane WayCool understands that a and advisory actions from mentors, healthy planet provides healthy farmers can not only increase their foods. WayCool works hard to produce but also boost their sale. Few ensure that it operates with the of the steps in the Outgrow program future in mind. From implementing are mentioned below.

WayCool has adopted a tech-enabled supply chain approach, merging the strict water recycling policies in our physical and digital worlds for a “phydistribution centers to educating gital” business model. Our company our farmers on sustainable utilizes robotic process automation, practices, we are driven to keep the artificial intelligence, and machine Earth green. learning technologies to provide value to our suppliers and clients. WayCool  Hungry clients expect the WayCool is driven to use very best technology to change the world.

From creating ground-breaking software that helps increase farmer’s income, to innovative quality management and food 30

safety technology, WayCool is on the cutting edge of technology in India.

 Soil Health Check Healthy soil is one of the most important elements for farming.

It is the fundamental step to test the farm soil in order to address the nutritional adequacies in the soil, and help farmers rationalize fertilizer use.  Cultivation Planning With no access to information and data, the farmer is generally SEPTEMBER 2021

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dependent on the vagaries of nature, middlemen or neighbouring farmers to decide what to grow on his own land.

covid-19 situation, WayCool kept there farmer’s trade alive by reaching out to their farms and move the produce to different markets for liquidation.

Our agronomists work closely with the farmers to understand their current cultivation pattern, Environmental Impact restructure their cultivation mix, WayCool formed a team to build and help create opportunities for solutions that have a perennial impact continuous supply throughout the on the environment and the society. year.

The team is named as Environment, Social & Corporate Governance  Liquidation (ESG). They have a set of goals to WayCool enters into contracts achieve: with farmers to grow produce that is delivered to a Collection  Achieve Net Energy positive before Center very near to the farms. This December 2024 by achieving ensures that the farmer has very continuous reduction of energy low or no transportation cost and consumption and continuous lowers wastage. This is one of the increase in production of best practice for the farmers; as renewable energy. they are able to sell their produce  Achieve Net positive Water before according to the market demand.

December 2024 by continuous With such an advanced demand reduction in water consumption forecasting tools, WayCool has and continuous increase in ground managed to help farmers liquidate recharge. their produce completely.  Carbon Negative before  Market Access December 2025 by monitoring WayCool has its presence in 134 the consumption of all resources, towns with access to 11,000+ adopt relevant technologies which outlets, due to which they are will enhance carbon credit. able to provide a wide reach to  Achieve continuous reduction the farmer’s produce. During the SEPTEMBER 2021

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Karthik Jayaraman President & Co-Founder

in wastage of agricultural produce procured by the company by adopting innovative technologies throughout the supply chain from farm to fork and adopt 3R techniques to ensure that whatever minimum waste generated is converted into compost manure that can be reused by farmers.  Website: https://waycool.in/  Industry: Food & Beverages  Company size: 1,001 – 5,000 employees  Headquarter: Chennai, Tamil Nadu  Type: privately held  Founded: 2015

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How Agri-Tech Startups are revamping Agriculture in India?

Agri-Tech Startups have a major role to play in India

increasing its contribution to world food trade every year due to its immense potential for value addition, particularly within the food processing industry. Indian food and grocery market is the world’s sixth largest, with retail contributing 70% of the sales. The Indian food processing industry accounts for 32% of the country’s total food market, one of the largest industries in India and is ranked fifth in terms of production, consumption, export and expected growth.

Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for about 58% of India’s population. Gross Value Added by agriculture, forestry, and fishing was estimated at Rs. 19.48 lakh crore (US$ 276.37 billion) in FY20. Share of agriculture and allied sectors in gross value added (GVA) of India at current prices stood at 17.8 % in FY20. Consumer spending in India will return to growth in 2021 post the pandemic-led contraction, expanding by as much as 6.6%. Principal agricultural commodities export for April 2020 January 2021 was US$ 32.12 billion.

