Agritech startups transforming farm sector in region
Vijay C Roy
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, September 17
With technology becoming ubiquitous in the agriculture sector, startups in the region are breaking conventional methods to supply inputs, assay quality and sell the produce. The intervention by startups is not only a win-win proposition for farmers but also for end consumers.
Faarms — an e-commerce marketplace enabled with artificial intelligence — is helping farmers in Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan to access over 1,500 products from brands such as Bayer, PI Industries, Crystal Crop, Godrej Agrovet, DeHeues, Asses, Bio Seeds and Corteva, among others. It was created with an idea to help farmers get critical crop-related advice at the click of a button.
The company is connected to around million farmers across 200 pin codes.
Similarly, Mohali-based AgNext Technologies provides rapid food quality assessment. The current quality analysis processes are manual which make them costly and time-consuming with accuracy up to 60%. AgNext solves the quality analysis problem through its proprietary and in-house technology products.
Otipy — a B2B2C social commerce platform launched in 2020 for fresh produce in India — is working closely with farmers and reseller partners, primarily women, to deliver fresh farm produce to end consumers within 12 hours of harvest.
“We aim to make a supply chain that supports farmers and provides businesses with freshest produce in the most efficient manner. By robust supply chain management, we manage to reduce wastage from 40% to 4% and that helps in bringing down the cost for consumers,” said Varun Khurana, founder & CEO, Otipy.
