Startups in agriculture and related industries will soon have access to direct equity funding through the government’s ‘Agri Fund for Start-Ups and Rural Enterprises’ (AgriSURE), which will also invest in debt Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) that are either sector-specific or sector-agnostic.
The creation of a Category-II Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) with a capital of INR 750 crore is part of this initiative’s plan to encourage innovation and sustainability in India’s agricultural industry. Targeting high-risk, high-impact initiatives in the agriculture value chain, the fund will provide both equity and financial backing.
The development was announced during a pre-launch meeting of stakeholders at NABARD’s Mumbai headquarters. A total of INR 750 crores would be used to establish the fund, with INR 250 crores allocated by NABARD and the Ministry of Agriculture, as well as INR 250 crores from other organisations.
Funding priorities include agricultural innovation, value chain enhancement for farm produce, rural infrastructure development, job creation, and FPO support. Information technology (IT) solutions and rental services for agricultural machinery will also be supported by the fund. The management of the AgriSURE Fund will be carried out by NABVENTURES, a fully-owned subsidiary of NABARD. The initial term of the fund is ten years, with two more extensions possible.
Additionally, NABARD launched the AgriSURE Greenathon 2024 to emphasise its dedication to encouraging innovation. It attempts to resolve three critical issues: “Smart Agriculture on a Budget,” which addresses the exorbitant cost of advanced agricultural technologies that hamper the success of small and marginal farmers; “Turning Agri-Waste into Profitable Business Opportunities,” which concentrates on the conversion of agricultural waste into profitable ventures; and “Tech Solutions Making Regenerative Agriculture Remunerative,” which attempts to overcome economic obstacles to the adoption of regenerative agriculture approaches.
In 1982, an Act of Parliament established NABARD as India’s top development bank with the goal of fostering equitable and environmentally responsible agricultural practices and rural infrastructure development.
By involving stakeholders in financial and non-financial interventions, innovations, technology, and institutional development, NABARD seeks to ensure agricultural and rural development that is both sustainable and equitable.
NABARD with the Government of India
By subsidising a portion of the total project cost, the Indian government encourages farmers to take up projects in specific locations. In sectors of critical national importance, all of these projects seek to improve capital investment, sustained income flow, and employment.
Throughout the government’s many projects and initiatives, NABARD has played a pivotal role in order to rightly execute these schemes and policies.
Schemes for the Farm Sector
New Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure (AMI) sub-scheme of ISAM
Agri Clinics and Agri-Business Centres Scheme (ACABC)
Scheme for Extending Financial Assistance to Sugar Mills for Enhancement and Augmentation of Ethanol Production Capacity
Interest Subvention Scheme
National Livestock Mission – Entrepreneurship Development & Employment Generation (NLM-EDEG) (Closed/Temporarily Closed)
Dairy Entrepreneurship Development Scheme (DEDS) (Closed/Temporarily Closed)
Commercial production units of organic inputs – National Project on Organic Farming (NPOF) (Closed/Temporarily Closed)
Schemes for the Off Farm Sector
Stand-Up India
Special Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme (SCLCSS)
Farmers must be treated with the utmost care and given the resources they require because they are the backbone of the agri value chain. Agricultural problems cannot be resolved by the use of credit alone. Innovations necessitating public-private partnerships will drive the next level of growth. The government of India and related institutions are hoping to provide farmers with practical, long-term technological solutions by investing in early-stage innovators.
India has the second-largest agricultural land in the world. About 60% of rural Indian households make their living from agriculture. The agro-based industry saw growth at a CAGR of 16.4% from FY10 to FY18.
Agricultural exports from India reached US$ 38.54 billion in FY19 and in FY20 (till November 2019) US$ 22.69 billion. With many initiatives for farmers, the government aims to double farmers’ income by 2022. So we have compiled a list of agriculture startups in India that are making a name and increasing their growth in quick succession.
The agriculture sector in India is suffering from a variety of problems like the use of outdated equipment, improper infrastructure, and farmers unable to access a wider range of markets with ease while making just limited profits on crop sales. Proper infrastructure and supply chain management are the more pressing concerns.
With improvements in areas of technology, digitization and startup culture growing rapidly, there are many new ones entering the Indian startup ecosystem. The Agri startups in India are providing information, techniques and efficiencies to farmers.
Let’s look at some of the best agritech startups in India
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Founded by Kamesh Mupparaju and Linus Lindgren in 2018, SFarmsIndia is an online web application with two core functions; listing and fraction trading.
These two functions work together creating a great synergy. On the listing platform, buyers can find/search agricultural lands and sellers can list/post the agricultural lands for sale/lease.
On the other hand, SFarmsIndia’s main USP is that it makes an agreement with the seller (Agri-realty developer) to issue fractions by digital land contract against their lands.
Each agricultural land is assigned with a digital contract and divided into 2000 fractions per acre, thereby enabling medium to small income groups to acquire lands easily. After owning the fraction, people can sell it directly through the trading platform.
Technology is the core of SFarmsIndia’s business operations. Using technology, they intend to create an effective and efficient platform for Agri-lands that can eliminate the middlemen who inflate the prices.
Growth Timeline of SFarms India
2. KhetiGaadi
Founders – Pravin Shinde and Vishnu Dhas
Founded In – 2018
Headquarters – Pune
Total Funding Received – Bootstrapped
Khetigaadi.com Website
Founded by Pravin Shinde and Vishnu Dhas, Khetigaadi.com is the world’s first platform where one can buy, sell, rent, compare and review tractors and farm machinery, all with a simple click. It has been established to encourage farm mechanization and usage of technology and hi-tech products in agriculture to optimize yield in fewer man-hours.
Built on high-tech angular technology, the agritech company KhetiGaadi portal is as safe as any online banking portal. To make the platform user-friendly for the farmers, KhetiGaadi has made it available as an App in 10 languages and the company’s website can be viewed in 3 different languages, English, Hindi and Marathi. It is connected with 50 lac farmers.
The concept is techno-savvy and compatible with iOS as well as Android. They reached 5 Lac downloads in 2020 and more than 8 lac downloads as of 2022.
Khetigaadi’s GMV for 2021 was INR 500 Crore. As of 2022, this agritech startup is looking to raise funding & expected to triple the GMV to INR 1500 crore and INR 2500 Crore by 2023.
Growth Timeline of KhetiGaadi
3. Farm2Fam
Founder – Keya Salot
Founded In – 2019
Headquarters – Mumbai
Total Funding Received – NA
Farm2Fam Website
Farm2Fam is a Mumbai based startup which grows microgreens free from pesticides, herbicides and chemicals and delivers them straightly to the customer’s doorstep.
Farm2Fam aims to create awareness about the capacity of the human body to heal itself with natural nutrition. Their intention is to use technology in combination with traditional Indian agricultural methods to grow niche nutritional products.
Farm2Fam was founded in January 2019 by Keya Salot. She is a law graduate and worked with reputed law firms prior to starting Farm2Fam. This Microgreen-based agritech startup is soon going to partner with marquee brands like Pizza Express, Bay Route and White Charcoal. It sees itself in every household with a target of 300+ consumers per month.
Crofarm is an agricultural startup that was founded by Prashant Jain and Varun Khurana in May 2016 and is an F2B i.e. Farm to Business venture. Its platform has over 10,000 farmers on its network and has also partnered with Reliance Retail, Big Basket, Grofers, Big Bazar, Jubilant Foodworks and Metro Foods.
Crofarm generates revenue through commission. Starting from nearly 5% of the price in case of fewer perishables, like onions and potatoes, around 15% of the price of green vegetables, and 20-25% in case of fruits and exotics.
They procure products that have a longer shelf life from national sourcing zones and other products from regional sourcing zones. Crofarm is counted among one the leading agritech startups in India.
The company has also raised $1.5 million in seed funding from investors like Mukul Singhal and Rohit Jain, former Principals at SAIF Partners and recently raised $1 million from Smile Group for pre-series A round and entered B2B2C space with the launch of Otipy in 2020.
BOHECO – Bombay Hemp Company – is a Mumbai-based social enterprise founded in 2013 to research and promote industrial hemp. Their operations range from research, cultivation, harvesting, processing, manufacturing, trading, wholesaling, retailing, innovating, creating a market for and promoting Indian industrial hemp both across the country and around the world.
Bombay Hemp Company uses public-private partnership, contractual farming and processing, subsidiaries and collaborative research models with the aim to build an industrial hemp ecosystem.
Boheco is an agro-based startup that is reinventing the future of agriculture and sustainable living with hemp as its lens in India. The startup harnesses the power of agriculture by advocating industrial Hemp and its benefits to society.
They give assistance to local farmers in cultivating their crops by providing optimum seeds, best practices in cultivation techniques and innovating the Agro-products.
Aarav Unmanned Systems is a drone startup that manufactures unmanned aerial vehicles. It was incubated at IIT Kanpur with a team of designers, developers, artists, and engineers from IIT Kanpur, IIT Bombay, IISC Bangalore & IIST.
They aim to build the future of drones and their applications in the enterprise space. The company’s drones provide high-value engineering solutions to enterprises across geographic information system surveying/mapping, industrial inspection and precision agriculture. Thus, it holds the potential for making precision agriculture scalable in the nation, which is far behind in employing this type of technology.
