5 Innovations That Are Changing India's Agri Business

India has always prided itself for being an agriculture-based economy. It was estimated at about $276.37 billion in FY20. The agri export from India is likely to reach the target of US$ 60 billion by the year 2022. Unfortunately, India's agri business is plagued with a lot of issues, affecting farmers directly. These ranges from the presence of middleman to inefficiencies in supply chain to wastage of food. The good news is that in the last few years, a lot of enterprising entrepreneurs in the field have come forward and brought innovations. Entrepreneur India speaks with some of the more prominent names in the agritech startup ecosystems to understand the innovations they brought in at what stages and how these innovations are impacting the Indi an agri business as a whole.

- Akshit Pushkarna

1. FIXING LAST MILE DELIVERY ISSUE

KARTHEESWARAN KANDASAMY, CO-FOUNDER & COO, NINJACART

Fresh produce sold in the market has a very short shelf life. The farmer must harvest and transport the item to the mandi before calculating the price and demand, which otherwise results in massive losses because they are unaware of market conditions. Founded in 2015, initially on a B2C business model, Ninjacart solved this problem with their Farmer Harvest Calendar.

The latter provides farmers with a week's notice of what is expected of them, substantially reducing wastage. "Farmers deliver fresh food to the Collection Centre, where it is weighed, batched, and distributed to our Fulfilment Centres (FC) and Distribution Centres (DC) across the city. Our algorithms then create an optimal route plan for drivers to follow in order to arrive at their destinations with clearly defined points, as well as a dispatch timetable and arrival slots," says Kartheeswaran Kandasamy, Co-Founder & COO, Ninjacart.

2. HELPING FARMERS TAKE FARM DECISIONS EASILY

ASHISH MISHRA, FOUNDER AND CEO, KRISHI NETWORK

Farming is an extremely technical business and farmers have to make super critical decisions throughout the life cycle of a crop. About 90 percent of farmers in India face an inherent challenge of lack of proper understanding of the tech and chemicals that are deployed in their business to best optimise their yield. They usually rely on nearby merchants for advises and guidance on what product to use or what technology to use. However, these people are generally biased in their recommendations, as they generally only suggest products which give them the maximum margins. Hence, these products may not be exactly aligned with the vision that the farmers might have with their yield.