Decoding the Imperative Role of Agritech across the Value Chain
To say that agritech is only used for on-field operations is like saying that mobile phones are only used for accessing social media. There is no denying that maximising output in an agricultural driven economy like India is important. After all, 60–70% of the country’s population is employed in the sector, cultivating a rich array of crops for food and fibre on an astounding total of 156.46 million hectares of arable land.
However, technology is now used for improving the speed at which agriculture is growing and developing. Growth today is not merely measured by production, but also depends majorly on productivity. This is where the agricultural value chain comes into the picture. Agriculture is not solely about battling erratic rainfall, mitigating pest and crop disease concerns, ensuring adequate soil health, etc. It also involves planning the storage, distribution, price points, negotiation and marketing as a whole.
FarmERP is one such organisation that aims to make the agricultural sector extremely streamlined in its manner of functioning, through every point in the value chain. Using technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer vision, blockchain and deep learning, the agritech market is ripe for new players in India.
Agritech Influence on Various Stakeholders
The agricultural value chain includes different stakeholders with varied conditions. It is imperative to understand (individually) how agritech impacts them so as to get an insight into its overall role.
- The Farmer: It is said that apart from digital money, the biggest currency or asset in the 21st century is information. It is agritech that has made this currency widely accessible and thus, useful. Earlier, a farmer would just travel to the nearest market to sell his produce for prices of which he was not even aware of. Today, all prices are available and a farmer can easily evaluate his opportunity costs. In doing so, today’s farmer is willing to go to a place that may be more than 100 miles away; just to get the right money for his effort.
- Agri-food Enterprises: The primary objective of agricultural organisations is meeting consumer demand and to do that, they require accountability as well as traceability. Information remains a currency for them and it comes in the form of data. Enterprises today want to be more data-oriented to allow the prediction of future trends. Along with that, data also enhances visibility which leads to an increased ability to reduce risks and control costs. Therefore, agritech may be of greater importance to the suppliers than to the farmer.
- Consumers: In the 21st-century consumer decisions are majorly affected by sustainable and organic awareness campaigns. Added to that, with a global pandemic governing the way we live, people are conscious now more than ever. Their concerns majorly surround the safety and hygiene of what they consume. They judge a supplier by his ability to be transparent and assess his reliability based on how hands-on he is with the consumer-focussed technology systems.
It is a well-known fact that the mobile phone has taken over a variety of roles in our life, such as being a news source, research resource, communication medium, etc. The same can be said about agritech. It is a larger and indispensable part of the agricultural value chain today. Relying on agritech is thus becoming increasingly important for agricultural stakeholders, now more than ever.
Sowing the Technology Seeds for Agricultural Transformation
Agritech today is aggressively aiding the technological makeover of the agricultural sector. Innovations and disruptive technologies are introducing new ways for agricultural stakeholders to enhance the productivity of their operations. This has highlighted the need to focus more on making agritech advancements so as to make the agriculture industry more efficient and profitable. But to achieve a digitalised and optimised future for agriculture, it is important for agribusinesses to start implementing agritech solutions in their end-to-end practices.
Are you on the lookout for an advanced agritech partner for your agribusiness operations? FarmERP, with its next-gen agritech solutions, can take farm management to the next level and substantially boost your business profits. Contact us to know more about the effectiveness of our state-of-the-art ERP software and ingenious agritech offerings.