They provide accurate 3D representations of the terrain surface and they can transform and change the way decisions are made in agriculture through their solutions to optimize irrigation, fertilization, pesticide distribution and early failure warnings. This Agritech Startup’s recent funding came in 2018 as a pre-series A round from GrowX Ventures, 500 Startups and Bellwether Advisors.
Aibono is founded by IIT Madras graduate Vivek as Airwood Aerostructures and rebranded as Aibono, which is a company that provides farming-related intelligence, technology, expertise and gadgets to farmers.
The startup advises farmers on the right amount of inputs to use for maximum yield. They began in the niche area of providing Farm Management-as-a-Service whereby, a farmer gets to outsource his entire measurement, production management and decision-making processes to a Service.
The agritech company has helped in increasing yields by nearly 50% for about 140 farmers. It works within the Nilgiri hills in Tamil Nadu. Precise day-to-day interventions to farmers are given by centrally managed Data Science and Recommendation Engines enabled by its data scientists and agronomists, which results in a 30 to 50% increase in yields.
Aibono recently raised $2 million in fresh capital from Rebright Partners and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital taking its total funding to $5 Million.
Growth Timeline of Aibono
8. AgricxLab
Founder – Ritesh Dhoot, Saurabh Kumar
Founded In – 2010
Headquarters – Thane
Total Funding Received – $775k
AgricxLab is a Thane-based online B2B platform founded by Ritesh Dhoot and Saurabh Kumar for connecting cold storage owners with bulk buyers for agri-products. They use smartphone imaging to assess the quality of Agri-produce through its mobile app which uses artificial intelligence and computer vision to on images to yield objective, accurate and faster quality assessment of agri-produce.
Agricx offers solutions to warehouses and enterprise clients with a plan to expand across the food production supply chain. The startup has raised a total funding of $500K from various investors, including Ankur Capital.
Growth Timeline of AgricxLab
9. Cropin
Founder – Krishna Kumar
Founded In – 2010
Headquarters – Bengaluru
Total Funding Received – $32.6 million
Cropin Website
Cropin is an agritech startup that integrates the agricultural sector with Information and Communication Technology by putting a network of ERP and BI i.e. Business Intelligence across rural India.
It is a Full-Stack Agritech organization providing smart SaaS-based solutions to agritech businesses globally. Cropin collaborates with the different value chain participants along the supply chain to monitor the farm produce status closely.
They provide farm businesses a farm management software and a mobile app, which enables them to do connected and data-driven farming.
It allows farm businesses to take advantage of real-time data and insight from farms with the help of an accurate view of their operation throughout the growing season and to improve financial, operational and agronomy aspects.
Cropin uses cutting-edge technologies, Big Data analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Geo-tagging & Satellite monitoring to revolutionize the agri-ecosystem. This agriculture startup has raised a total of $32.7 Million in funding to date, with its recent Series C round in 2021 for $20 Million from ABC World Asia.
Growth Timeline of Cropin
10. Fasal
Founder – Shailendra Tiwari and Ananda Verma
Founded In – 2018
Headquarters – Bangalore
Total Funding Received – $9.9 million
Fasal Website
FASAL is a Bengaluru-based agritech platform founded by Ananda Verma and Shailendra Tiwari in 2018 which is developed by Wolkus Technology Solutions and is an AI-powered platform for the agricultural ecosystem.
It records a variety of growing conditions on the farm and then uses artificial intelligence and data science to make on-farm predictions, before delivering the insights anywhere on any device including Android, iOS, tablets and the web.
FASAL has saved close to 3 Billion Liters of freshwater to date. This agritech startup is on a course to the close FY21 with 1000 farms and 20, 000 acres of land under its purview. It is also looking to hit an annual revenue run rate of $1 million.
Growth Timeline of Fasal
11. Gold Farm
Agriculture Startup
Gold Farm
Founded In
2012
Headquarters
Bangalore
Founders
Abhilash Thirupathy
Investors
Mahindra Rise, Infuse Ventures, Intellecap
Founder – Abhilash Thirupathy
Founded In – 2012
Headquarters – Bangalore
Total Funding Received – $2.5 million
Gold Farm is a Bangalore-based agritech company founded in 2012 which is based on the mobile app to provide agriculture farm equipment through booking farm agents. It was founded by Abhilash Thirupathy.
They provide solar water pumps for agriculturist farming in power shortfall regions in our country. Gold Farm provides an opportunity door to the farmers to book farm equipment through the call service and mobile application.
Currently, Gold Farm runs over 250 booking agents and 500 tractor owners connected to their mobile app. They aim at enhancing the growth and sustainability of farmers by structuring productive ecosystems through innovation and technology. The startup has raised total funding of $3 million.
Ninjacart is one of the leading Bangalore-based agriculture supply chain companies in India. It was founded by Thirukumaran Nagarajanin 2015. It currently moves more than 60 tons of produce a day from farm to store in less than 14 hours at a lower than traditional supply chain.
Ninjacart helps more than 2,000 farmers to sell more than 80 vegetables and fruits every day to more than 800 retailers and restaurants in Bengaluru. They also claim to have wasted 4% wastage in the entire supply chain.
As of 2021, Ninjacart raised total funding of around $194.2 Million of which Flipkart and Walmart recently invested $30 Million in this agritech supply chain startup. Currently, Ninjacart is equipped to move 1400 tons of perishable from farms to businesses, every day, in less than 12 hours.
13. Waycool
Founder – Sanjay Dasari
Founded In – 2015
Headquarters – Bangalore
Total Funding Received – $221.5 million
Waycool Website
Waycool is India’s fastest-growingagricultural startup and food distribution company that has a network of 35,000 farmers across vegetables, fruits, rice, pulses and other food products.
It was established in July 2015 with the aim of fixing the disorganized perishable supply chain. They have a retail presence, currently present in Chennai through the brand SunnyBee, operating retail stores, mobile stores on trucks, as well as e-commerce.
They also have a large number of high-quality private label products that SunnyBee produces and brands through partnerships with sister companies.
Waycool has raised total funding of $64.9 Million, of which its recent funding came in 2021 from Lightbox Ventures ($32 Million – Series C), IndusInd Bank ($5.5 million – debt) and $7.8 Million came from Samunnati, RBL Bank and InnoVen Capital. Waycool is actively using 19 technologies for its website and has a $2 million estimated revenue annually.
Growth Timeline of Waycool
14. Intello Labs
Founder – Milan Sharma, Nishant Mishra, Himani Shah and Devendra Chandani
Founded In – 2016
Headquarters – Gurgaon
Total Funding Received – $13.7 million
Intello Labs Website
Intello Labs does a quality assessment of food commodities using computer vision and AI. Intello Labs help food businesses like growers, traders, retailers, food service companies, exporters, etc. to improve their customer satisfaction and cut down losses.
Intello Labs reports being aggressively growing in India while also pursuing global markets, including the likes of China, Southeast Asia, and the USA. Some of Intello Labs’ larger clients include Reliance Fresh, Dole, Ocean Spray, and many of the leading e- grocery companies in China and Southeast Asia. In 2020, Intello Labs raised $5.9 million, which is approximately Rs 45 crore, in Series A funding led by Saama Capital.
Growth Timeline of Intello Labs
15. Agrowave
Founder – Anu Meena
Founded In – 2017
Headquarters – Delhi
Total Funding Received – $2.6 million
Agrowave Website
Founded by Anu Meena, Agrowave is an Agritech company that aims at helping farmers by directly connecting them to businesses and constructing sustainable supply chain management.
It has built several pick-up stations for farmers where they can load their products and that they don’t have to travel very far to sell them. It has a mobile app running on IOs and Android, where farmers sell their produce, the delivery trucks pick up the produce from farmer gates and pick-up stations and allow hassle-free payments. This produce is then delivered through systematic route mapping to the end customers.
Anu Meena, alumni of Delhi IIT, conceived this brainchild after witnessing the struggles and challenges of her grandfather back in Rajasthan who happens to be a farmer himself. She aims at simplifying business for farmers all over by eliminating middlemen and giving farmers the best price for their produce.
Growth Timeline of Agrowave
16. BharatAgri
Founder – Sai Gole, Siddharth Dialani
Founded In – 2017
Headquarters – Pune
Total Funding Received – $21 million
BharatAgri Website
BharatAgri is a personalized service where farmers are educated about the crop they’re planning to plant and provides complete guidance and expertise on how to grow it.
The service includes expertise on pesticides and critical advisory on weather and soil analysis. It ensures maximum yield on production with timely analysis of production costs.
BharatAgri lends support at every stage of farming through offline and online technology including In-App chat support, Interactive voice response (IVR), and Whatsapp.
Co-founders Sai Gole and Siddharth Dialani quit their high-paying jobs in 2017 to learn about the challenges that farmers face and lived in a village near Pune to understand and implement their IIT learning experience into practice and find solutions to farmers’ woes.
With a farmer base of 3000 onboard, the agritech startup has now shifted to the B2F (Business to Farmer) model, so that they can provide better services to farmers needing technical help through digital farming.
Growth Timeline of BharatAgri
17. BigHaat
Founder – Satish Nukala, Sachin Nandwana
Founded In – 2015
Headquarters – Bangalore
Total Funding Received – $16.1 million
BigHaat Website
BigHaat is an Agri input and digital marketplace for farmers who seek guidance and information on various aspects of farming. The company has a wide range of services and products such as advisory services related to crop nutrition and farming, products such as seeds, agricultural machinery, and much more.
