Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Smart Agriculture in India
Smart Agriculture in India
Intelligent
Farms:
Opportunities, Obstacles and
Ideas for Smart Agriculture
in India
By
Strategic Investment Research Unit (SIRU)
Agriculture and allied sectors are the primary during the last century or so, have occurred hugely
source of livelihood for nearly 55 per cent of India’s at the expense of exhaustive and unobstructed
population (Census 2011) but accounted only for use of natural resources. While concern for the
approximately 17.8 per cent of the country’s Gross same was expressed much earlier, the
Value Added in 2019-20. The average size of farm technological advancements of the current
holdings in the country are just over one hectare, epoch, such as those entailed within smart
with small and marginal farmers holding nearly 86 agriculture possess the true potential to navigate
per cent of the total land holding. Small holders the agricultural domain on a path that is much
find it particularly difficult to invest in expensive less intrusive to the natural resources. These
technologies and other inputs that would improve technological advancements (like Precision
efficiency. Additionally, the existence of many Farming) are largely dependent on an integrated
intermediaries across the value chain, challenges system which is managed by software and driven
in access to credit and technology, limited sales by sensors at the backend. Furthermore, the
channels, and lack of digital infrastructure have continuous, rigorous, and robust monitoring and
inhibited agricultural potential. With agricultural surveillance capabilities exhibited by drones and
output being utilised as important input for various sensors largely surpass the once-in-a-while
industries, including retail and e-commerce, the superficial inspections carried out manually. This
importance of agriculture and improving yields enhancement is especially relevant to monitoring
becomes all the more urgent. These distinctive of farmlands the supervision of produce stored in
attributes of the agriculture sector in India have warehouses.
made it imperative to look towards policies that
improve yield, simplify value chain networks, This opportunity paper delves into the current
democratise digital infrastructure, and improve agriculture scenario in India by discussing the
access to credit and insurance. persisting challenges on the demand and supply
side of the AgriTech space. Being cognizant of the
An important solution lies in the rapid adoption of context within which the sector operates equips us
AgriTech, defined here as technologies and tools to then think about the future of AgriTech in India.
that improve yield, efficiency, and profitability by The report concludes by charting out a roadmap
leveraging Internet of Things (IoT), big data, for the incorporation of smart agriculture in India,
Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), emphasising the need for a multi-stakeholder
drones, and sensors in agricultural processes to effort towards achieving this goal. The roles of the
track, monitor, automate and analyse. Dubbed government, private entities, and startups are
broadly as ‘Smart Agriculture’, wherein emerging discussed, and the necessity of a synergistic
technologies are utilised to minimise the impact of relationship between these players, as well as the
the ‘unknown’ within agriculture. For instance, farmers themselves. The paper also highlights
weather, soil, and climatic conditions have certain potential solutions to the existing
historically been an important determinant of the challenges in the sector, to start this important
agricultural processes in India. Using predictive conversation, especially considering the novel
technologies to detect erratic weather, sensors to challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic brings.
map the specific type of climate and soil in an
area, and ML algorithms that determine the
appropriate crops based on this data, can
substantially improve the quality and quantity of
yield. The improvements in the domain of
agriculture over the recent years, especially
Table of Contents
SECTION
Defining Smart
01 Agriculture
1
2 Precision Farming
2 Crop Management and Monitoring
2 Agricultural Drones
3 Environmental Impact
3 Post-Harvest Crop Monitoring
SECTION
05 Demand-Side Constraints
05 Small Landholdings
06 Diverse Soil and Cropping Patterns
07 Digital Divide
07 Lack of Customization
08 Lack of Coordination Between Stakeholders
08 Supply-Side Constraints
08 Unreliable Data Sets
08 Investment Gaps
SECTION
Future Roadmap:
03 The Way Forward
10
Defining
Smart Agriculture
Smart agriculture is a means of farm management which involves the integration of various technolo-
gies in agricultural practices, with the aim of increasing the quality and quantity of agricultural products.
