With over 1000 agri-tech startups exploring transformative solutions in agriculture, the country has a booming agri-tech ecosystem
The agri-tech industry can play a vital role in leading the transformation in food systems and improving efficiency, quality and profitability of small farms. Leveraging emerging digital technologies like AI, Blockchain, Internet of things, and drones, the agri-tech industry has been employing solutions to address pertinent sectoral challenges, a trend which accelerated during the pandemic due to disruptions in industries and supply chains.
With over 1000 agri-tech start-ups exploring transformative solutions in agriculture, India has a booming agri-tech ecosystem, space is expected to grow to a $30-35 billion market by 2025, which is very promising for the entire sector. Agri-tech has huge transformational potential with capabilities of automating agricultural functions, improving traceability of agriculture supplychain, fighting risks and uncertainties through predictive power, directly connecting farmers with consumers, agri-businesses, credit institutions and with government policies and many more .
But India still experiences low penetration of agri-tech solutions due to scepticism towards digitalization. However, many enterprises are integrating Indian food systems with impact-driven and evidence-driven large-scale agri-tech innovations.
UNDP Accelerator Lab India is leading a network of partners for reimagining Indian food systems while addressing various challenges through its many agri-tech initiatives. For instance, the Lab, supported by Cabinet Office of Japan, has partnered with the Spices Board of India to strengthen the livelihoods of spice farmers and small-scale spice processors by building a blockchain-powered traceability and trading platform for Indian spices. This blockchain-powered platform is expected to enhance transparency and quality assurance in spices value chain while connecting small and marginal spice farmers to direct buyers through smart contracts. A pilot was launched involving over 1000 chili and turmeric farmers in Andhra Pradesh which successfully demonstrated the potential of blockchain in terms of enhancing overall transparency through data immutability and retrievability. Efforts are underway for assessing real-world traceability of spices. Depending on the results, UNDP Accelerator Lab is planning to scale up this blockchain platform jointly with Spices Board India to cover major spice varieties and spice growing regions in India. To mainstream climate resilience and farmer-led solutions into agriculture policies, the Lab has initiated “Data for Policy” in partnership with the Telangana Government, the Rockefeller Foundation, and several other stakeholders to strengthen climate resilience in agriculture programs and policies. The initiative leverages open-source technologies and digital public good platform, to engage citizen scientists to generate data insights on climate resilience.
To ensure sustainable irrigation practise, IoT technology is being leveraged to design smart irrigation system for black gram crop in Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu. To assess factors including soil richness, local weather, water requirement of crops, etc and share the information back to the farmers, the IoT-driven platform is generating actionable insights to achieve optimal water utilization and ensure best irrigation practices, empowering farmers to make informed decisions.
In food processing, the lab has partnered with start-up S4S (Science For Society) to test an innovative women-led business model using solar drying of agriculture commodities. This initiative is providing integrated market-based food solutions across the value chain to preserve agri-produce and build a cost-efficient supply chain. It involves decentralised processing of commodities, addressing food wastage and perishability issues, and ensuring product quality. Women micro-entrepreneurs are earning an additional income of `35,000 to `100,000 per year. Over 6,000 women micro-entrepreneurs are being supported through this model.
Crop residue burning and air pollution is a serious concern across India. The Lab has partnered with start-up A2P in Punjab to implement innovative business model that converts crop residue into biofuel as a partially replacement fuel for coal-dependent industries, while providing additional income to farmers to process their crop residue.
India is showing significant penchant for agri-tech systems. With increasing awareness, more common people are joining the initiatives. This is helping the country to reimagine our food system and make it an effective means to boost socioeconomic development. As the complete value chain engages the majority of Indian population, most of which is underserved, the agri-tech driven food system will act as an instrument of change, upliftment and social development.
(Kolluri is Head of Experimentation, Raghavan is Head of Exploration, and Singh is Head of Solutions Mapping, at Accelerator Lab UNDP India. The views expressed are personal.)