It has also built an Agri platform in collaboration with Microsoft, called Kisan Vedika which addresses issues and queries through experts in regional languages. BigHaat’s marketing team works both offline and online to acquire a customer base.
In addition to this, they offer a support channel that is also available for any queries. The farmers have to give a missed call on the designated number and the Agri expert will revert with the necessary guidance.
Founded in 2015 by Satish Nukala and Sachin Nandwana, BigHaat boasts about providing Agri advisor services and products to 4 million farmers in the country. BigHaat has raised 2 million in its latest funding series through investors such as Ankur Capital, Rockstud Capital, and Beyond Next Ventures.
Growth Timeline of BigHaat
18. Bijak
Founder – Nikhil Tripathi, Mahesh Jakhotia, Nakul Upadhye, Jitender Bedwal, Daya Rai
Founded In – 2019
Headquarters – Gurugram
Total Funding Received – $33.9 million
Bijak Website
Bijak is an Agri commodities exchange platform that aims to bridge the gap between buyers and sellers. It also acts as a bookkeeping app that helps you keep all transactions and related documents on your phone.
Bijak helps buyers with quick loan disbursals and immediate payments to suppliers, with real-time, hassle-free payments. It is spread over 27 cities and union territories and covers more than 100 agricultural commodities on its platform.
The B2B platform was founded in 2019 by a team of five: Nikhil Tripathi, Mahesh Jakhotia, Nakul Upadhye, Jitender Bedwal, and Daya Rai. It has raised close to $33.9 million in funding. The ambitious startup aims at providing buyers and sellers with considerable working capital and improved logistics.
Growth Timeline of Bijak
19. Clover Ventures
Founder – Arvind M, Avinash B R, Gururaj S Rao, Santosh Narasipura
Founded In – 2012
Headquarters – Bangalore
Total Funding Received – $14.6 million
Clover Venture Website
Clover Ventures is a Bangalore-based agritech company that deals in the creation and management of farm networks in Karnataka, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh. It aims at tapping several agricultural roadblocks faced by farmers such as complex and inefficient supply chain, consistency and quality issues, and lack of stable backend supply.
It aims at creating and solidifying an organized supply chain for fresh produce. The company currently manages over 70 acres of farmland and provides fresh produce to various fine dines, Retail stores, food processors, and online Internet Kitchens.
The logo with four leaves of the clover represents Arvind M, Avinash B R, Gururaj S Rao, and Santosh Narasipura, the co-founders of the company. The core functions of the company work on the model of the demand-backed supply chain for perishables. The key focus is on the quality of the produce, consistency, and traceability. The B2B company is about to launch a B2C service out of Bangalore and Hyderabad this year.
Ergos is one of the best agritech companies in India that facilitates storage for food grains and provides digitized solutions for the management of the same. Indian farmers who lack storage capacity often face grain loss in quantity and deterioration of quality and this leads to selling their produce at lower prices.
Ergos helps them store their grains in their “Grain bank” and facilitates loans and supply chain management through networks with NBFCs and Banks. Farmers can always withdraw their produce, even a single bag of grains, at their disposal.
The Patna-based startup was founded in 2012 by Kishor Jha, Priyanka Kumari, and Praveen Kumar. Ergos claims to support 25000 farmers so far and aims to extend its footprint outside Bihar by setting up 500-600 new grain Banks across various states. The company raised INR 81 crore in its recent funding round and is assertive in building better post-harvest and supply chain management.
Growth Timeline of Ergos
21. FreshoKartz
Founder – Rajendra Lora, Nagendra Yadav
Founded In – 2016
Headquarters – Jaipur
Total Funding Received – $1.6 million
FreshoKartz Website
FreshoKartz is an eCommerce marketplace for farm-fresh produce, based in Jaipur Rajasthan. It offers various services such as soil advisory and products such as pesticides, seeds, fertilizers, etc for farmers.
The company works on the on-demand procurement of fresh farm produce and helps farmers avail themselves right prices. FreshoKartz offers transparent weighing and immediate payment of the produce. It also offers financing facilities for farmers during the harvesting season.
Founded in 2016 by Rajendra Lora and Nagendra Yadav, FreshoKartz is funded by iStart, an incubator run by the Rajasthan Government to support startups. Recognized by the government early on, the company has been provided with a co-working space and the best knowledge imparting mentors in the Agritech industry.
These mentors help the company find VCs and angel investors. The company has also been awarded the Bamasaha techno fund worth INR 20 lakhs and a marketing fund worth INR 10 lakhs.
FreshoKartz aims at eliminating middlemen in the process of selling fresh produce directly from the farmers to other businesses. Their B2B clientele so far includes ITC hotels, Hilton Jaipur, and several other commercial kitchens in Jaipur.
Growth Timeline of FreshoKartz
22. MeraKisan
Founder – Prashant Patil
Founded In – 2014
Headquarters – Pune
Total Funding Received – $1 million
MeraKisan Website
MeraKisan is an online marketplace for a wide range of freshly produced farm products. The farm-to-fork company aims to support local farmers by providing seasonal and regional fruits and vegetables directly to consumers. Its products range from pulses and cereals to exotic and seasonal vegetables along with superfoods and organic cooking oils.
The company recently launched its own range of handcrafted juices, smoothies, salads, and refreshments under the brand Saboro Lounge. It also provides end-to-end soil advisory and other farming facilities.
MeraKisan was roped in by a joint venture between Mahindra Univeg Pvt. Ltd and Belgium-based Univeg (Greenyard Foods). Prashant Patil, the founder of MeraKisan is an IT engineer by profession and started operating in 2014.
Patil, through a fresh issue of shares, holds 66% of MeraKisan Pvt. Ltd. The company claims to have more than 500 sellers on its website. In March 2020, the Mahindra-backed company found a new investor in Ajinkya Rahane, the vice-captain of the Indian Test Cricket team.
Growth Timeline of MeraKisan
Conclusion
This was our list of best agricultural startups in India. Hope this helps you in building your own agritech business. If you know any great agriculture startup which we should feature, please mention it in the comment.
FAQs
What is an agritech startup?
An agritech startup is a startup that uses technology in the field of agriculture to help farmers.
How many agritech startups are in India?
There are nearly 1400 agritech startups in India.
What are some of the top agritech startups in India?
SFarmsIndia, KhetiGaadi, FarmtoFarm, Fasal, Ninjacart, and BharatAgri are some of the leading agritech startups in India.
Since the Indus Valley Civilisation, agriculture has been the lifeline of India. We have 70% of Indian households still dependent on farming, contributing 17–18% to the country’s GDP, according to the latest report.
Agritech startups have great potential in India. There is a huge scope of Agritech startups for India’s farmers who are striving against unreliable climate changes, water scarcity, price hikes, and many other problems.
Agritech is the concept of applying modern technologies to the agricultural sector with a view of enhancing and producing with efficiency and generating sufficient revenue to support livelihoods.
The concept extends to any kind of applications, practices, products, and services that enhance any aspect, whether input or output, of the agricultural process.
Why is there a Need For Agritech Startups in India?
Today’s farmer faces a lot of challenges to sustain their livelihood through farming. Malpractices in the unorganized agricultural markets and the absence of organized marketing systems for production are becoming a major concern for Indian farmers.
Moreover, they have to deal with poor transportation and storage services and much more. They have limited access to superior technology to get timely information and agricultural solutions which leaves them vulnerable and all by themselves.
Agritech startups have the potential to address these challenges from the very beginning, and subsequently change the face of Indian agriculture. They are the knights in shining armour for Indian farmers.
Initiatives by Indian Government For Agritech Startups
The Government of India has been dynamically making policies to improve farmers’ lives in India. In fact, the government has promised its citizens to double the incomes of farmers by the end of 2022.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also said that the government will support new entrepreneurs in driving value addition to farmers’ produce from the field.
The NITI Aayog is collaborating with companies like IBM to pilot technology-driven solutions for the agriculture sector in order to provide real-time advice to the farmers. As a result, artificial intelligence is being used to develop crop-yield protection models.
The Agritech sector is a fast-growing sector with great potential to benefit Indian agriculture and eventually raise farmers’ incomes. Currently, India has 450 Agritech startups and is reported to grow by 25% every year by NASSCOM.
A wave of Agritech startups has emerged in the last few years in India. In India Agritech sector has come a long way with 43 startups in 2013 to more than 1000 startups in 2020, driven by rising in rural internet penetration, a rise in post-harvest and supply chain losses, a growing number of investors interest in the sector, etc.
They are now able to solve agricultural problems such as the use of outdated equipment, supply chain management, lack of proper infrastructure, and farmers unable to access a wider range of markets with ease.
According to the latest report, over 3.23 billion dollars were invested in the agriculture sector worldwide. Of this,53 Indian Agritech startups raised 313 million dollars. This is a huge breakthrough for Indian startups and these figures will inspire young entrepreneurial minds of our country to seek in the direction of agricultural technology.
Which States are Focusing on Agritech Startups in India?
Although all states are aware of the importance of Agritech startups for agriculture to flourish, some states have actually established startup ecosystem hubs. Karnataka and Maharashtra together account for almost 50 percent of the total Agritech startups opened in the past 5 years in the whole country.
