Facing post-harvest losses of about ` 93,000 crore, agritech start-ups are now trying to come up with demand-driven cold chains, warehouse monitoring solutions, and direct market linkages through digital platforms, such as Ninjacart and Crofarm, with an aim to address such losses and boosting farmers’ income. As per government data, post-harvest losses are the highest in the fruit and vegetable sector, with as much as 16 per cent of the produce going waste.
According to a study by the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), more than 50 per cent of India’s booming agritech industry is focused on efforts at creating supply chain efficiency. India’s agritech industry has received 300 per cent more funding in the first six months of 2019 compared to 2018 as a whole. A report released by NASSCOM in August 2019, ‘Agritech in India: Emerging Trends in 2019’, talks about how India has more than 450 start-ups in the agriculture technology sector, out of a global total of about 3,100. The funding for start-ups has increased substantially, with corporates and investors playing a key role. Technology innovations are aimed directly at the farmer, with over $200 million in 2017–18 coming for B2B start-ups.
Technology Solutions Direct market linkages could address this issue by supporting evolving business areas such as farm to fork, or direct delivery of produce from farmers to hotels, restaurants, and cafes. Other innovations include image sensing for quality grading, storage monitoring based on the Internet of Things (IoT) and the digitisation of mandis, as well as farmer producer organisations (FPOs).
Other start-ups offer solutions to increase the production of crops. For this, techniques like data analytics, artificial intelligence, and remote sensing are used to improve land management, crop cycle monitoring, and harvest traceability. Efforts are on for solving farmers’ credit issues, providing low-cost and timely financing for agricultural equipment, and allowing access to low-cost digital loans using virtual credit cards.