These goals resonate with those of the farmer, who also wishes to improve his yield and uses the
age-old, tried and tested means to do so. The change that smart agriculture brings is the technology to
achieve these goals with enhanced efficiency by reducing uncertainty and excessive human effort.
Smart Agriculture thus, brings a transformational methodology which intensifies the penetration of
technology into an erstwhile innovation deprived sector.
There are certain dynamic dimensions associated with the domain of smart agriculture which together
constitute the entirety of this concept.
01
Precision Farming effectively prevent any diseases or infestations that
might probably possess the potential to negatively
affect the yield.
'Precision’ in the term precision farming refers to the
provision of the exact number of inputs needed for the
production of a desired quantity and quality of crops.
The nature of implements used as inputs in the Agricultural Drones
agricultural processes are highly unique in their
availability, cost, and ease of use. The abundance of Drones are essentially one of the most robust
Defining Smart Agriculture
sunlight, contrasted with the low availability of water and agricultural-tech advancements due to their ability to
nutrients, indicates the need for careful regulation traverse a large area of land in a shorter span of time as
subject to the specific needs of each crop type. compared to the same being carried out manually. They
are also able to provide unobstructed photographs of the
Precision Farming relies on the data-driven decisions crops from above, which can be appropriately processed
generated with the assistance of various sensors. to detect pests and other anomalies that may impact
IoT-enabled sensors placed suitably (alongside the crop health.
crops for instance, or as the need may be) collect data
pertaining to lighting, temperature, soil condition Furthermore, apart from surveillance capabilities, drones
(nutrient levels), humidity, CO2 / O2 levels and pest also possess the ability to perform tasks that would
infections, among others. Various data processing otherwise require human effort, such as planting crops,
methodologies then follow, to predict and further combatting pests by spraying insecticides, crop
suggest corrective methods so that these essential monitoring, etc. As a consequence of possessing these
parameters can be kept within the desirable range. abilities, drones have proven to be an integral part of the
Smart Agriculture revolution. Moreover, the usage of
drones requires minimal network externalities to be put in
02
Environmental Impact
Various aspects of traditional agricultural consideration the varying climatic conditions which
methodologies consist of processes that have, over would otherwise have had a negative effect on
time, caused excessive damage to the environment. multiple different aspects of agriculture, thereby
As agriculture grows more intense than it has ever eventually affecting the yield. CSA relies on
been, even relatively smaller positive developments methodologies like sustainable intensification and
can be scaled up to have a great impact on the strengthening the resilience of the agricultural
Defining Smart Agriculture
Post-Harvest Crop
Monitoring
Management of crops after they have been seeds sowed during a particular season and then
produced is an equally important task, since calculating a rough estimate of how much yield is
oftentimes, the lack of proper storage conditions and expected. Furthermore, cameras that are either
appropriate prevention of pests leads to immense individually installed or are a component of robots
losses of good quality produce. As much as 50 to 60 are able to keep a check on rodents and other pests
per cent of cereal grains can be lost in the storage by raising an alarm whenever unidentified
phase simply due to technical inefficiency. movement is detected.
Smart agriculture provides a way around this by This aspect is usually not addressed appropriately in
predicting the amount of space and the temperature traditional agricultural settings in India and is a great
of storage that shall be needed for storage of crops incentive for smart agriculture to penetrate India.
cultivated. It does this on the basis of the number of
03
02 l India: Present Scenario and Challenges
India:
Present Scenario
and Challenges
Historically, Indian agriculture has faced the formidable challenge of producing more food to feed a
growing population, but it faces an even more difficult challenge today and for the future — to produce
more in a way that is sustainable. The agricultural sector as well as the economy it feeds is
characterised by a growing population, increasing demand for agricultural products, an enhanced
focus on doubling farmers’ income and intensifying aspirations of becoming an agricultural exporter.
What impedes the realisation of these dreams is the production environment being constrained by
systemic challenges which lead to diminishing resource efficiency and farm incomes. Fragmented
landholdings, lower yield compared to global benchmarks, uncertainties and risks involved in traditional
farming (e.g., instinct-based decision making) are some of the challenges faced by the agriculture
sector.