Although Gujarat has a low share in Agritech startups, according to the State Startup Ranking Report 2018 published by The Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), it is the best-performing state in the Indian Agritech startup ecosystem hub.
Leading Agritech Startups in India
1) Ecozen Solutions
Ecozen Solutions Logo
Based in Pune, this Agritech startup was founded in 2010 by Devendra Gupta, Prateek Singhal, and Vivek Pandey. It focuses on developing technology-enabled products to strengthen the farm-to-fork value chain of perishables, with a focus on renewable energy and sustainable development.
Till now, Ecozen has developed two products so far:
Ecofrost, is a device that acts as a portable cold room that maintains a low temperature. It works on solar power.
Ecotron, a pump controller for irrigation that also works on solar power.
According to the company, approximately 20,000 farmers in India have used their products. But the owners don’t want to stop there. They are planning to enter new areas for irrigation sales and launch a new set of cold-chain products.
2) FreshVnF
FreshVnF Logo
FreshVnF is founded by entrepreneurs Atul Kumar, Vikas Dosala, Sumit Rai, and Aashish Krishnatre in 2018. It is a Mumbai based Agritech startup that uses machine learning (ML) to optimize a farm-to-fork supply chain by connecting farmers with hotels, restaurants, and cafes.
FrenshVnf is a prospering company, having recently raised 2 million dollars in a funding round led by Equanimity Ventures. It has delivered around 15 tonnes of fresh produce per day to more than 300 clients. The company now aims to provide fresh farm produce to the end customer within 16 hours of harvesting.
3) FIB-SOL Life Technologies
FIB-SOL Life Technologies Logo
FIB-SOL Life Technologies is an agritech startup that was founded in 2013 by a team of post-doctoral and doctoral scholars of IIT Madras. The company’s technology is focused on developing low-cost bio-fertilizers that help farmers to improve crop yield and soil quality.
The company offers three products for its customers under GEL and DROPS which provide microbial nutrients to enrich the fertility of farmlands. They are priced at Rs 420 and Rs 100, respectively.
FIB-SOL also aims to improve product shelf life for manufacturers, help suppliers stock inventory efficiently, and eventually boost farmers’ income. In May last year, the startup received Rs 1.5 crore in angel investment from Keiretsu Forum in Chennai.
Agritech startups are the need of the nation right now. More and more entrepreneurs are setting up companies in this field, grabbing the opportunity to transform the sector. The government policies are also giving thrust to these startups so that they can easily find investors. The farmers can finally look forward to better price realization now and embrace this new initiative.
FAQs
What is agriTech?
AgriTech is the concept of applying modern technologies to the agricultural sector with a view of enhancing and producing with efficiency and generating sufficient revenue to support livelihoods.
How many agritech startups are there in India?
There are nearly 600 to 700 agritech startups in India.
Are there any listed agritech companies in India?
Bayer CropScience, Godrej Agrovert, and PI Industries are some of the listed agritech companies in India.
Why is agritech important in India?
AgriTech promises to help farmers increase crop yields, improve animal health, reduce waste, lower carbon footprints, and improve scalability by easing the burden of labour-intensive tasks.
What do agritech companies do?
AgriTech companies work on products, services or applications derived from agriculture that improve various processes. Technology and data can open new opportunities and help solve problems with production, traceability, and the preservation of natural resources.
This article is contributed by Mr. Chattanathan Devarajan, Co-founder, Arya.ag
Agriculture sector in India continues to be the backbone of rural economy employing almost 50 percent of the country’s population with a contribution of 19.9% on the GDP. There has been an increased focus on the growth of agriculture and the Government of India has been talking about doubling farm incomes. It is in this context, that it becomes crucial to understand the potential impact and change agritech could create in the country and how new age agri start-ups are contributing to income improvements in rural households especially within the farming community.
In the last few years, there has been a phenomenal growth in the agritech/agri-fintech space with substantial investments flowing in the sector. The pandemic allowed for a swift change and acceptance to digital technologies, and it is further anticipated that about USD 25 billion dollar investments need to flow into this sector. Also keeping in mind, the challenges of fragmentation, diversity and accessibility in the sector, the only way to bridge gaps is to overlay technology to the Indian agriculture ecosystem. Digital technologies led services that enable presence closer to farm markets can enable large scale irreversible positive change and the investments flowing into the sector are precisely working towards building these much-required efficiencies, traceability and trust in the agri value chain.
Pricing Factor in AgriTech Industry
Furthermore as is widely known, price is a factor of demand and supply and in India, the price of end produce is not absolutely under control. There is always a risk that continues to remain with some mitigation by way of MSP support by the Government. In this context, the ways in which farm incomes can be increased is through better yield and output. A farmer could work towards increasing productivity through high yielding varieties, the adoption of good agronomic practices and relevant inputs.
The problem of low incomes is further aggravated by the number of intermediaries in the value chain. Lower transparency of market prices, non-availability of competitive services closer to the farmgate and inefficiencies keeping with smaller quantities, often reduce the bargaining power of the small and marginal farmers. With limited access and resources, the cost of production increases and so do logistical expenses from farm to market. Each step of the value chain and the reduced efficiency that goes along with small and marginal farmlands, eat into the profit margins of the farmers and often, a farmer receives only 25% of the actual value of the agri-commodity.
Contributions of AgriTech Startups in Rural India
Most agritechs are working to solve these systemic challenges, re-balancing the agri value chain and shifting the power economics back into the hands of the producer. They are primarily trying to address the inefficiencies in the value chain and increase transparency, removing intermediaries as well as enabling easy access to finance.
We can broadly classify the agri startups contributions as follows:
Increasing incomes through cost reduction: There have been lot of new agriculture start-ups which have been trying to provide input market linkages through their respective tech interface innovations. They strive to effectively aggregate the needs at the farm level and enable direct supplies of inputs, tools and tech to effectively reduce costs.
Increasing productivity and optimisation of resources: By adopting information and technology-based farm management system more specifically called precision farming, and crop canopy management through satellite imagery, the use of better agronomic practices has led to appropriate usage of inputs and thereby increasing productivity and improving income of farmers.
Storage solution and access to finance: Lack of farmgate storage and access to finance, often force farmers into distress sales. New-age agritech startups are looking at creating integrated solutions by enabling famers to store their produce through near farmgate storage solutions, digitising agri-commodities, triggering innovation in storage infrastructure and providing easy access to finance and leveraging the price differentials between off season and on season to improve rural farm incomes.
Provision of higher price due to quality: Agritechs have had success with effective output quality management through AI and traceability due to technological advancements. This has had both reduction in food loss and better revenues.
Providing efficient market linkages: Providing a good platform for increasing the optionality for sellers. Enabling more buyers for the same produce, ensures producers have both choice of whom to sell, when to sell and at what prices to sell at.
While some agritech startups have focused on one specific benefit and improved revenues in that section of the value chain, others have layered multiple services. A few of the agri start-ups are in nascent stage, few have moved to the proof of concept and a few have established business models. With the emergence of integrated platform players, one can witness growth in access for services like never before. Access to competitive services, products and tools are no longer limited to the tertiary markets but have seamlessly shifted to the primary and secondary markets. The key benefit in this growth is to the producers in the rural spectrum. Technology advancements have allowed for the growth of efficient and transparent value chains and these interventions have benefitted farmers and other stakeholders with an increase in revenues anywhere between to 30%. Indeed the agritech sector has immense potential to enhance the overall socio-economic considerations of the country’s rural ecosystem.
India, the mystical land wherein cows are preached to be the holy mother. People have high regard for Cattle, especially in Hinduism. If one reads our scriptures, they’d realize people associated with the cow business are in a better financial situation than others. Cow business startupshave rendered themselves to be extremely profitable, globally, since all Cow products are exceptionally useful.
As per the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the Indian dairy market values at around $30 Billion since India produces 160 million tonnes of milk and caters to more than 75 Million dairy farms per year. Having the largest cattle population in the world, Indian farmers highly depend on the Dairy industry to incur profits. After the United States, India holds the position of second-largest milk producer in the world.
Currently, a number of youth startups are pacing up as the government of India promises countless cow business loan, investment plans and schemes to introduce a quality wave of income in our farmer’s pockets.
Livestock Population: Share of Major Species
Agriculture/cow business ideas and animal husbandry startups, especially cow rearing would help a range of small farmers. Since cow products are naturally beneficial to the human body, a low investment cow business startup dealing with such sustainable products would be profitable to everyone. So if you’re planning to start a cow business in India, go ahead!
Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to the formation of a committee that would be dedicated to the conservation and protection of cows. The Kamadhenu Ayog, 2019 focuses on enhancing the growth of the livestock industry with an initial investment of INR 500 Crore. Encouraging youth successfully into a Cow Business Startup, the Rashtriya Kamadhenu Aayog is functioning suitably. Some of the ideas cow business startups are:
Milk-based products of Desi Cows like Ghee, Cheese, Butter Milk, Lassi, Paneer etc are highly popular as individuals and companies require them on a daily basis. The dairy business profit is high, as a wholesale supplier of any of these products would be quite beneficial as a business.
Since this would be a B2B, you’d save tremendous amounts of money on marketing and advertising. A business idea for dair farm would require minimum advertising but good contacts. Having your own farm and produce will always be recommended as it helps you be in control of the demand and supply efficiently. And as milk is something that almost everyone consumes, milk business ideas are never going to go out of fashion.
