The advent of technology into the agricultural space is one of those developments that can be easily overlooked. In a world where the innovation conversation is being dominated by SaaS, fintech and every other kind of “tech”, it seems that agri-tech lacks the shine that attracts everyone’s attention.

In India, agriculture employs just under 50% of the population, contributing to 17% of the country’s GDP. 70% of the country’s farm depend on rainwater, while adoption of modern agricultural technologies can prove extremely expensive for the Indian farmer, given the case of small land holdings.

In addition, supply chain inefficiencies result in the annual loss of US$ 14B worth of food produce while Indian farmer takes home only 30% of the marketplace price of their produce, far below the international take-home of 70%.

The economic hardship faced by the Indian farmer reached such a tipping point that government announced their intention to double farmer income by 2022. But how?

Enter the agri-tech entrepreneur. Shifting away from the urban-centric businesses, founders are driving the use of technology to enhance crop yield, transform the supply chain, boost access to farming equipment and provide fair prices directly to farmers without middlemen.

The Government of India has also launched a range of initiatives, including allocating close to US$ 3B to develop retail infrastructure in agriculture marketing. Other initiatives include AGRI UDAAN, Indigram Labs and the CIIE to support start-ups operating in the agri-tech space.

Investors, too, have begun to take note. NASSCOM in June 2018, estimated that India accounts for 10% of global investment in agri-tech. YourStory Research found that 13 agri-tech start-ups raised close to US$ 65.6M in 2018, up 21% from 2017.

Agri-tech in India largely falls into two categories: Pre-Harvest and Post-Harvest. There are several start-ups operating in both verticals, offering services ranging from crop and soil nutrients, agricultural equipment for rent to even soil and topography mapping using drones. Simultaneously, there are platforms providing supply chain solutions and marketplace alternatives for farmers to improve produce distribution.

Given the size of the Indian farming populace, combined with the different soil types and climates as well as access to capital, the sheer potential of agri-tech in India is staggering. It is estimated that out of 100 million farmers in the country, agri-tech start-ups are currently only working with 30 million.

Below are a few Indian agri-tech companies that redefining Indian agricultural methods while ensuring that everyone, especially the farmer, benefit from emerging technologies and sustainable solutions.

AgroStar, an agricultural commerce start-up selling inputs directly to farmers, is currently operating in over 25,000 villages across the country.

Ninjacart, a sale and delivery platform for agricultural produce, works with 3,000 farmers across a few states in South India – delivering produce to 4,000 retailers within 12 hours of pickup.

CroFram, another agri-marketplace, works with 10,000 farmers across North India – moving 400 tonnes of produce a month.  

EM3 Agri, offering pay per use farm service ranging from land development and preparation to crop care and harvesting management, claimed to have worked with 8,000 farmers across India in 2017.

Impeccable Innovation has developed a “nano nutrient” that enhance crop yields by 15-30% while saving farmers input costs of about 30%.

Occipital Tech uses an AI interface to grade and sort fruits and vegetables based on specific characteristics. The team claims 98% accuracy reducing time taken by 80%, compared to the manual process.

FASAL is an AI powered IoT platform, collecting data on critical agricultural parameters that is analyzed and provides farmers with the ability to make data driven decisions to create ideal growth conditions.