The Indian food industry is poised for huge growth, 32

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Produce Organizations) about the government policies Even though we have a vast majority of population engaged and market trend with their immense level of data in farming operations, we still have loopholes which should study. be filled sooner. Many unicorn startups are registered in India out of which none of them belongs to Agriculture industry. Even they are not in the list of unicorns, they  Improving Productivity are providing last mile solution to the farmers and mainly Farmers Development Centers (FDCs) are getting in marginal farmers. touch with farmers as one stop solution. They guide and provide every necessary information and products in these centers which help them produce according Agri-Tech Startups leading the charge to the need. Startups collect data from various regions and time frame to deeply understand the pattern.

Agriculture industry has multiple sectors which perform Climate change is one the threat to farming industry, differently. Each sector has its uniqueness and has its own as the weather keeps changing it directly affects the importance. Agriculture industry is one of the least focused production cycle of the crops. industry in India in terms of technological growth as compared to education, medical and finance sector. There Young entrepreneurs turning in to as Agripreneurs are are some startups having an aim to make Indian farming coming up with some unique ideas to cater the sector sector one of the largest contributor in GDP, as it has near high in need for innovation. Big tractors were not so to 60% of the population directly or indirectly dependent. useful in small farms. That was the key area where some To name a few, AgroStar, CropIn Technology, Ninjacart, agri experts invented small capacity tractors which were Waycool are creating a different model for farming sector. affordable to marginal farmers and easy to maintain.

Now we get an opportunity to see and read many  E-Commerce platform such examples of innovation in agriculture sector as We buy and sell electronic, clothing, financial products young generation is turning towards it as a mainstream and services from e-commerce platforms. Even though business. we had number of companies producing farming machineries and other essential tools had no such platform for farmers to buy and sell.

Conclusion AgroStar became one of such providers by having a range of products from seeds to all the fertilisers needed. Company is currently active in 5 major satet of India Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh.

Startups are trying their level best to provide all necessary services to farmers and whole agriculture industry in order to improve farmer’s life standard. It is all about accepting the technological changes and advancements.

We are expecting drastic turnaround in Indian agriculture industry as the young generation fills the gap we were witnessing for so many years.

Waycool is one such startup which has proved that agri-business can be managed by technology. Waycool currently handles more than 350 tonnes of food products per day, from a network of 50, 000+ farmers Disclaimer: This information has been collected through in more than 50 regions of India. secondary research and SwiftNLift is not responsible for any errors in the same.  Digital Transformation Digitizing farming sector will lead to cost effective and sustainable farming. Utilizing drones to monitor and spray fertilizers on the field is one those transformational ideas which reduces physical strain and improves the quantity and quality of the produce.

Agri-Tech startups are providing the cloud based solutions in order to compare the previous data and work according to that. Providing training to the farmers about new technology introduced is also one of the features pointed. Startups guide FPOs (Farmers SEPTEMBER 2021

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Agrostar

Helping farmers Win Agrostar: Helping Farmers Win AgroStar is India’s foremost AgTech start-up working on the mission of #HelpingFarmersWin by providing a complete range of agri solutions at the fingertips of farmers.

AgroStar’s tech platform provides a combination of agronomy advice coupled with service and agri input products that enable farmers to significantly improve their productivity and income.

AgroStar has an extensive amount of data, technology and agronomy knowledge which is used to give the right solutions (advice + products) to Indian farmers.

almost every essential product to the farmers. Whether it is seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, spray pump or any other small product, you name it they have it. This has created trust Fundings in farming community towards The company is backed by leading AgroStar as they are providing venture capital firms like Aavishkaar transparent, hassle-free, convenient Capital, Chiratae Ventures, Accel services.

Partners, Bertelsmann India and Rabo Frontier Ventures.

for their crop and farming needs by downloading our mobile app or through our call centre.

AgroStar Farmer App

AgroStar’s Performance

AgroStar currently stands in the list of one of the finest agri-tech startups who are solving the ground zero issues with complete dedication and transparency. Till date, company has Over the next 5 years, company achieved the number of happy and has plan to continue to provide satisfied farmers with the advisory incremental value to farmers in service of more than 15 million. terms of wide range of inputs They have a huge delivery network delivered at their doorsteps, world- which consists of more than 7500 class agronomy guidance and also pin codes in India. access to market linkages and credit. AgroStar completely operates AgroStar solves the traditional farmer problems faced around duplication, adulteration and product unavailability by making a wide range of great quality products available to the farmer through a simple missed call!