Pest Repellants and Fertilizers Startup
Thecow dung business in India is profitable, as Cow dung and cow urine of native cows are often used as Fertilizers and Pest Repellents by locals for a long time. These are suitable for manure in organic farming as these consist of beneficial microorganisms and earthworms that keep the crop safe.
With your cow dung business ideas, you could make these products available for gardening enthusiasts living in cities. Since it’s a natural and trusted fertilizer that will be provided by you in a hygienic and properly packed way, people with a love for gardening are more likely to purchase such products.
This could be a great cow business idea since you’re meeting the demands of your customers efficiently. Also, the trust value for ‘Cow dung as a manure’ is already established in the market all you have to do is remove its typical stinky image through your cow dung startup’s branding. So how do you start a cow dung business? By planning and researching a perfect cow business plan.
For a flourishing farm, Bio-pesticides and Bio-fertilizer should be made available for the agriculture industry. India being an agriculture-oriented country definitely, needs such products.
Cow urine being the most beneficial and natural pesticide/ fertilizer if made available to your nearby farms can tremendously change the scenario of your cow business setup. Cow urine mixed with neem oil is preferred by Indians to eliminate fungal infections and insects. It is also used to eradicate parasites and nematodes.
Selling properly packaged Cow urine in rural areas can also be rendered as a quality idea due to its religious value amongst the Hindu Community. Since it is being used in various rituals and customs, making it available neatly and safely will also help you make a bank. Here’s a secret that many don’t know, one might find it disturbing, however, here it goes.
Consumption of distilled Cow urine or ‘Gomutra’ actually helps your body in unfathomable ways. Some of the benefits of consuming cow urine involve increased immunity, weight loss, detoxification, and control of cholesterol. Gomutra also helps in repairing damaged cells and tissues and help to tend joint pains.
Usage Of Cattle In Indian States
Religious Cow dung products
Cow dung or commonly known as ‘Gobar’ have been used in Indian households since time immemorial since they have several important uses. From mending the house to celebrating festivals to creating a pyre, Cow dung is used almost everywhere, and having your cow business catering to this need will also be rendered beneficial.
Cow dung is an exceptional option for making religious products such as incense sticks, dhoop batti, Gobar pats etc. At times, Hindus burn logs of wood as a homage to the god of fire during rituals and ceremonies. This, however, isn’t eco-friendly as it raises Carbon dioxide levels in the air.
Replacing these with Gobar pats and other religious items made up of Cow dung will definitely be of help. Your innovative cow business for religious products will be considered fantastic as you’re saving the world, reducing costs as well as maintaining the religious believes of the community. This is another one of many cow dung business ideas you can look into!
Beauty obsessed much? Well, the answer is yes. Obviously. We have to look amazing no matter what, it’s okay if you don’t. However, to ‘glow and lovely’ yourself, it’s always advisable to use natural beauty products instead of expensive coats of makeup. This right here is an opportunity for you that will help people achieve their look goals.
Skincare products are a huge industry globally. People love using natural products since the trust of nature is definitely more than mere companies. Taking into account the excessive demand for beauty and skincare products your startup could manufacture products using milk. You could also include varieties of products that cater to hair and skin. Milk-based, dung based, urine-based products could be made available for people of all ages.
Breeding and rearing of local cow breeds
Cattle rearing and breeding are considered to improve farmers’ total income and boost their living conditions. While breeding and rearing Indian cow breeds also cow with advantages as their products can also have medicinal benefits. Breeding specifics native cow breeds will increase the volume of dairy products being produced.
Since cow-based materials are rich in proteins and amino acids they do not irritate the skin. They can be used on sensitive skin types as well. Several startups have already started growing their business in Cowpathy by manufacturing products like soaps, shaving creams, face washes, toothpaste, cleaners etc. The opportunity in this market is amazing, one just has to hit the bull’s eye! All the best!
Frequently Asked Questions
Is cow farming a profitable business?
In India, dairy farming is definitely a profitable business venture.
How can I start a cow business?
To start a cow business you must make a cow business plan after research. The cow business model will include a good location, essentials tools, cattle, veterinarian doctors and employees.
Is the cow milk business profitable?
Yes, the dairy business profit is high as 416 litres of milk are obtained daily from these 35 cattle, while the cost of one litre is Rs 60. So the daily income can range from Rs 24,960 while the total expenditure per day comes to Rs 14,900, which is a huge profit.
Which cow is the best?
The best cattle breeds in India are Gir, Red Sindhi, Rathi, Ongole, Deoni, among others.
How much does it cost to start a milk business in India?
In India, a dairy business investment will cost an average of 10 to 20 Lakh Rupees minimum.
What can milk be used for?
In terms of business milk, can be sold as s standalone item or it can be changed into Ghee, Cheese, Butter Milk, Lassi, Paneer and more. It is also used in the beauty industry for its natural benefits.
Who is the largest milk producer in the world?
India is the world’s largest milk producer with 22% of global production.
India is one of the top countries, precisely second, worldwide in farm outputs. Agriculture sector employs 50% of the Indian work force and contributes 17-18% to the country’s GDP. A large section of our population depends on agriculture, especially our farmers. And the state of farmers in our country is worrisome. Floods, droughts, low income and unavailability of financial sources leads them in a debt trap and hence farmers, their families and the agriculture industry as a whole suffers. There are Government policies and non-government organizations helping farmers in many ways. But still, there is lot more that is needed to be done, and a startup that realized these issues and has come forward to further develop the agricultural sector through mechanization is Khetigaadi.com
Khetigaadi.com is the world’s first destination for tractors and farm mechanization. The platform is a marketplace for buying, selling and renting of agricultural equipment and also offers knowledge based advises to the farmers, and insurance and loan assistance on agricultural equipment. Pravin Shinde, the founder of Khetigaadi, put his heart and soul into this startup and his journey to success is commendable. StartupTalky interviewed Pravin Shinde to find out more about the venture.
Khetigaadi is world’s first destination where one can buy, sell, rent, compare and review tractors and farm mechanization, all with a simple click. It has been established to encourage farm mechanization and usage of technology and hi-tech products in agriculture to optimize yield in less man-hours. It is not just an online market place to source agricultural implements, but is also a knowledge based advisory platform for the farming community and provides insurance and loan assistance on various agricultural equipment.
Built on high-tech angular technology, Khetigaadi portal is as safe as an online banking portal. To make the platform user friendly for the farmers, Khetigaadi has made it available as an App in 10 languages and the company’s website can be viewed in 3 different languages, English, Hindi and Marathi. The concept is techno-savvy and compatible with IOS as well as Android.
Khetigaadi – Market and industry details
According to a recent NABARD report, the size of the farm equipment market is expected to reach 9 lakh crore by 2022.
As said by Pravin, “The current farm mechanism industry is almost 80 thousand crore where new tractor industry takes up 40 thousand crore, the old tractor industry is at 20 thousand crore, rental tractor industry is gauged approx.at 15k crore and finally the implement industry is at around. 5 thousand crore”
Founders of Khetigaadi
Mr. Pravin Shinde and Vishnu Dhas are the Co-founders of Khetigaadi.com.
Pravin Shinde himself is a farmer’s son and he witnessed the hardships faced by agricultural community closely. His aim was to address one of this major challenges of our country. Pravin is a graduate in Economics and a diploma holder in Agricultural Technology. He began his professional career by joining his family owned business dealing in fertilizers, pesticides and chemicals. Pravin’s family was the first one to know about his plans and the idea behind conceiving Khetigaadi. After gaining a bit of market experience, he joined SAR Agrochemicals & Fertilizers Pvt. Ltd., which was founded by his elder brother, Prashant Shinde.
Today SAR Agro-chemicals & Fertilizers Pvt. Ltd. is amongst the finest manufacturers, suppliers, traders, distributors and importers of range of Organic and Inorganic Fertilizers. Apart from managing Khetigaadi, Pravin is also Founding Director of SAR Agro-chemicals & Fertilizers Pvt. Ltd.
In Oct. 2017 Pravin was in the process of taking SAR Agro-chemicals & Fertilizers beyond local borders. He met Mr. Vishnu Dhas at an event. They say when you have similar interests, working together becomes easy. Vishnu’s views about the need to further mechanize farming techniques and raising the farmers, our ‘annadatas’ on a respectable strata of the society, were similar to Pravin’s ideas and vision. In no time their wavelengths matched and Pravin and Vishnu came together to do a successful event together in February 2018. After that there has been no looking back. Pravin and Vishnu officially got together in June 2018 and Mr. Vishnu Dhas became an integral part of Khetigaadi as Co-founder and Executive Director.
How was Khetigaadi Started
Pravin being from a farmer family was well aware of the issues the farmer faced, and was willing to do something for the improvement of the status of the farmers. Khetigaadi was started with a vision to bring about and facilitate a positive change in the way farming is undertaken in India and to bring India at par with the developed nations in terms of farm mechanization.
“Farmers are the most important ones – our ‘Annadata’. My quest is to empower them, improve their current situation and bring them into the mainstream. They deserve limelight and I want them to realize how important their part is in our lives. My conscious is continuously hunting for novel ideas to better their situation.” says Pravin explaining the motto behind starting Khetigaadi.
