Agriculture is the primary source of income for more than half of the population. However, in India, the use of technology in the agricultural sector has been limited. With significant advancements in technology, digitization, and startup culture, many new players are entering the Indian startup ecosystem. Farmers in India are getting benefit from Agri entrepreneurs that assist them with information, methodologies, and efficiencies.
Agritech is reshaping the agricultural economy in a tech-driven, more progressive direction. Traditional and digital markets are giving way to highly participatory and inventive online marketplaces, resulting in a new paradigm shift.
Here are some of the agritech startups that are uplifting farmers digitally
Agribazaar
Agribazaar is a new-age digital (electronic) e-mandi for small-farm owners (farmers) and merchants & buyers where they can buy and sell agri-produce directly at mutually transparent and best price mechanisms without the involvement of middlemen. Founded in 2016, the idea behind AgriBazaar is to deliver tech-enabled future-ready solutions to the farming community in a frictionless manner and revolutionize the way post-harvest management services are processed across the country. It is this vision that empowered AgriBazaar to facilitate INR 9000 crore (GMV) worth of transactions since its inception, making it one of India’s largest online agri-trading marketplace.
Faarms
Faarms solution for farmers providing a complete spectrum of products and services that include seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, animal feed and more, with products delivered right at their doorstep. This startup has been delivering seeds, farming equipment, fertilisers, pesticides and animal feed to 8 lakh farmers across more than 20,000 villages in India. Similarly, the Faarms team has made sure that farmers growing wheat or paddy in Rudrapur, Uttarakhand or in Bathinda, Punjab, gets the best variety of seed well in advance to plan their sowing on time.
Humus
Provider of agriculture supply chain services intended to provide reliable and cost-effective logistics. The company’s services include connecting the stages of production, procurement, processing and marketing of fresh produce, enabling farmers and consumers to minimize everyday wastage of quality produce. Humus directly sources fresh produce from farmers and that it focuses on aspects such as crop inputs and accurate procurement of end products for retailers in Tier-II and Tier-III cities.
Krishify
Krishify is an agritech startup focused on creating India’s first digital marketplace of farm input products on top of a farmers’ community network which has over a million farmers.
The company has taken a unique approach of building a digital community that many farmers also refer to as “Facebook for Indian farmers”. Through the Krishify community, farmers can not only discuss their cropping issues with peers from a similar background and interest, but can also ask questions or anything related to agriculture from a pool of experts, from battling crop disease or pest attack in their crop to best practices for growing contemporary crops. Krishify uses on the fly machine learning algorithms to offer a personalized experience on their app.