Given this context, there is a need to set the agenda for the next level of growth of the agricultural
sector, one that is underscored by its focus on precision agriculture and technological transformation.
While the benefits of leveraging IoT in agriculture are well known in terms of resource optimisation,
increased production and even increased accuracy in crop evaluations, there are significant
operational and infrastructural roadblocks to smart agriculture achieving scale in India.
While some of these constraints might have to do with the demand side of the AgriTech industry, that is
the end-users of agricultural technology - the farmers, still others pertain to the supply side — the
government and private players pioneering AgriTech in India. It is crucial to note that there is a
significant overlap between the two.
This paper first looks at certain structural challenges that lay within the field of production before
exploring the arena of investments in smart agriculture in India. To begin with, the Indian agriculture
industry is unorganised and unstructured, with the presence of multiple levels of intermediaries and
middlemen across the agriculture value chain. Thus, the agricultural supply chain remains highly
fragmented with small and marginal farmers as the primary providers of grain to the country. The
impacts of this can be analysed on multiple levels.
04
Demand-Side Constraints
India: Present Scenario and Challenges
Small Landholdings
In India, one of the biggest challenges in adopting institutional sources like banks carried low interest
smart agriculture techniques is the small field size. rates (mostly below 12 per cent per annum),
Since the first agriculture census over 45 years ago, compared to non-institutional sources like money-
the number of farms in India has more than doubled lenders or input dealers that were available for over
from 71 Mn in 1970-71 to 145 Mn in 2015-16, while the 20 per cent interest rate per annum. Though most
average farm size more than halved from 2.28 institutional loans were taken by farmers with below
hectares (ha) to 1.08h. Between 1970-71 and 2010-11, 15 per cent interest per annum, many small and
the number of farms increased by 194 per cent, tenant farmers were not able to get loans from
almost exactly in line with the rural population, institutional sources under unavoidable circum-
which increased by 189 per cent. As Ramesh Chand stances. Because farm returns often turned nega-
and others pointed out in a 2011, Economic and tive, taking recourse to loans at exorbitant interest
Political Weekly research paper, this relationship rates continued to push small and tenant farmers
reflects India’s inheritance pattern, which leads to into a debt trap.
farms divided between multiple heirs.
Among the major States, Andhra Pradesh had the
The Indian experience shows that small farmers are highest share of indebted agricultural households in
more productive than large farmers. Ramesh Chand the country (92.9 per cent) followed by Telangana
and others show that small farmers use more inputs (89.1 per cent) and Tamil Nadu (82.5 per cent). States
(such as fertilizers), use their land more intensively with higher per capita incomes like Kerala and
(planting more crops) and adopt more technology. Punjab had higher average loan outstanding per
Yet, despite this efficiency, farm incomes remain household. The level of indebtedness among the
poor. It is the poor returns to farming—despite agricultural households belonging to the lowest size
intensive efforts put in by farmers—that lie at the class of land possessed (i.e., possessing less than
root of India’s farm crisis. According to the Situation 0.01 hectares of land), which also included the
Assessment Survey of Agricultural Household 2013, landless agricultural households, has significance in
an average Indian farming household earns just INR the situation assessment of agricultural households
77,124 in a year, translating to INR 6,427 monthly, due to their lower level of income, increased
barely enough to cover the average monthly dependence on wage/salary employment as the
expenditure of INR 6,223. principal source of income, etc.
According to NSSO (2014), 52 per cent of the agricul- Economic factors and size of the land holdings are
tural households in rural India were indebted and interdependent. Farmers with large land holdings
the average amount of outstanding loan per are more willing to invest in and experiment with
agricultural household was estimated to be approxi- new technology. On the other hand, it is often not
mately INR 47,000. Furthermore, as per NABARD (2018) commercially viable for small farms to own new
data, 44 per cent of the farmers had taken loans in smart agriculture applications individually, since this
2015-16. Overall, institutional sources contributed to would not be cost-efficient.