Farmers, their challenges, the villages, techno-innovation in bringing about a positive change in the agricultural sector – all of this is very close to his heart. Through Khetigaadi he seeks to reach out to a maximum number of farmers in each and every nook and corner of India with the help of technology.
I am constantly thinking about how else can I offer the farmers with solutions that will take away manual labour from their routine and at the same time fetch them good yield.
Khetigaadi – Startup Launch
When Khetigaadi started off, the team did not even have all the information required to educate and convince the farmers, on one platform. It wasn’t available online nor were there any offline sources where they could collate it from. They reached out to various agriculture-based research centers and sometimes even purchased the much-need information and reports. This exercise took almost a year where they compiled all the data and studies that will help enlighten the farmers and convince them about the need for mechanization.
Mr. Pravin Shinde’s brother also came in and helped a lot with the business activities. They built the website in-house without any professional help. They eventually built the website to what it looks today, through trial and error and multiple hurdles. It is a success nonetheless!
Khetigaadi launched the portal in May 2016 from its Pune office. They faced some backlash when they got started. But Khetigaadi team reached out to the farmers undeterred. Exhibitions, One-ones, sessions and social media handles have helped them immensely in their awareness campaign.
Moving further, Khetigaadi commercially launched itself in 2018 for manufacturers and distributors of tractors and farm equipment. Renowned tractor manufacturer John Deere was the first customer on the platform.
Khetigaadi – Name and Logo
As the platform deals with vehicle (gaadi) and equipment used for agriculture (kheti), the company is rightly called ‘Khetigaadi’
All of us dream of owning a vehicle (either a four wheeler or a two wheeler depending upon aspirations). Similarly, a farmer also aspires to own one albeit, his fancy is of owning a tractor that’ll help him take his farming skills on to the next level. It in fact for him is synonymous with his farm. A ‘gaadi’ used for ‘kheti’ and that’s where we leaped feeling thrilled for thinking of ‘khetigaadi’. That moment is still fresh like yesterday for me.
After the word ‘Khetigaadi’ was coined, and their team started building the platform, they realized that there is no other such platform in the world where information regarding farming automation and mechanization is collated and accessible. That’s when they came up with the tagline, ‘World’s first Agri-Mechanism for Indian Agriculture’.
Khetigaadi Logo
Khetigaadi – Revenue Model
Khetigaadi serves as an Advertising and Marketing platform for all manufacturers, and dealers. The Khetigaadi revenue model works from-
Display Advertising
Enquiry Selling
Transaction base
Google Adsense
Product Promotion
Dealer Promotion
Reach Media
Khetigaadi – User Acquisitions
The team of Khetigaadi traveled village to village talking to farmers. Beginning with Nashik in Maharashtra and Jalandhar in Punjab, they met farmers one-by-one and explained the concept of Khetigaadi. After initial hiccups and disbelief, the farmers were convinced about Khetigaadi. These are the two cities where they got their first 15-20 clients.
Pravin and Vishnu also spent almost one year in different initiatives like exhibitions, seminars, one-one discussions and workshops; to share information and enlighten farmers on how best can they optimize yield by mechanization. Social media platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook helped them take their awareness campaign to another level and helped them reach the grass root levels. With all of these, Khetigaadi managed to bring a sizeable farmer community on their platform.
I would like to give due credit to the new generation of farmers who are tech-savvy and keen on exploring innovation in farming.
Khetigaadi – Startup Challenges
Khetigaadi faced many challenges along its way. Starting off, was communication of a techno-driven initiative to uneducated farmer community. However, the team received positive response from the farmers.
The kind of enthusiasm shown and hunger to know more about mechanization is unparalleled. It was their curiosity that encouraged us to collate all possible data on one platform so that it becomes available for one and all – says Pravin about the response the Khetigaadi team received from the farmers
Khetigaadi – Competitors
Some of the competitors of Khetigaadi that have recently entered the Indian market are Tractor Gyan and Tractor Guru. Khetigaadi however, precisely stands out from the competitors as they don’t just offer buying, selling and renting of farm equipment but also guide them to boost the farmers confidence in decision-making. There are similar platforms in terms of concept but the kind of technology, information and knowledge they offer; is second to none.
Mr. Pravin Shinde’s family and friends have provided rock-solid support in every initiative that he has taken up. The team is also looking forward to on board experienced mentors for guiding them to take up the market, that is increasingly becoming competitive.
Khetigaadi – Future Plans
Khetigaadi recently achieved a significant milestone by registering 30 lakh farming communities on Khetigaadi platform. They also have on board 8 reputed tractor brands as clients.
Going forward their ambition is to provide one single platform for tractor and farm equipment brands where they can sell and service their products alongside assisting them in business development. Khetigaadi’s mission is to connect 10 Million farmers to mechanized ways of farming.In the near future, Khetigaadi will also introduce AI based products.
Our farmers and the farming community are significant contributors towards the ecosystem and yet are the most neglected ones. Our core objectives are to educate them with right knowledge of farm mechanization, to encourage them to deploy it and optimize yield and of course to empower them with latest farming technology. We are already witnessing a positive difference with our initiatives amongst the farming community – Pravin Shinde, one of the founders of Khetigaadi
Khetigaadi – FAQs
What is Khetigaadi?
Khetigaadi is world’s first destination where one can buy, sell, rent, compare and review tractors and farm mechanization, Khetigaadi is an online platform where one can buy, sell and rent agricultural machinery. They also provide loan and insurance assistance on agricultural equipment.
Starting with something new has always been a fascinating idea. Especially when you are about to start something exclusively for you and your family then it comes with a layer of responsibility since you have to think widely about the positive outcome that they will be expecting from your venture.
Now, if you are looking to giving organic farming in India a kick start, then there are few things you might need to keep in the mind and at times make your family understand your ideas and convince them so you could accommodate their trust and support as a whole. But before you try and enlighten others, make sure you have enough knowledge with you so you don’t sound confused while answering their doubts.
Organic farming in India is a wide-spread strategy for yielding food crops and livestock that includes significantly more than picking the idea of not utilizing fertilizers, pesticides, genetically altered organisms, antibiotics, and growth hormones.
Organic Farming in India
Organic farming in India is a comprehensive framework intended to enhance the profitability and wellness of various networks inside the agro-environment, including soil organisms, plants, animals, and individuals. The chief objective of organic farming in India is to create ventures that are reasonable and sustainable for the environment.
Organic farming in India is an agrarian strategy that involves utilizing organic information sources and essentially diminishing the measure of synthetic substances. This method of farming also includes no usage of growth hormones in any way that it brings about decreased contamination and soil corruption.
In this way, the food we consume post-production becomes healthier and we get the absolute fresh and natural things to eat. Not to mention if you are diet conscious or a fitness freak then you must be an admirer of the all-natural way of producing food and consuming them.
Basics of Organic Farming
People often perceive things in a different way. What one person involved in organic farming in India believes is correct, trusts in, and practices probably won’t suit the prerequisites and objectives of another person who is also into organic farming in India. As a rule, quickly executing the informal advice can be counterproductive. Therefore, learning the basics of natural and organic farming in India is the initial phase. This certainly gives traces of what one may expect and where one ought to be beginning from. It is useful to infuse resources into pre-hand research.
Organic farming is growing
Additionally, it is also crucial to be attached to discussions with individuals who are presently doing the business. Partake in organic farming in India training projects and farmer-meet-up conferences. The experience of another farmer who already had gone through a similar phase can be extremely useful in making the exploratory process more polished.
The internet too has an enormous function as there is a huge playlist of instructional exercises, recordings, and online discussions about Organic farming in India. You might also get several books talking about organic farming in India as well. You can stay updated with the latest news related to the most recent patterns in organic farming in India, its advantages, and furthermore its significance with the assistance of OFAI (Organic Farming Association of India) — One of the biggest network of organic farmers in India.
Also, there is NPOF – the National Project on Organic Farming is, indeed, an extraordinary stage for all the organic farmers in Hyderabad to associate with a differing set of similar people container India.
Volume of your Venture
If you are undertaking organic farming for your weekend schedule, you could start in your backyard or terrace. Many of the working experts across the country have begun seeking organic farming in India as of their minor perspective with controlled agricultural techniques that are less labor-oriented.
However, in case you live in a gated community where this idea is shared among many like-minded individuals, a plot inside your locale can be distributed to make smaller than normal organic farms at a more prominent frequency. If you want to change your passion into a profession then you might need more prominent arrangements and a large-scale investment as well.
Selecting Site for Farming
The location of your venture plays an imperative part in any venture to be successful. The area of your organic farming in India typically decides how the endeavor will turn out. The organic farming site ought to be close to a clean water source: water is the most important asset for crop development and health.
In case, your water source is far away, it is significantly harder to deal with the irrigation measures. As an initiation, this might seem to be a monotonous thought to make but on the other hand, is essential for effective working on your farm.
The closeness of the organic farming area to the commercial center adds a major function in the manageability of the farm. The farm’s closeness to the market includes easy communication for selling. Likewise, this helps spare costs while shipping materials to the farm.
Soil is considered to be the foundation base of your farm. Starting from its appearance, well-being, and equalization everything is responsible for the production result. Therefore, it essentially becomes important to get when and how to develop your soil and make the most ideal condition for your harvests to endure and flourish.
Soil is essential- Organic farming in India
Things to Consider
Here are some things you need to consider before starting your farm.
