How Is Technology Playing A Significant Role In Uplifting The Indian Agriculture System?

Mumbai (Maharashtra) India January  26: Currently, India's agriculture sector is worth US$370 billion and continues to be the primary source of income for more than 40% of the population and contributes 19.9% of the national GDP (FY 2021). Despite these contributions, structural weaknesses continue to stymie growth and productivity.

To address these challenges, improve farmers' incomes, and provide them with broader, transparent markets aided by the latest technology for resilient reforms, Agribid Pvt limited entered the market in 2021 and recently launched a first-of-its-kind Farmer Producer Organizations (FPO) initiative known as Agribid-FPO' to work closely with over 300 FPOs and provide them with a deeper rural reach to enable the remotest farmers to access national marketplaces to sell their commodities online on its platform.

Let’s deep dive to understand more about the problem and solution to uplift the Indian Agriculture system. In a special conversation with Ashutosh Mishra, Co-Founder, of Agribid Private Limited.

 How Agriculture Startups are digitizing the Indian Argi ecosystem?

Technology has played a significant role in uplifting the Indian agriculture system and it has enabled us to redefine the agriculture ecosystem embedded with smart and scalable solutions. One of the main pain-sticking areas for farmers is selling their produce, however, with the advent of digitalization, e-platforms have been created that diminish the ambiguity in selling the products.

 The role of middlemen, who are impeding the trading sector in agriculture, will be diminished by e-marketing platforms. These e-Marketing systems are accessible to farmers, cost-free, and available in a language they can comprehend. 

 Any transaction completed on this web platform is recorded, demonstrating the system's openness. Food production is disposed of on time and food supply chains are of higher quality. These platforms represent a fundamental shift for farmers.

Why have you chosen agriculture as your sector in the startup venture, any reason?

Ashutosh Mishra, Agri graduate from BHU. Have been a passionate farmer and own Agri land where I farm as a hobby and distribute the cultivated crops to the villagers. This hobby or passion along with the determination to do something for the farming community can be attributed to the origination of our startup and that’s how we took a plunge into the startup sector.

One of the main pain-sticking areas for farmers is selling their produce, however, with the advent of digitalization, e-platforms have been created that diminish the ambiguity in selling the products.

 The role of middlemen, who are impeding the trading sector in agriculture, will be diminished by e-marketing platforms. These e-Marketing systems are accessible to farmers, cost-free, and available in a language they can comprehend. 

 Any transaction completed on this web platform is recorded, demonstrating the system's openness. Food production is disposed of on time and food supply chains are of higher quality. These platforms represent a fundamental shift for farmers.

Briefly describe your agriculture-based startup, Agribid.

One of the most advanced agriculture startups in India, Agribid, aims to give farmers a wider market to explore so that they can get a better pricing model for their produce. Agribid has developed a digital platform that enables farmers to enter information about regional and vendor-specific input prices before comparing those prices across regions. This increases pricing transparency. In addition to giving customers a safe place to compare prices, they also offer several analytical tools and services to support farmers in making wise choices and adding value.

Our startup Agribid is helping farmers reach a wider market with transparent pricing and ease of selling at the farm gate. We look forward to minimizing the inefficiencies of the market and touching upon the lives of our farming community. Hence we don’t call ourselves an agritech company but an agritouch company, says Ashutosh Mishra, Founder of Agribid.

 Can you please explain the price discovery platform that enables farmers to get better rates for their produce?

We have a unique auction-style platform, where a farmer stands a chance to get a better price through competitive bidding by the buyers. This not only ensures higher prices but also ensures fair price discovery sitting at the farm gate.

 Our understanding is that the next of kin of farmers at least is net savvy and the digital penetration in the rural areas is fantastic with the rollout of JIO and now the ambitious 5G roll it is going to get even better. However, we have designated local touch points where farmers can fill out a form and get their products listed on our platform.

Did you face any challenges during your journey, if yes kindly describe them?
There are numerous challenges faced by the startup, one was in Training and connecting farmers at a large scale has been a challenge, and for a bootstrapped startup like ours conducting events at rural locations was quite challenging. Also, during the corona period with restrictions on movement, it was very difficult to reach our target audience. However, we have come out of all these challenges and the journey has been a great learning. 

 On a concluding note, today's agriculture ecosystem is knowledge-intensive, and farmers' ability to make a living will be greatly impacted by their ability to access the correct information at the right time. Numerous e-agriculture portals can provide a wide range of services like selling crops online, weather forecasts, disaster alerts, crop quality criteria, and scientific inputs to help farmers make informed decisions. This will enhance the agricultural produce and also helps in getting better pricing for them. 

Kindly tell us about the Awards and Recognition achieved by Agribid Private Limited.

To talk about the Awards and Recognition achieved by Agribid Private Limited Post March 2022; The company was selected as the best amongst thousands of startups and won the 12th Aegis Graham Bell Awards (AGBA) for innovation in Agritech 2022. The event was supported by the Ministry of Electronics & IT, Skill India and the National Informatics Centre. Agribid was also selected as the best amongst all the nominations from the Asia-Pacific region and won the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards for Most Innovative Startup of the year 2022. Plus won an Award as a Startup of the Year at Indo-Asian Business Excellence Summit 2022 which was presented by Smt. Jaya Prada (Actress & Politician).

What are your plans for the next 5 years?

To be present in each village location of India. To capture a sizeable global market trade. Help Farmer Producing Organisations to export from India. Become a one-stop marketplace for the farming community and also for the Agri value chain participants.

For more information, kindly visit the website https://www.agribidindia.com/