2022

Agritech in India

BISinfotech Research
Team(BRT)
11/14/2022
Contents
1. Economic impact of India’s agricultural sector ................................................................................... 2
Fragmented and unorganised agribusiness in India ................................................................. 2
2. How Agritech boosts India’s agricultural sector’s productivity and efficiency? ............................. 3
Business models in India’s agritech sector-................................................................................ 3
3. Agricultural Challenges .......................................................................................................................... 4
Land Management .......................................................................................................................... 4
Climate Change .............................................................................................................................. 4
Resource Depletion ........................................................................................................................ 4
Increasing Carbon Footprint .......................................................................................................... 4
Biodiversity ....................................................................................................................................... 5
4. How Agritech Solves the Agricultural Challenges of India? ............................................................. 5
Smart Farming ................................................................................................................................. 5
Drones & Satellite – Scanning & Surveillance ........................................................................... 5
IoT-based Sensors ......................................................................................................................... 6
Big-data & Blockchain in Agricultural Logistics .......................................................................... 6
Biotech .............................................................................................................................................. 7
Farm Maintenance Technology- ................................................................................................... 7
Production and Transportation Services ..................................................................................... 7
5. Growing segments within agritech in India ......................................................................................... 8
6. Future of Agritech ................................................................................................................................... 9

List of Figures
Figure 1-Agricultural Challenges........................................................................................................................ 4
Figure 2-Smart Farming Techniques in India ..................................................................................................... 5
Figure 3-Benefits of IoT in Agriculture............................................................................................................... 6
Figure 4-Growing Segments within Agritech in India ........................................................................................ 8

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The phrase “Agritech” or “Agricultural technology” refers to the application of technical
advancements in agriculture to boost productivity, efficiency, and profitability.
This involves harvesting, crop modification to grow well in various conditions, and speedier
planting, all made possible by technology. To address the issues that the agriculture sector
is facing, it may also involve the use of robotics, big data, AI, or other techniques.

1. Economic impact of India’s agricultural sector

The farming (crops and horticulture), forestry, livestock (milk, eggs, meat), and fisheries
industries make up the bulk of the Indian agricultural industry. It produces 11.9 percent of
the $3,320.4 billion in worldwide agriculture gross value added (GVA), which is second only
to China, and accounts for 12 percent of India’s exports. The sector also affects the
dynamics of consumption and production in non-agricultural sectors like consumer goods,
retail, chemicals, and e-commerce.
The agriculture industry is crucial to India’s economic output and potential for growth due to
economic interconnections. It’s another reason why the industry desperately needs change.
Below comparison table shows the the challenges between two sectors in agritech sector.

• Fragmented and unorganised agribusiness in India

The complete value chain, including the supply of agricultural inputs, the production and
transformation of agricultural products, and their distribution to final customers, is covered
by the agribusiness ecosystem. Due to factors including rapid urbanisation, diet
diversification, shifting consumer preferences, and the growth of the food markets, this
ecosystem has further grown to include categories like e-commerce and hyperlocal.
Although there are numerous tiers of middlemen and intermediaries present throughout the
agriculture value chain, it remains mainly disorganised and fragmented. While 86% of India’s
small and marginal farmers continue to be the country’s main producers of food and nutrition,
they continue to face challenges like having extremely small landholdings of less than two
hectares and having limited access to technology, inputs, capital, credit, and markets,
among other things.
Agritech innovation can address these issues, which historically have prevented the industry
from reaching its full potential. These issues include a lack of infrastructure, inefficient supply
chains, and poor digital adoption.

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2. How Agritech boosts India’s agricultural sector’s
productivity and efficiency?
Agritech is generally used to describe an ecosystem of businesses and startup ventures that
are leveraging technological improvements to offer goods or services for boosting
production, and efficiency - both in terms of time and cost and profitability for farmers across
the agriculture value chain. The various segments within the agritech sector, which support
the overall value chain are:
• Market linkage – farm inputs: Farmers can get inputs through physical infrastructure
and a digital marketplace.
• Biotech: Study of the biology and genetics of plants and animals.
• Farming as a service: Pay-per-use farm equipment rentals.
• Mechanization and automation in agriculture: Industrial automation that uses
equipment, tools, and robots for planting, handling raw materials, harvesting, etc.
• Precision agriculture and farm management: Improved productivity through the use
of geospatial or weather data, IoT, sensors, robotics, etc.; farm management systems
for resource and field management, etc.
• Farm infrastructure: Agricultural technologies, including drip irrigation, indoor-outdoor
farming, greenhouse systems, and environmental controls like heating and ventilation,
etc.
• Quality management and traceability: Handling of post-harvest products, investigation
of its quality, production tracking, and storage and transportation traceability.
• Supply chain tech and output market linkage: Digital platform and physical
infrastructure to handle post-harvest supply chain and connect farm output with the
customers.
• Financial services: Facilities for purchasing inputs, equipment, etc., as well as crop
insurance or reinsurance.
• Advisory/ Content: Information platforms online for agronomic, pricing, market
information.