60 per cent of outstanding loans in 2012-13 and 72
per cent in 2015-16. Both surveys revealed that the The structure of the farm economy is changing in
amount of outstanding loan and percentage of favour of large farmers who are reaping scale
indebted farmers increased with farm size owing to economies through farm mechanisation. Increasing
better access to institutional credit. farmers’ cash needs are not met through institution-
al credit sources. Informal credit sources pull small
Indebtedness to institutional sources has increased scale farmers into a high interest-bearing debt trap.
steeply with a corresponding increase in farm size,
indicating how important the quantum of land
possessed by a farmer is, for getting loans from
institutional sources. The outstanding loans from
05
Diverse Soil and Cropping Patterns
India: Present Scenario and Challenges
Given the extremely diverse soil types and depend on the overall size of the growing area.
corresponding cropping patterns across India, the There is not enough data for the farmers to refer to
farming requirements (quantity of water, exposure regarding the division of such zones, and a lack of
to sunlight, type of fertilizer etc.) vary greatly. It is awareness of the same adds to their reluctance in
therefore more challenging to develop geographical adopting smart agriculture techniques.
and crop-based customised AI technologies or
products. As an alternative, many farmers continue to follow
uniform fertilizer application and/or irrigation
Additionally, it is common for farmers to consider methods for the entire farm, leading to suboptimal
their entire fields as single farming units. That results. Typically, the production function is not the
approach is, however, far from being effective for same for all crops, differs in the various zones of a
the application and management of IoT in farm, and also changes over the crop/plant-growth
agriculture. Precision agriculture, for example, cycle. Unless the farmer is aware of this varying
requires farmers to divide their lands into several production function, there will always remain the
smaller ‘management zones’. The zones must be chance of application of inputs in incorrect amounts
divided with respect to the soil sampling (spraying too much of nitrogen fertilizer, for
requirements (different zones have varying soil example), resulting in crop damages.
qualities) and fertilizer requirements. The number of
zones on a field, and their respective sizes, should
06
Digital Divide
India: Present Scenario and Challenges
In many remote rural areas across the country, this change by emphasising on the need for training
strong, stable internet connectivity is still not programs which empower them with the knowledge
available. As on 31 March 2020, broadband of advanced techniques.
penetration in rural India stood at a meagre
average of 29.2 per cent, with states like Bihar, Uttar High illiteracy rate among farmers is a hindrance in
Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and West Bengal with the advent of smart agriculture in India. The lack of
even lower rates. Unless the network performances education and awareness regarding the technology
and bandwidth speeds are significantly improved, usage and benefits holds them back from adopting
implementation of digital farming will remain a advanced techniques in agriculture practices.
challenge. Since numerous agro-sensors and Various initiatives taken by public and private sector
gateways depend on cloud services for data towards ICT adaptability in agriculture have not
transmission and storage, cloud-based computing generated the desired results in terms of awareness,
also needs to become stronger. Another pressing and adoption of the same. They have, however,
issue is the lack of network connectivity in farmlands proved beneficial in improving productivity,
that have tall, dense trees and/or hilly terrains, which reducing cost, and fetching higher returns. A study
in turn hampers the reception of GPS signals. on the application of remote sensing and GIS,
Majority of the small-holder farmers have a negative conducted by Sahoo reveals that, in general, Indian
attitude towards adoption of CSA and other related farmers face difficulties in understanding the
new technologies as opposed to their traditional following technical aspects of precision farming:
agriculture methods. They need to be sensitised to
Lack of Customisation
To ensure effective dissemination of smart demographic-related needs in India, it won’t be
agricultural technologies, it is important to used. This lack of customisation results in their
consider the adaptability and accessibility of inadequate rate of adoption and
such technology. The technology needs to be dissemination. It is already very difficult for new
analysed from a socio-cultural standpoint. An age technologies to reach farmers due to lack
innovation can be groundbreaking in and of of connectivity, in addition to the fact that
itself, but unless it is localised to meet farmers lack trust in technology, resulting in a
geographical, socio-cultural and low adoption rate.
