Agriculture is more of a ‘way of life’ in India than a ‘mode of life’. Agriculture, which is regarded as the country’s soul, employs more than half of the population, making it the single largest source of employment. Although agriculture accounts for 17% of GDP, it is still a highly unorganized sector plagued by a host of problems. The lack of modern machinery, technology, as well as the void in current supply chain management have been major problems in this industry. As a result of the deteriorating situation, there is an urgent need to take decisive action.
Several start-ups have emerged with revolutionary ideas to revolutionize the industry.
A few examples of such start-ups are discussed below-
BharatRohan – Is living up to its tagline of “empowering contact between farms and farmers” by using its sophisticated remote sensing tool called ‘Hyperspectral Imaging’, which detects the minute colour changes caused by pest attacks, disease outbreaks, and nutrient deficiencies, as well as identify the critical crop zones. It makes techniques like precision agriculture, integrated pest management, and contract farming– real, sustainable, and viable.
AgNext– With an “MRI-like scanner” that analyses the consistency of the foods in just 30 seconds, this start-up aims to revolutionize the quality testing of foods and commodities. Since quality is one of the most difficult issues in the Indian farm-to-fork food chain, with the help of AgNext technology they are trying to ensure trust and quality to end consumers.
Traders, processors, warehouses, and farm gate procurers can make the most use out of it.
UGAOO– They aims to bridge the gap of cultivation in the urban areas. Ugaoo is a platform that is offering a broad range of gardening and agricultural supplies such as kitchen garden seeds, commercial hybrid seeds, insecticides, pesticides, organic fertilizers, and a wide variety of multilingual books on various topics like gardening, agriculture, and allied activities.
The uniqueness is that they provide customized plants based on decor style, location, and a variety of other factors, as well as handholding their clients.
KISANWALA – The missing piece in Agri E-commerce, is an E-marketplace connecting the farmers, retailers, and companies. Kisanwala is providing finance for inputs, advisory, weather forecast, and building a community where farmers can help each other and grow together.
Agri 10X– Agri10X is the world’s first Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain-enabled global e-marketplace that is connecting farmers with traders. Agri10x offers 360-degree agricultural solutions, ranging from pre-harvest to post-harvest. As a result of this, farmers can sell their produce at high prices.
So, agriculture which is considered as a field of unlimited possibilities, there is a need to have innovation combined with tradition in practical aspects. It is the need of an hour that our farmers should shift their focus towards the innovative Agri-tech ecosystem and try to grow with mutual benefits in a sustainable way.