1. Cultivation Time
Not everything will grow every time you put them under the soil and expect them to yield. So need to have a track of time and know which time is suitable for what step you will take.
Spring (February to April) – Best suitable for preparing the soil for new plantation.
Fall(October to November) – Suitable for the purpose of covering and layering the organic matter from your farm on the top-soil.
2. Analyse Your Soil
Clay or dense soil – Retains a lot of water and is preferable season is the fall, for utilizing the moisture-rich soil effectively.
Loose or sandy soil – Lower in water retention and is advisable to cultivate during the spring to add the suitable moisture-retention and to create a good ecosystem for your farm.
3. Types Of Crops
Deep-rooted crops – Drought resistance as the roots are capable of drawing a high amount of water from within. For instance, tomatoes, pulses, melons, and coarse cereals fall under this.
Shallow Rooted Crops – Higher dependency of water supply and requires continuous hydration. Monsoon is the best season for these crops. For instance, corn, cabbage, cauliflower, and mustard are the perfect ones.
4. Organic Manure
Green Manure – Green fertilizer helps in fostering a superior soil structure and the richness of the soil. They provide organic matter, an extra measure of Nitrogen, particularly if you are going for vegetable cultivation.
Compost – New deposits from the farm and household residues can be accumulated, saturated, and turn to get aerated at times and deteriorate steadily by reducing the Carbon: Nitrogen proportion.
The way toward growing a crop is very time-consuming. Organic farming in India requires some serious devotion and more consideration contrasted with regular cultivating. There are sure procedures that should be considered relying upon the plant and farm condition.
Understanding the Market
Marketing for any startup is a pivotal process to grow. Even in farming, it is imperative to know what sort of market you will need. to provide a good increase. Some horticultural items may not make a good sell in a specific sort of market. This thought is useful in making your venture sustainable.
The growth of organic food sale
While the consequences of organic farming may appear to be alluring, the way toward setting up and keeping up the farm is an extremely hard one. It takes difficult work, tolerance, perseverance, and a high level of confidence. If you need assistance, refer to InAcres — a team of devoted individuals with a goal to promote and produce integrated organic farming in India and there is Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) — another team that fosters the pursuit of involving eco-friendly ecosystems all around the country.
There is a huge downside because of the extra land that is being used to grow organic crops,” said Stefan Wirsenius, an associate professor at Chalmers. “If we use more land for food, we have less land for carbon sequestration. The total greenhouse gas impact from organic farming is higher than conventional farming.”
What is organic farming and its benefits?
Compared with conventional agriculture, organic farming uses fewer pesticides, reduces soil erosion, decreases nitrate leaching into groundwater and surface water, and recycles animal wastes back into the farm. These benefits are counterbalanced by higher food costs for consumers and generally lower yields.
Is Organic Farming Profitable in India?
According to International Fund for Agriculture and Development (IFAD), India has more than 15,000 certified organic farms. Organic farms are generally more profitable and environmentally friendly, as it uses fewer chemicals and the residue is comparatively less chemical-intensive.
How can I start organic farming in India?
Things You Need to Know When Starting an Organic Farm
Learn the basics of organic farming.
The site is key.
Match the land with what it is best for.
Know your market.
Prepare the soil and make good compost.
Take care of what you plant.
Seek a mentor and network with people.
Seek a mentor and network with people.
Why Organic farming is expensive?
Organic foods are difficult to grow as they need high involvement and more time to grow. Moreover, lower yields of such crops and poor supply (still developing) chain further increases the production cost.
What are disadvantages of organic farming?
Disadvantages of organic farming
Organic food is more expensive because farmers do not get as much out of their land as conventional farmers do.
Production costs are higher because farmers need more workers.
Marketing and distribution are not efficient because organic food is produced in smaller amounts.
Is organic farming difficult?
Some areas are natively organic, but others that are large producers of pulses etc., have been farming with chemicals. Converting these into organic has many challenges, however, from a broader perspective, these challenges can be met with proper counter-measures and government policies.
Conclusion
Farming these days is done by putting people’s lives at risk with harmful pesticides and fertilizers. The main problem is the population growth in India. As the population increases, the demand and supply for foods are also increased. To cater to the needs, food production is done by using chemical fertilizers, toxic pesticides, and hybrids. Due to the excess use of chemicals, human health and nature are being adversely affected. To solve this issue, Organic Farming is the best possible solution to protect ourselves and nature from deadly chemicals.
Organic farming is a traditional way of farming that has been followed for ages. In India, organic farming is an agricultural method that is aimed to grow crops so as to keep the soil alive. It is done by following good practices using organic waste, waste crops, animal and farm waste, aquatic waste, and other organic materials.
Compared to the traditional global financial systems or procedures, blockchain technology is considered to be in its infancy. Besides, the superior features that blockchain contains, they can potentially improve or evolve the existing solutions not only in industry and commerce but in all the aspects of our day to day lives, giving birth to the modernization.
The food passing through many hands and processes as it gets to the family dinner table or any restaurant. Who is to assure the quality? How credible is the quality assurance process? Besides what consumer can see and smell, how else can they verify the quality of what is before them at the dinner table? Let us see how the problems have been solved with agri-tech startups.
Blockchain technology adaption in Agriculture which represents 6.5% of the entire world’s economic production employing nearly 40-45% of the total global workforce and its total worldwide production is round about 5 trillion dollars. Farmers have been facing complicated ecosystems with seasonal financing structures, needing careful timing and a lot of moving parts. It has become vital to solving these solutions with modern Blockchain technology.
Blockchain is everything about recording or continuously monitoring the information in a particular way that makes it difficult to change, hack, or cheat the data or the system.
Blockchain is a special digital ledger of transactions by design that is duplicated and distributed across the entire network of computer systems. It is cryptographically secure and is a write once-append only, distributed and decentralized system.
Each block in the chain contains a set of transactions, and every time a new transaction occurs on the blockchain, a record of the respective transaction is added to every participant’s ledger.
Blockchain uses in Agriculture
Blockchain Technology in Agriculture
Blockchain in agriculture is one of the useful technology that makes the process of growing and supplying food simpler.
Blockchain in agriculture has been around in global markets for quite some time now and even in India, there have been projects for blockchain for food supply. The government had launched a blockchain-based marketplace which was aimed at helping integrate the farmers with markets in a transparent manner and lead to provide a fair price for the coffee producers.
The Blockchain uses in Agriculture:
Generating a better market data for better decision-making with data science in agriculture
Financing and insurance for small farmers
Simplifying all the stages of the agricultural supply chain process
Providing farmers and businesses with easy access to agricultural financial services
Reducing financial risks and promoting inclusive trade
Legally proving certifications to relevant authorities
Improving food safety and eliminating counterfeit items
Fair pricing through the value chain for all sectors
Emission reductions and support for environmentally friendly initiatives
More informed consumer purchasing decisions
Sustainable business and reduction of waste
Decreased transaction fees and less dependence on any services
Transparent transactions and elimination of fraud
Improved quality of products and fewer health diseases from food
Easy Data accessibility
How Blockchain works in Agricultural field
Some Successful Agritech Startups
Witnessing and adapting to the blockchain technology, new and creative start-ups are redesigning the agricultural landscape. Their Projects are mostly focused toward enhancing global traceability, easing international transactions, providing crop insurance, and optimizing the food chain. Here are some of the blockchain agritech startups.
Agri10x, one of the innovative startup, is a Pune-based agritech which has announced that it will collaborate with the Indian government to help the remote farmers to sell their produce directly in the market using blockchain and artificial intelligence platform.
It even provides farmers with transparency with a fair price, and assist them in collecting real-time data to manage their harvests efficiently. This approach will provide farmers with easy access to a global marketplace to sell their produce directly, without needing any middlemen.
AgaveCoin
AgaveCoin, an agritech organization, provides a secure transaction method with their native token AGVC. Its business is aimed at providing a global payment solution to ease the trade of agricultural products and services in the agave production chain. The diverse use of AgaveCoin provides versatile utility of agave-based textiles, biosystems, liquors, nanoplastics, biofuels, organic food, and many more.
AgriDigital
AgriDigital is a cloud-based blockchain program used for commodity management of grain. This handles all the transactions and logistics, buying, selling, and trading grain far better and easier while ensuring transparency and traceability.
It stores all data, manages inventory, and provides easy channels of communications with customers. For buyers, this system provides a dashboard to manage deliveries of grain orders and track the history of the products.
AgriChain
AgriChain is a distributed and decentralized blockchain platform that enables easy management and communication between supply chain participants. The software provides a secure, transparent platform for agricultural stakeholders to transact internationally reducing supply chain costs.
The farming and logistics management software also aims to link distributors, growers, and retailers, for smoother inventory movement.
Demeter
Demeter is trying to evolve traditional agriculture process through the rental of global microfields. It connects those who want to farm organically with those who have tilled land.
The system puts farmers in touch with places they can farm, and potential food customers in touch with farms selling produce. This is to reduce overheads for both parties, resulting in access to affordable organic food.
The Bottom Line
In the agriculture field, blockchain has proved to bea technology that can re-engineer the existing systems from settling transactions, tracing the food origin, tracking food supply and tracking the customer demand to creating new marketplaces. Considering the current competition in this field, it has become a necessity to stay informed of the most recent developments in the field to face the competition.
However, it’s clear that there are opportunities in the agriculture industry. The global agriculture industry is now worth over 2.4 trillion dollars and has over one billion people involved worldwide.