Lack of availability of real-time and accurate agronomy advice is a major challenge faced by farmers today.

AgroStar’s “Agri Doctor” solves this problem for the farmer as they can get expert agronomy advice 34

AgroStar App is a one-stop solution for all agri-needs. Farmers can access personalized, agri focused content, tips and articles focused on helping farmers grow better produce and solve common problems occurring on the farm. They can also browse through a wide variety of quality products like seeds, crop protection, nutrition, and farm implements belonging to best agri-brands in the country.

digitally and provides every essential service to the farmers.

“Agri Doctor” one of the most used service is helping out farmers to solve the exact issues with ease.

Agro experts guide them according to the crop, area of land, soil quality, and weather conditions.

All the mentioned services are being provided through their android mobile application software which is user friendly and a e-commerce platform for farmers. They sell SEPTEMBER 2021

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TOP 10

BEST LEADERS IN AGRI-TECH 2021 Shardul Sheth Co-Founder & CEO

 Website: https://www.corporate.agrostar.in/  Industry: Internet  Company size: 1,001 – 5,000 employees  Headquarter: Pune, Maharashtra  Type: Privately held  Founded: 2013

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FreshoKartz Agri Pvt. Ltd.

Freshokartz

Key Working Areas

Indian farmers had suffered a lot  Input in terms of selling their produce to the market. There was always They have seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and few more input an issue of transparency to trade products in the portfolio which as those practices were decades are essential in the initial process old and were under the control of of farming. Famers get an option middlemen who use to manipulate to order the required material by the price rate to gain highest dialing a number and the ordered number of profit. But, this profit products will get delivered at was never shared with the farmer. your doorstep. You can avail Now we have many startups in the opportunity to order from agriculture sector of India who are the humongous list of 10,000 helping out farmers understand different types of products. the whole ecosystem and produce according to that. Freshokartz is  Output one of those ambitious startup Previously, demand was high to help Indian farmer grow in and production was low. Later economic manner and improve agriculture revolution lead their lifestyle. This company to immense growth in yield was incorporated and currently of variety of crops and other working in the state of Rajasthan agriculture produce.

Our and currently active in 15 districts. farmers were less literate , hence, Freshokartz runs on B2B business they knew very less about the model where farmers and Bulk pricing model due to which they buyers are the two parties involved use to get undervalue for their in the transaction. yield. This problem was also undertaken by Freshokartz and gave the farmer a platform to sell their high quality fresh yield at a rate which they deserved.

confident about selling their yield and not to dump it back to the soil.  Crop Advisory Agri-tech startups have a dedicated team of field experts who can study and guide farmers according to the crop and soil quality. This service stands crucial as the soil is tested before sowing seeds. Once the team completes the field survey, they can assess the farmers according to the conditions and recommend seeds and fertilizers to it.  Finance Famers lack in finance initially, as they are less literate to financial planning. Due to low budget, many marginal farmers miss out to use latest equipment and machineries to increase their yield. It happens at times, when the season is near and farmers are running out of cash at that moment. To fill this gap Freshokartz provide credit facility to purchase or hire the essential machineries in order to cultivate crops from their farm land.

Transparency was one of the key factors in this process. Immediate amount were transferred to the More to the service farmer’s bank account created trust and faith in them. Direct Farmers get regular updates from connectivity to the market made Freshokartz about the weather report even small and marginal farmers and how to manage their farm. Even latest government policies related to 36

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farming and new subsidies are being informed to farmers. Farmers get complete knowledge as and when required. This helps them to make smart efforts to grow their yield from farms and gain some economic benefit as well.

