The Indian agricultural sector has been the backbone of the Indian economy for many years after independence. While globalization has transformed the country into a much more industry centred economy, the fact that the agriculture domain of the country still commands a respectable position in India is true. Even though, over the last couple of decades, the farming community of the country has been lagging behind in terms of modernizing their agricultural operations and marketing strategies.
The lack of knowledge regarding the best technologies and techniques that can be incorporated in farming has had a massive adverse impact on the performance of the Indian agriculture sector. In the past few years agritech, communities of the country are working towards the development of the agriculture sector and are empowering agriculture space with the technological advancement of this technical improvement in the farming community is leading towards the change in the face of the Agriculture sector.
Here is the list of top 5 Agritech startups of 2020 in India that are uplifting the agriculture sector:
Agribazaar:
Founded in 2016, Mumbai-based AgriBazaar is an online platform that helps connect farmers, traders, banks, enterprises and governments. Modelled on the traditional Mandi system, the startup provides a digital platform for small farmers and merchants to directly sell and buy farm produce without the involvement of middlemen. In this case, the farmers receive payment directly in their bank accounts via e-wallet AgriPay. Apart from connecting the sellers and buyers, AgriBazaar also provides last-mile logistics support. Agribazaar uses AL and ML to offer services such as crop advisory and credit-on-click. Looking forward, AgriBazaar aims at mapping and tagging every farm and ‘becoming the Google Maps of Indian agri-sector.
Otipy:
Otipy, a social commerce venture by Crofarm launched in February 2020 by Mr. Varun Khurana sources fresh fruits and vegetables from farmers across Haryana, UP, Delhi, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. This makes the platform India’s first social commerce model that connects end consumers to farmers through a community of resellers and gives them the opportunity to earn a healthy commission while handling the last-mile delivery of fresh produce.
The idea behind this platform is to build a scalable, demand-driven and tech-enabled supply chain for fresh produce operating at 35% gross margin. In this process, Otipy aims to help three key stakeholders – farmers, resellers and consumers.
DeHaat:
End-to-end agricultural solutions provider DeHaat is an agritech platform founded in 2012. DeHaat provides a marketplace for farmers to sell produce to large institutional buyers directly without the intervention of middlemen or commissioning agents. The company also provides last-mile connectivity for easy logistics and storage services. Reportedly, DeHaat has assisted farmers on its clientele to achieve a 20 per cent increase in the gate prices. Along with presenting a sellers market, DeHaat uses data science and machine learning technologies to improve production efficiency. Some of its other services include giving farmers expert insights and advisory on choosing the correct crop, soil health, suitable fertilisers and pesticides to be used, the time for harvesting the produce, and more.
Boheco:
Bombay Hemp Company was incorporated in 2013. It is an Agro-based company reimagining the future of Indian agriculture and sustainable living with hemp as their lens. This agritech company harnesses the power of agriculture by advocating Industrial Hemp and its benefits to society. They assist local farmers in cultivating the crop by providing optimum seeds, best practices in cultivation techniques, and innovating Agro-products.
KrishiHub:
KrishiHub was founded in 2016 with an aim to empower farmers through technology, design, and data science. Driven by demand, KrishiHub procures fresh vegetables directly from farmers and delivers them to businesses such as restaurants, canteens, and hostels. The startup uses an AI-powered supply chain to undertake farm-to-doorstep delivery. Use of proprietary algorithms for determining the best route for delivery agents has helped the organisation ensure delivery within 12 hours. Reportedly, KrishiHub has helped farmers reduce their vegetable wastage by up to 25 per cent.