07
Lack of Coordination
India: Present Scenario and Challenges
Between Stakeholders
The agricultural landscape today comprises reach the farmer at the same time. This could
not just the farmer, the aggregator, the confuse the farmers and prevent them from
wholesaler, and the retailer, but also includes taking the right decision at the right time.
the meteorological department, ministries and AgriTech startups should harness their true
state agricultural universities. While this means potential in digital farming through
that advisories can reach the farmer through collaborations and partnerships with
multiple channels, it might also mean that, due agricultural universities, or through public
to low levels of collaboration, different private partnerships.
advisories for the same geographic area might
Supply-Side Constraints
Unreliable Data Sets
In order to provide accurate predictive analysis, any around 80 portals, and state departments and
AI-based model relies on several input data points universities operate around 800 portals. The data
such as topography, soil, weather, seed types, required to provide farmers with accurate
cropping practices, diseases and pest patterns. The predictions as well as financial services might often
access to this data remains fraught with tension. be highly fragmented. What is more is that with the
Often, such data is not available publicly and held by advent of smart agriculture, more data might be
disparate entities. Furthermore, data including farm stored with drones and other monitoring devices or
output, which is collected manually and not by using apps, leading to further splintering of data making it
scientific methodologies, is often unreliable for difficult to undertake efficient private initiatives as
important decision-making. well as policy actions.
08
Investment Gaps
India: Present Scenario and Challenges
The share of agriculture in India’s GDP has reached variety of crops ranging from pulses to cotton.
almost 20 per cent for the first time in the last 17 Multiple factors such as the size and significance of
years, making it the sole bright spot in GDP perfor- the agriculture industry, its contribution to the
mance during 2020-21, according to the Economic country’s economy, and the robustness of the digital
Survey 2020-2021. Investment in any sector is the key ecosystem define the AgriTech maturity of a
to its growth. Given the limited fiscal space, the country.
Indian government has been promoting private
investments, however the share of private invest- There are more than 500 AgriTech startups in India
ments has shrunk as share of gross capital forma- that are trying to solve multi-dimensional problems
tion has fallen, from 8 per cent in FY12 to 6.5 per cent prevalent in Indian agriculture including low
in FY19, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and productivity, sub-optimal efficiency in the supply
Farmers welfare report. chain, lack of access to markets, institutional credit,
crop insurance, quality inputs and market linkages.
The official data shows that between FY12 and FY17, Of these, diversified solution providers will be able to
the period for which comparative data are avail- maximise impact, acting as a one stop solution to
able, public investment remained static at 0.3-0.4 farmers by consolidating startups across different
per cent of GDP (at 2011-12 base, market price). segments. The use of nano-technology for the
Private investment fell from 2.7 per cent to 1.8 per enhancement of food quality and also safety
cent, dragging the overall investment from 3.1 per through efficient use of inputs is near in the future.
cent of the GDP to 2.2 per cent (according to the Along with this, the new technologies in agriculture,
Agricultural Statistics, 2017). private investments especially on research and
development, government efforts to rejuvenate the
However, India’s AgriTech market has a significant cooperative movement to address the problems of
runway for growth given the nascency of digital small holdings and small produce etc. are changing
solutions coupled with the large base of our agricul- the face of agriculture in India.
tural sector. The country is blessed with large arable
land which has 15 agro-climatic zones — almost all
types of weather conditions suitable for growing a
09
03 | Future Roadmap: The Way Forward
Future Roadmap:
The Way Forward
As per the Draft Agriculture Export Policy, 2018, the Government of India (GoI) is aiming to increase
India’s agricultural export valuation to USD 60 Bn by 2022. Precision agriculture and technology
interventions can play a transformative role in improving the export supply chains and thus
helping achieve Indian agriculture's true growth potential.