Farmer’s Response

 Website: https://www.freshokartz.com/  Industry: Farming  Company size: 11 – 50 employees

Rajendra Lora Co-Founder & CEO

 Headquarter: Jaipur, Rajasthan  Type: Privately held  Founded: 2016

NANA DEVI | SUMAN DEVI “Having a small farm, my husband has to work in remote areas to maintain the family, due to which all the responsibility of farming and family fell on me. With no shop near the village, it was very difficult to leave the field empty and due to no means, the whole day was wasted and the expenses were also very high. But Freshokartz not only provided the goods sitting at home, but also kept the facility of help center for better farming and increased yield, where we were provided all the information from sowing to harvesting free of cost.

Freshokartz has benefited many other farmer sisters along with me”.

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CropIn Technology CropIn Technology

Core Values

CropIn is an intuitive, intelligent, self-evolving system that delivers future-ready farming solutions to the entire agricultural sector.

With capabilities of live reporting, analysis, interpretation and insight that span across geographies, CropIn is digitizing every farm, while data-managing the entire ecosystem. Company’s smarter agri solutions are powered in real-time; to archive patterns, predict trends, to make a blueprint for business in the times to come.

 Driving Sustainability

Transforming businesses through intelligence and insight:  EFFICIENCY Ensuring efficient operations, lower costs and better visibility for field agents at all time.  PRODUCTIVITY The predictability of quantity and quality of yield combined with reduced cost of operations results in higher productivity for the business.  SUSTAINABILITY Meet today’s agree needs while strengthening resources for the future by creating a healthy environment, economic profitability, and social & economic equity for all.

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Creating Digital Agriculture Eco-System

 Absolute Integrity in all the Modern technology in agriculture is more than just the usage of activities  Committed towards Partner’s mobile applications or a hardware system to automate redundant success processes and reduce dependency  Innovation for Change on human labour. Although  Passion for every acre of farm options are quite limited at present, land users of smart farming solutions opt for a UI/UX that is both flexible and extremely convenient to use.

Idea of formation This ranks higher on the priority The idea of providing SaaS based list, especially when agribusinesses services to agribusinesses came to operate across geographies and Mr. Krishna Kumar after observing employ people with different levels the agrarian crisis looming large of tech proficiency. on the rural areas of Karnataka Digitizing farms in their own style: in 2010 where local farmers were facing a gamut of problems ranging  SmartFarm from non-availability of finance, It was in 2010 when the core climatic vagaries, soil degradation, team of CropIn came together pest infestation and diseases, with the idea to transform operational inefficiencies, and Indian agriculture—to make it no predictability of yield. Taking more productive and profitable a resolution on doing his bit to for the marginal farmer. By prevent farmers’ suicides and avert pooling in their expertise the agrarian crisis, Kumar left his and tech capabilities, Krishna high rising career at GE and set up Kumar, Kunal Prasad and CropIn Technology Solutions- an Chittaranjan Jena designed agriculture technology solutions first of CropIn’s agriculture start-up that would address several solutions, ‘SmartFarm’. pain points of millions of farmers SmartFarm is a robust and across the country. flexible farm management solution that incorporates end-to-end solutions for datadriven decision making for multiple stakeholders in the SEPTEMBER 2021

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Krishna Kumar Founder & CEO cause irreparable or severe agri-ecosystem. Its real-time damage. satellite- and weather-based advisory enables accurate output Secondly, it builds trust among predictability for agribusinesses consumers of the product when and other agricultural they are aware of the processes organizations, while making that went into bring the produce businesses and farm operations to their table and can decide for exceedingly efficient. themselves if a product is safe for consumption or not.

 SmartWare

SmartWare is a pack-house  SmartRisk solution that brings about One of the major reasons why digitization of various agriculture is not as sustainable warehouse processes gives or productive as expected is visibility into processes in that there continues to exist a warehouse, regardless of an element of unpredictability. its magnitude or its physical Unexpected changes in climatic location. Users can now manage, conditions around the world process and audit the inventory lead to numerous problems without having to visit the including droughts, flash floods, warehouse and manually locate storms and a major rise or dip the area or item of concern. In in temperature which can also addition to this, one can scan lead to an incidence of pest the QR code on processed items infestation or crop diseases. in the warehouse to know the With the increasing difficulty movement of the item all the in forecasting the future and way from the farm, making its preparing in advance for events entire journey highly traceable. such as these, farmers and Firstly, farm-to-fork agribusinesses are at a loss. traceability helps with quality To monitor and mitigate such control, wherein issues in risks, CropIn launched its AIthe food supply chain can be and ML-powered platform identified much before it can ‘SmartRiskTM’ in 2018. It is SEPTEMBER 2021

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a predictive and prescriptive solution with capabilities to detect cropping patterns and predict the future of a crop.

