Richer Harvests: Technology for far better farm yields

By Nitin Chaudhary

The agriculture business employs about 58% of the Indian population contributing drastically to the Indian economy at about 18% of the country’s GDP. The sector is hugely reliant on elements such as manpower, capital and rainfall, all of which pose a formidable challenge. As the nation appears to gear up for doubling farm revenue by 2022, the creation of connected agri worth chains is going to be an quick priority.

Digitalisation challenges faced by agri stakeholders
One of the essential challenges in creating agri worth chains digital is pushing the compact farmers to adapt to on line platforms. While the pandemic accelerated digitalisation in the agri sector, bringing all stakeholders on a unified platform remains a challenge. Even even though most farmers in the remotest components of India have mobile phones today, absence of technical and online literacy coupled with unreliable energy provide are constraints the sector requires to work about. Further, expense of services is also an concern due to the fact farm management technologies so far are only cost-effective for big-scale farmers. While compact farmers face the very same troubles as big farmers, they can’t afford to invest and hence stay left behind.

Connected agri worth chains
Agricultural worth chains incorporate the distribution of goods, experience and awareness in between smallholder farmers and consumers. They have an chance to obtain added worth at every single point of the output, marketing and advertising, and consumption approach. They help in making agri-entrepreneurs and catalysing the development of the ecosystem, thereby benefiting all stakeholders. Further, digitalising facilitates networking and a properly-connected and coordinated agri-worth chain by removing various middlemen and the lack of transparency. This also solves the ‘access’ and ‘visibility’ problems with respect to the marketplace and demand faced by farmer producer organisations (FPOs). Connecting members of the complete agri ecosystem and meals provide chain, as properly as continued engagement with farmers, leads to creation of various inputs and income streams for enterprises. By investing in the digital agriculture ecosystem, India can assistance marginal farmers by supplying them with a platform to voice their issues and have these addressed in actual-time.

What the future holds
In an work to bridge the digital divide in the agri sector, agritech startups are coming up with innovations. These firms are tapping into the evolving infrastructure in regional markets, by sharing valuable ideas and data with farmers by way of SMS or helplines in their regional languages. More not too long ago, Samunnati launched Agri Elevate, a very first of its type ecosystem platform and devoted search engine for agricultural services which assists FPOs and agri-enterprises comprehend how to boost their enterprises.

All these initiatives are aimed at assisting the agri sector grow to be independent and self-enough by functioning as a single, cohesive unit. Using digitalisation as a tool to create connected agri worth chains would need to have more efforts, creativity and sturdy alliances in between the Central and state governments, private players, farmers, as properly as development of a regulatory framework, to make certain that technologies stays cost-effective and out there. ‘Atmanirbhar Krishi’ is not just a word but a mantra to a vibrant future for India’s farmer neighborhood.

The writer is director, Samunnati Agro Solutions

Originally appeared on: TheSpuzz