With the rapid penetration of the internet and smartphones which are 5G-enabled, India is well
placed to develop an ecosystem conducive to the adoption of AI and related technologies in
agriculture. This must be complemented with strong policy support as well as coordinated
response from agri startups, agri value chain players, tech corporations and the Government to
boost the last mile reach of existing and future technologies. We expect the AgriTech sector in
India, still in its nascent stages, to respond to the roadblocks it faces in conjunction with the
government. This is an important stride to take as it would strengthen the functioning of farming
practices and help boost exposure to the outside world.
The overall AI in agriculture market is projected to grow from an estimated USD 1 Bn in 2020 to USD
4 Bn by 2026, at a CAGR of 25.5 per cent between 2020 and 2026. The market growth will be led by
the increasing implementation of data generation through sensors and aerial images for crops,
and government support for the adoption of digital agricultural techniques. stage. Presently, the
market size of AgriTech, including AI-based agricultural startups in India is estimated to be USD
204 Mn. Indian AgriTech market potential is estimated at USD 24 Bn whilst the current market
penetration is only about 1 per cent, according to EY.
This wave of digitisation tries to address structural challenges, like diverse cropping patterns and
climatic conditions by enabling instant access to information for the farmer. Digitisation makes
data management easier and shortens the length of communication paths a farmer undergoes
to procure loans, identify the health of crops and ascertain the most viable crops for their land. To
improve the efficiency of distribution of digital agricultural products as well as their reach, all
stakeholders must collaborate with each other. Such a cohesive system will ease access to
information for farmers at affordable prices.
10
Research & Development in
Future Roadmap: The Way Forward
Smart Agriculture
A focus on research and development for technologi-
cal innovations is essential for AgriTech development.
Consequently, a major push is required from the
government in encouraging research efforts specifi-
cally in the field of agriculture. Identifying this gap,
several policy initiatives by GoI have promoted
investments and startups in India’s agricultural
economy. Aspire was launched by the GoI in 2017 with
the view to set up a network of technology and
incubation centres, and to promote startups for
innovation and entrepreneurship in rural and agricul-
ture-based industries. Platforms like Startup India have
tremendously increased the ease with which AgriTech
startups can access incubators, mentors and inves-
tors. The Venture Capital Finance Assistance (VCA)
Scheme specialises in assisting farmers and agribusi-
nesses through interest free loans provided by SFAC to
qualifying projects to meet shortfall in the capital
requirement for implementation of the project.
Contribution of Academia
Strengthening the links between private players rely on university researchers for product innova-
and state agricultural universities will create an tions and faculty gain prestige through increased
effective support system. While firms can use this external research funds. Such public private
as an opportunity to identify and train future linkages would not only provide easy access to
employees, they can also benefit from firsthand information for farmers but would also enable the
access to the expertise of professors and spread of information at affordable prices to
researchers in the world of academia. This farmers.
collaboration is thus mutually beneficial, as firms
11
Future Roadmap: The Way Forward
Inter-continental Collaboration
Another way to close the innovation chasm that While access to research efforts internationally
exists in AgriTech is by employing international enables AgriTech firms in India to customise those
collaborations to drive technological progress. technologies for the Indian landscape, this cannot
India and Brazil recently agreed on a Joint Plan of be done without access to data on Indian farming.
Action promoting information exchange between Indian Startups like Stellapps incentivise the youth
the two countries. The pacts signed under the plan from villages to gather information and train them
focused on cooperation in the realms of agricul- to help the farmers in gathering the required data
tural technologies and expertise. Brazil has also to enable the accurate functioning of the App,
partnered with China and several African nations using IoT and AI.
to help drive growth in the AgriTech segment,
while focusing on developing its own capabilities
in agricultural research and models such as green
agriculture and marketplace models. This is
certainly something that can be replicated by
India.