This forecasting intelligence highlights the associated risk and opportunities for various agri-stakeholders, such as banks and NBFCs, insurance companies, commodity traders, sourcing managers and Government bodies too.  Website: com/

https://www.cropin.

 Industry: Computer Software  Company size: employees

51

 Headquarter: Karnataka

–

200

Bangalore,

 Type: Privately held  Established: 2010

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Changing Farming Trends in India

G

lobal farming industry is going through Trends in Agriculture Industry multiple changes and advancements which are benefitting to produce large amount of  Multilayer Farming food for the growing number of population. India Multilayer farming refers to growing different being one of the highest number of producer in vegetables on the same plot at a time. This helps multiple agriculture streams is also leading the charge smallholder farmers grow various seasonal vegetables of innovation. India is set to roll out its full potential and horticultural crops throughout the year while of agriculture produce soon. ensuring food and nutritional security for the household. Vulnerable families are provided with an Current market trends are driving the farming additional income from the sale of surplus produce. industry to produce food grains, vegetables, pulses, Vegetables and fruit crops grown employing organic fruits and milk in high amount of scale. Even and sustainable methods in the multilayer farms are Government of India is supporting our farmers in rich in vitamins, minerals, proteins and carbohydrates. multiple ways. Some state governments are helping farmers to grow the necessary crops at large scale by  Hydroponic Farming providing subsidies and market for selling.

Hydroponics is a type of hydro culture in which 40

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crops is much higher compared to productivity of plants are cultivated without soil using a water solvent food grains (12.49 tones/ha against 2.23 tones/ha.). containing mineral and fertilizer solutions. Terrestrial plants can be grown only with their roots, with the India has emerged as world leader in the production roots exposed to the nutritive liquid, or with the roots of a variety of fruits like mango, banana, guava, physically supported by a media such as gravel. papaya, sapota, pomegranate, Lime & aonla and is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables.

Plants also grow through a process known as Besides, India has maintained its dominance in the photosynthesis, in which plants use sunlight and production of spices, coconut and cashewnut. Among a substance found inside their leaves known as the new crops, kiwi, gherkins, kinnow, date palm chlorophyll to convert carbon dioxide and water into and oil palm have been successfully introduced for glucose and oxygen, as seen in reaction. commercial cultivation in the country.

Hydroponics, a water-saving method of growing pesticide-free produce on rooftops and terraces, is  Agriculture Export becoming popular among urban farmers. According to studies, India’s hydroponics market will develop During FY20 (till February 2020), India exported basmati rice worth US$ 3.88 billion, buffalo meat at a compound annual growth rate of 13.53 percent worth US$ 3.01 billion, non-basmati rice worth US$ between 2020 and 2027.

1.84 billion and other processed foods worth US$ 2.71 billion. During FY21 (till February 2021), India  Horticulture Farming exported basmati rice worth US$ 3.59 billion, non Indian horticulture sector contributes about 33% to basmati rice worth US$ 4.04 billion, and buffalo meat the agriculture Gross Value Added (GVA) making worth US$ 2.86 billion. very significant contribution to the Indian economy.

Apart from ensuring nutritional security of the nation, Indian agricultural/horticultural and processed foods are exported to more than 100 countries/regions, it provides alternate rural employment opportunities, chief among them being the Middle East, Southeast diversification in farm activities, and enhanced Asia, SAARC countries, the EU, and the US. income to farmers.

India is currently producing about 320.48 million tones of horticulture produce which has surpassed Disclaimer: This information has been collected through the food grain production, that too from much less secondary research and SwiftNLift is not responsible for area (25.66 million Ha. for horticulture against 127.6 any errors in the same.

M. ha. for food grains). Productivity of horticulture

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https://www.khetiwalo.com/

https://www.lht.com.sg/