• Business models in India’s agritech sector-

The following categories can be used to group business models in the agritech industry:
• Sections like “market linkage”: This paradigm governs how farm inputs, supply chain
technology, and output market linkage operate. The agritech operator makes money by
establishing market links on the input or output side of the market and delivering on its
promises.
• Subscription-based model: Agritech companies that work in fields like precision
farming, farm management, quality control, and traceability provide a mix of hardware,
software, and services-based solutions all year long and charge their clients on a monthly
or annual subscription basis.

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• Transaction-based model: Based on the number of loans or insurance policies
provided, agritech enterprises operating in the financial services sector adhere to this
strategy

3. Agricultural Challenges
The agriculture sector faces numerous difficulties, the majority of which have a sizable
impact on the planet's future. These consist of:

Figure 1-Agricultural Challenges

• Land Management
Artificial fertilisers, herbicides, and insecticides have a significant negative impact on soil
fertility in agriculture. This causes the soil to deteriorate in quality and slow development,
both of which require additional fertiliser, pesticides, and insecticides to correct. Additionally,
the use of synthetics contaminates the neighbouring water supplies.

• Climate Change
As a result of the aggressive reclamation of land from forests required for intensive
agriculture, the amount of forest cover is reduced while greenhouse gas production rises,
causing climate change and an increase in temperature. The global growth and harvesting
of plants and crops are also impacted by the change in climate and temperature, in addition
to how it affects us.

• Resource Depletion
Many pieces of equipment used in agriculture need additional resources to build and operate,
such as metal for the parts and petroleum for the fuel. Instead of assisting in reducing
environmental harm, this ultimately adds up to be a bigger cause of it.

• Increasing Carbon Footprint

Agricultural trash and byproducts are abundant. Consider organic farming, which is
supposed to benefit the ecology and produce healthier plants. However, because it requires
more area than conventional farming practises, it contributes to the phenomenon of rising
temperatures and climate change. As a result, farmers all over the world are obliged to either
become more efficient or stick to old-fashioned farming practises that are ultimately bad for
the environment.
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• Biodiversity
In order to feed the expanding population, agricultural production is increased as a result of
population growth. In turn, this causes non-agricultural lands, including forests, to be turned
into agricultural land. Reclaiming forest land results in a decrease in the biodiversity of that
area, which has an impact on the flora and fauna.

4. How Agritech Solves the Agricultural Challenges of

India?
There are many agritech use cases, all of which involve applying technologies and
applications to address problems in agriculture. Several significant agritech use cases
consist of:

• Smart Farming
Smart farming is a farming technique that is based on prior analysis and research to increase
the productivity and efficiency of farms and fields. Here are some techniques for creating a
smart farm ecosystem:

Figure 2-Smart Farming Techniques in India

• Drones & Satellite – Scanning & Surveillance

In order to measure, monitor, and develop topographical maps, drones and satellites assist
in scanning the fields and crops. In addition, drones can be used for a variety of other things,
including
• Fighting crop diseases- UAVs evaluate crops for disease with hi res photos, giving
farmers critical information to improve efficiency.
• Fertilizer- Apps for UAVs measure nitrogen deficiencies and yield potential, and use the
right amount of fertilizer.
• Food security-Drones help maximize the yield of farms, boosting production for a rapidly
growing world population.
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• Herbicide- UAVs spray individual weeds, rather than needing to cover the entire crop in
herbicide.
• Insecticide- Software helps UAs to target individual insect infestations and eradicate
them.
• Nir sensors- Near-infrared (NIR) sensors can determine plant health based on light
absorption.
• Thermal cameras- Drones monitor remote livestock pastures, keep track of animal
health and watch for predators.
• Artificial intelligence - Smarter drones perform their own tasks, improving farm
efficiency with little human intervention.
• Planting seeds- Smarter drones perform their own tasks, improving farm efficiency with
little human intervention.
• Pollination- Drones observe the pollination efforts of bees and will soon be able to
pollinate plants themselves.
The usages of drones and satellites allow farmers to cover large tracts of land quite easily
and quickly.

• IoT-based Sensors
Utilizing cutting-edge Internet of things technology, agritech is utilised to create cutting-edge
software that can track and deliver precise information about the weather, soil quality, and
current state.
By giving farmers instant statistics on their crops and fields, IoT solutions are used in the
agricultural sector to optimise farming without depleting their resources and time.

Figure 3-Benefits Of IoT in Agriculture

The information can be used to improve farming, but it can also have an impact on other
decisions, such as how to store and convey produced items.