Aggregating Data
As mentioned earlier, at present the Ministry of 12-month project funded by the European Space
Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW), GoI, Agency, Sentinels for Sustainable Pasture Manage-
maintains around 80 portals, and state departments ment (SenSPa), that aims to demonstrate the use of
and universities operate around 800 portals. Since observation data of our planet and develop an
the required data may often be fragmented, it is inventive application for sustainable pasture
imperative that these multiple data points or portals management. SenSPa will cater to the needs of
are aggregated into a single integrated agriculture governmental and local authorities, public and
platform. To benefit from the true potential of private stakeholders, and farmers for efficient
precision agriculture, multiple actors who have monitoring and sustainable pasture management.
hitherto collected and provided information A good step towards leveraging technologies such
individually need to be brought together to consoli- as ML and AI would be to aggregate data on a
date agricultural data. Data from new and upcom- unified platform.
ing avenues such as drones, satellites and digital
payment should be included in this effort to build an
integrated platform for it to truly be an all-encom-
passing solution for all information on agriculture in
India.
12
Extensive Value Provision
Future Roadmap: The Way Forward
to the Farmers
This research will be incomplete if we don’t EM3 Agriservices and Trringo have already started
consider the adoption of existing technologies in extending their services in provisioning of renting
the first place. Due to both limited financial models in some states of India in either providing
resources and fragmented landholdings outright facilities to rent these products or share them.
purchase of equipment such as drones and even However, given the spread of agriculture in India,
tractors don’t seem prudent for a lot of farmers. there is scope for either Public Private Partnerships
Responding to this mismatch some startups like or government support in several states of India.
13
Networking and the Role of
Future Roadmap: The Way Forward
14
The Way Forward
Future Roadmap: The Way Forward
On a broader level it may be possible to see the and also uses trains and planes to move inventory.
emergence of end-to-end AgriTech firms or Through its website it delivers vegetables, fish and
startups. As illustrated above, presently much of the poultry in most cities in India.
data is being collected in a fragmented manner- a
piece of the puzzle is with the monitoring apps, a few The future of smart agriculture is promising in India
pieces with the fintech apps and a huge chunk of it as digitisation is here to stay. It has increased
with the banking system or the government. This accountability using a data centered approach and
might make it challenging for the startups to work this is bound to pick up in the pandemic, as most of
with in the long run. Diversification might entail the world shifted online. Digitisation of most indus-
leveraging economies of scale by aiming to service tries was exacerbated by the pandemic. This has
a larger part of the agricultural supply chain transformed the supply chain; most notably remote
produce. Players could rely on data collected across monitoring is possible now as the data can be used
all the stages of the supply chain to also offer to find the best procurement points with the use of
financial services to farmers. machine learning optimisation. Digitisation has
enabled the collection of vast amounts of data from
Alternatively, the vertical integration might also various parts of the country making inputs about
extend to e-commerce with the emergence of quality and quantity of production, and usage over
‘farm-to-fork’ models. This trend is already visible in various demographics available. More emphasis
the growth of firms like ‘Fresh to Home’ which should be placed on procuring such technologies
provides farmers and fishermen with an app for and making them digitally accessible to the farmers
commodity exchange. The farmers then bid with the in the easiest way possible to ensure the best results
firms electronically using the app. It also helps guide across the country. This paves a way for future
fishermen on how to use the latest technology. By candidates entering the AgriTech sector as well as
dealing directly with the producer, the startup is serves the current players.
eliminating as many as half a dozen middlemen to
cut costs. It has built its own supply chain network
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dband%20penetration%20in%20rural%20India,as%20on%2031%20March%202020.&text=While%20the%20Narendra
%20Modi%2Dled,have%20access%20to%20the%20internet.
ix. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d8a7/68c720c2dc01030a4ee654558d9240465d89.pdf
x. https://eands.dacnet.nic.in/PDF/At%20a%20Glance%202019%20Eng.pdf
xi. https://assets.ey.com/content/dam/ey-sites/ey-com/en_in/top-
ics/start-ups/2020/09/ey-agritech-towards-transforming-indian-agriculture.pdf?
xii. https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/ai-in-agri-
culture-market-159957009.html#:~:text=The%20overall%20AI%20in%20agriculture,25.5%25%20between%202020%
20and%202026.
15
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