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With increasing income and ease of accessibility to health-related information, Indians are now more health conscious than ever. From pursuing a gluten free diet to going vegan, there’s no shortage of trends followed in the name of fitness. This has caused people to favor organic foods over the traditional alternatives. This in turn has given rise to the Concept of Microgreens. Learn and Read more about the Microgreens Business in India, Farm2Fam – A Microgreen Startup and its company profile.
Microgreens are the first leaves that grow from the seeds of herbs, vegetables, or flowers. They are harvested within 14 days of seed germination. Micro-greens are found to be 40 times more nutrition than mature vegetables.
Observing the benefits of micro-greens and their rising demand, Keya Salot left her career in law and started ‘Farm2Fam’, a startup that offers live microgreens straight to one’s doorstep.
Farm2Fam is a Mumbai based startup which grows microgreens; these are free from pesticides, herbicides, and chemicals and delivered straight to the customer’s doorstep. Farm2Fam was founded in January 2019.
Farm2Fam aims to create awareness about the capacity of the human body to heal itself with natural nutrition. We intend to use technology in combination with traditional Indian agricultural methods to grow niche nutritional products.
Farm2Fam – Microgreens Industry
The microgreens industry is at a nascent stage at present since the mass isn’t that aware of microgreens, their usage and benefits yet. The exposure to microgreens is currently restricted to the USA and Europe with its fad slowly catching up across the globe.
Research by the University Of Maryland College Of Agriculture and Natural Resources (AGNR) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), corroborates the fact that microgreens have more nutritional value than their mature counterparts.
There has been an increased focus on natural nutrition in recent times. Modern lifestyle has led to an influx of diseases like cancer, diabetes, blood pressure, thyroid, migraines, sinuses, etc. The size of the microgreens industry is bound to grow exponentially keeping this in mind. Microgreens often take center stage in a gourmet recipe and are added for flavor and presentation. However, microgreens are little gems loaded with nutrients such as beta-carotene, multi-vitamins, and lutein. The demand for microgreens will also lead to a drastic increase in urban farming.
Keya Salot is a law graduate from Government Law College, Mumbai. She worked with reputed farms prior to starting Farm2Fam. She always desired to be an entrepreneur and chose to study law for understanding entrepreneurship from a third perspective before taking it up permanently. As the founder, she likes to call herself as a sustainable urban farmer
Sustainable urban agriculture always interested Keya and was imperative for the ideation of Farm2Fam.
As they say, you cannot take entrepreneurship out of a Gujarati. I think being an entrepreneur comes very naturally to me. Once I was certain about working in sustainable urban agriculture, I quit my job in the legal profession and undertook this full-time.
Farm2Fam – How It Began
Keya is a vivid reader. She followed a few write-ups on sustainable urban agriculture, finding it exciting. With more studies on the topic over time, she realized that the ongoing climatic deterioration and never changing human habits will result in a world where people would have monetary resources but no food and water.
Sustainable urban agriculture can help the urban lot get access to fresher and healthier food. Therefore, she started working on sustainable urban agriculture as her preferred domain. Keya collaborated with several industry experts to set up a system, the synergy between Indian agricultural practices and the technology behind insulation and automation. Keya finally chose live microgreens as the product to launch for the following reasons:
Live microgreens are the perfect blend of taste and nutrition as they have up to 40 times more nutrition than the vegetables that we eat.
They enable people to eat food as fresh as possible.
Microgreens take us close to nature as it requires plucking them from the medium (shrubs, herbs, etc.) before consumption.
Farm2Fam – Name, Tagline, And Logo
Farm2Fam Logo
The name Farm2Fam exudes the company’s motto to deliver fresh food straight from the farm to households.
We need our products to be available in every household so that people do not suffer from lack of micro-nutrients. We would like to provide fresh produce locally, as it is very important to eat free from pesticides healthy food by using sustainable methods of agriculture.
Farm2Fam’s tagline is ‘Eat Local, Think Global’.
As Farm2Fam’s business is based on urban farming and agriculture, the logo comprises a green background.
Farm2Fam – Products
Farm2Fam introduced fresh and nutritious live microgreens to Mumbai and brought the vegetable confetti rationale from the west. The microgreens produced by Farm2Fam is an exceptional blend of traditional Indian agriculture methods and the latest technology in insulation and automation. Farm2Fam uses certified organic soil-less potting mixture that is specially formulated for early stages of plant growth.
Loaded with nutrition, Farm2Fam offers 40 exotic flavors that include: Swiss chard, Alfalfa, Nasturtium, Purple Kohlrabi, Sango Radish, and Sunflower to name a few.
We provide extremely fresh and niche products, grown in the city, to every doorstep and restaurant in Mumbai and we focus on improving the health of the end users.
Some major USPs of Farm2Fam products are:
No GMOs
No pesticides
No herbicides
No chemicals
Grown in an insulated environment
Microgreens are delivered at the customer’s doorstep live and fresh.
Wheatgrass and barley grass – 2 trays a week for Rs.2000.
For restaurants and hotels, Farm2Fam offers microgreens starting from INR 180-400.
Farm2Fam – User Acquisition
Farm2Fam successfully devised several samples and experiments for 12 months before launch. The nutritional values that the company provides through its live microgreens has attracted and retained customers. Today, the company has several customers who have subscribed to its services.
Farm2Fam tied up with ‘Illuminati’, a restaurant-cum-bar in Bandra Kurla Complex, for live micro-table tops. The experience with the end consumers was so good that the orders were doubled within two weeks.
Farm2Fam also showcased its products at Luke Coutinho’s Farmer Market. This helped Farm2Fam step up its awareness amongst people about its brand and products.
We showcased our distinct products like Kale Microgreens, Pink Radish Microgreens, Arugula Microgreens, Broccoli Microgreens, Cress Microgreens and spread the awareness of innovative, nutritious and healthy cooking. Our products have reached beyond medicine and the footfall was 2000+ people. Similar events will help us reach our end consumers directly.
Farm2Fam – Startup Challenges
With no expertise in agricultural/nutritional background, venturing into the field of agriculture combined with nutrition was a major hurdle for the Farm2Fam team as told by Keya. It took lots of effort and yearlong research to overcome this challenge.
Moreover, unstable weather conditions hampered the Farm2Fam team while developing an insulated environment for farming. Sourcing the right seeds and medium for growth was another problem. The Farm2Fam team had to undergo many trials and errors in selecting the right kind of seeds for the final products.
Farm2Fam – Competitors
Currently, Farm2Fam has no significant competition.
The idea of microgreens is new to Indians. There are negligible players in India who grow microgreens and provide them to end users and the hospitality industry; the case being that most of the restaurants in Mumbai get their microgreens from Bangalore. In addition, most of the players in Bangalore use hydroponics or plant pads as a medium of growth which requires the addition of organic chemicals/nutrition to the micros.
Farm2Fam is unique in its belief that plants should be given nutrition naturally. It grows the micros in a potting medium made using around 40+ ingredients such as coco peat, vermicompost, neem powder, etc.
Farm2Fam – Growth
Farm2Fam began in January 2019. In a short time span, the company has achieved and retained many customers and clients by providing high nutritional value microgreens. Farm2Fam’s products were tried and liked by famous health coach Luke Coutinho, anti-aging specialist Dr. Aalika Shah, leading cosmetologist Dr. Sonali Kohli, and many leading restaurants.
The company has also partnered with reputed restaurants like Taj Land’s End, ITC, Four Seasons, Out of the Blue, Sofitel, Foodhall Cookery Studio, and Punjab Grill.
Our achievements are in terms of the responses we receive. Several of our consumers have gotten rid of their migraines, sinuses, etc. by using our products regularly. Also, we count our orders being doubled with restaurants as quite an achievement.
In 2020, Farm2Fam sees itself in every household with a target of 300+ consumers every month and catering to around 100 restaurants. Over the next 5 years, it intends to launch new products like blueberries, raspberries, live saffron, etc. Farm2Fam will soon be partnering with marquee brands such as Pizza Express, Bay route, and White Charcoal.
“I have learned most things from the people around me. My husband and my parents are my role models. Renowned chefs always inspired me and their advice were a great help in flourishing our business. Consumers are the real mentors for us, as their responses play a major role and push us to produce variant products” – Keya Salot, Founder Farm2Fam
Farm2Fam /Microgreens – FAQs
What are the Health benefits of Microgreens?
Microgreens are Rich in nutrients, which can help in preventing a range of diseases, managing weight & boosting both mental and physical health and well-being. The Antioxidants Content help the body eliminate unstable waste molecules known as free radicals
Who is the Founder of Farm2Fam?
Keya Salot is the Founder of Farm2Fam, a startup that offers live microgreens straight to one’s doorstep.
What are the Healthiest Microgreens?
Pea Shoots, Radish Sprouts, Sunflower Shoot, Wheatgrass, Basil shoots etc., are some of the healthiest microgreens. Researchers also found that microgreens like red cabbage, cilantro, and radish contain up to 40 times higher levels of vital nutrients than their mature counterparts.
What are Microgreens?
Microgreens are the first leaves that grow from the seeds of herbs, vegetables, or flowers. They are harvested within 14 days of seed germination. Micro-greens are found to be 40 times more nutrition than mature vegetables.
Rishita Jain