• Big-data & Blockchain in Agricultural Logistics

Agriculture logistics can be hit or miss. Most of the time, consumers are unable to determine
the provenance of the fruits and vegetables they purchase.
Agritech businesses and entrepreneurs work to develop the use of big data and blockchain
in the agricultural sector to address this issue.

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Blockchain is transforming this industry by enabling direct communication between farmers
and consumers. With blockchain technology -
• Customers may easily trace the produce's origins in terms of time, place, and methods.
• Additionally, it facilitates the opening of borders, lessens reliance on fiat money, and
eliminates the need for middlemen.
• Prices of the goods decrease as a result of fewer steps being taken to reach consumers.

• Biotech
Agritech is primarily focused on biotech globally. The primary objective is to improve crops,
which are the foundation of farming.
Using agritech can assist in:
• Developing crops that are more able than standard crops to adapt to the current
environment
• Encouragement of plant growth
• Cleaning up the soil
• An increase in soil fertility
• Raising agricultural output
• Agritech supports the growth of crops as well as the creation of artificial fertilisers,
insecticides, and other farm-related products.

• Farm Maintenance Technology-

Agritech aids in bringing improvements and advances to the robotics and automated
machinery fields, aiding in raising agricultural production efficiency. This is due to automated
equipment's ability to
• Finding and clearly identifying the produce
• Choosing the ripe one correctly and harvesting them.
• Water usage should be optimised for good crop development.
When carried out manually, these processes can be time- and resource-consuming, but
automating them can hasten agricultural operations.

• Production and Transportation Services

• Trading Market Places - Agritech companies also assist in the creation of apps and
websites that are tailored for the agricultural industry, removing the need for middlemen
and allowing farmers and suppliers to communicate directly or over the phone. This
encourages simpler consumer-farmer engagement and dialogue.
• Reduction in Food Miles - By advancing technology like hydroponics and vertical
farming, agritech enables the production of food closer to metropolitan areas. As a result,
it takes far less time and money to deliver food from fields to customers. Fresher, tastier,
and healthier food is also made available because to it.
These are a few significant applications where agritech is making a difference. Let's move
on to the businesses and startups that are attempting to change the agritech industry.
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 5. Growing segments within agritech in India
The supply chain technology and output market segments, with a projected market value of
US$24 billion, have the highest potential in India, with a potential worth US$12.1 billion.
These segments are followed by financial services (US$4.1 billion), precision agriculture
and farm management, quality management and traceability, US$3.4 billion, and market
linkages-farm inputs, US$3.0 billion.

Some of the most prominent companies involved in different agritech segments include:
• IoT-powered agriculture and drones: Fasa, Bitmantis, Agronxt, Soilsens
• Marketplace and e-distributor: DeHaat, Ninjacart, Jumbotail, Bijak, Farmzen
• Farm inputs: DeHaat, AgriBegri, AgroStar, BigHaat, Gramophone
• Precision agriculture and farm management: Cropin, FarmERP, AgNext, BharatAgri
• Farmer advisory: AgroStar, IFFCO Kisan, RML, Farmbee, Fasal Salah
• Finance and insurance: Aggois, Niruthi, Weather Risk, Jai Kisan
• Equipment leasing: EM3, Agri Bolo, Tractor Bazaar
• Meat delivery: Licious, Zappfresh, Pesca Fresh, Fresh to Home
• Crop quality assessment: Nebulaa, AgricX, Intello Labs
• Smart farm equipment: Drip Tech, Netafim, Cultyvate, Soilsens
• Hybrid seeds: Mahyco, Nu-genes, Nuziveedu seeds
• Hydroponics: Fresco, Triton Foodworks, Junga Fresh and Green, Absolute Foods

Company 400-500 250-300 30-50 75-100 20-40 75-100 50-75

count India

Company 2000-2200 1000- 1200 300-500 1500- 150-200 300-500 8000- 1000
count global 2000

India (October US$316M US$36M US$10M US$24M US$7M US$1M US$1M

2018 - October
2020)

Notable DeHaat, Nu-genes, Clover, Cropin, payAgri, Jai RML, BOHECO,

companies AgroStar, Mahyco Occipetal lntello Kisan, Aggois Khethinext Woolly
in India Ninjacart, Grow,Telluris Tech, Labs Farms
Waycool Biotech Zentron

Figure 4-Growing Segments within Agritech in India

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6. Future of Agritech
Agritech is a rapidly increasing business that shows no indications of slowing down in the
near future; food production will always be a concern due to the growing population.
It is anticipated that the number of Agritech startups will continue to rise, while established
firms will concentrate on enhancing existing methods and technology. In 2018, investments
in agritech increased by more than 40 percent to $17 billion, with the United States, China,
and India accounting for nearly half of the capital raised. In the coming years, agriculture
and agritechnology have a great deal of potential.