The agricultural sector is the backbone of India’s economy. It accounts for 14 per cent of India’s GDP and employed 42% of India’s population. This was around 50 per cent of India’s gross GDP on the eve of independence. It has drastically reduced by 2019. India’s economy cannot thrive without some major technological boosts to Agro sector.
We bring you some of the major technological innovations in Agriculture in India.
1.The Try Flap
Crop damaging pests and insects are a prominent source of destruction of the crops. So, Bangalore based startup Barrix Agro has some unique innovations in store to counter this problem.
- Pest Sticky sheet:-They use a bright yellow colour sheet which is recyclable of wavelength 500 to 600 nm. Which can attract around 19 types of pest damaging insects from far.
- Catch Fruit Fly Trap:- Overuse of pesticide reduces soil fertility and contaminate nearby water bodies. Barrix started pheromone-based pest control which attracts pests and insects and traps them through artificial producing smelling agents.
You can refer their website also over here.
2. Artificial Intelligence to reduce Farm Waste and Cost
Farmpal an Agro-Startup from Pune is using AI methodologies Food wastage in Supply Chain. App-based technologies which connect the farmers with consumers. With data analytics, Farmpal can predict the demand during peak and non-peak seasons, a week before the harvest. This keeps the farmers informed about the demand of several agricultural products in the market. This enables them to streamline the process of inventory management, orders and supply forecasts.
Refer their website
3. Agri-Culture Drones
The term, “drones”, is mostly synonymous with spying and monitoring. However, their usage in the Agricultural sector has reduced the tedious jobs like monitoring crops, deteriorating soil as well as fungal infections for farmers. Recently when the Locusts made havoc in North India, during April and May of 2020, drones were used to protect the crops from this pest attack.
India’s largest weather forecasting and Agri-risk company. According to Skymet, they have radar all across the country by which they can predict accurate weather and by which they have helped the farmers in past by predicting drought or flood like situations over an area in advance. Skymet has experts in weather measuring & forecasting and they believe that their accurate forecast can help farmers to take action in time and help prevent crop damage.
This could be one of the biggest technological innovations in agriculture in India. Because of their timely predictions, there has been a reduction in crop damage from floods and droughts.
5. Farm to Business model(Crofarm)
A Bengaluru based startup deals in Farm to Business venture. They digitised Agro-Supply chain management with zero Agricultural wastage. Around 10,000 farmers from Delhi-NCR, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh are connected with Crofarm. The direct farm to Consumers business has helped the farmers. According to Corafarm, they are getting around 25 per cent more than they were getting from selling in normal mandis.
Crofarm earns a commission of around 5-25 per cent depending upon the type of produce. This startup has helped many grocery supply giants like Reliance Retails, Grofers, Big Basket.
This type of innovations in agriculture by Indian Startups make farmers take pride in what they are doing as well as makes them feel empowered.
6. Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence
Data analytics, data mining and deep learning in AI can play a major role in India’s agro-sector. Satsure, a startup founded in 2016, uses satellite-image processing, and big data analytics to help the agriculture sector of India. They also provide solutions to improve crop insurance for farmers. Market links option is also made available through intelligence frameworks to stakeholders in the supply chain of agricultural produce.
Through their mobile app, they provide farmers with the data when to sow, when to harvest, when to prepare for fertilization works and supply demands. Their services are used by Andhra Pradesh Government also and this startup is supported by NITI aayog.
Visit their website for more information
7. Artificial Intelligence in the Crop Irrigation System and Automation farming
Irrigation, the most important aspect of agriculture, cultyvate a Bengaluru based startup has made farming automated using Artificial Intelligence, Intelligent of Things with Smart Irrigation solutions. Through their Smart AI solutions and analyzing parameters, they are providing irrigation and nutritional contents.
Their aim to achieve optimal productivity of crops by efficiently using available water resources with their solutions by analyzing the climate conditions and irrigation demands by which farmers can minimize the risk of crop damage and pest infection of crop. With their smart use of pesticides and their solution led to reduced in crop costs.
They thrive in automation farming with the integration of sensor, valves, switches with the data of climatic conditions led to almost zero human intervention and allow farmers to plant their crops with the amount of water and available resources. Certainly, Indian startups aiming at bringing innovations related to irrigation of crops can boost the agro-sector in India.
Visit cultyvate to get to know about their business
8. Digital Green
A non-profit international organisation which focuses on skill development of farmers. Farmers share their problem and their solutions with short videos. The shared success stories are a source of information and inspiration for other farmers as well.
Farmstack:-They gather data from various sources and provide area-specific information to the food producers of India after the integration of data to boost their agro outputs. They get information about timely soil wealth, weather forecasts and potential risk by the pest.
Training frontline workers:-They provide training to frontline workers in this industry through their curriculum. With the help of this curriculum, farmers can improve the productivity of their land as well as the quality of the products produced. This is done both online and offline through their mobile app.
Visit Digital Green for more Information
9. Nano Nutrients-Nano technology in Agriculture
Impeccable Innovations a Bengaluru based startup uses the idea of “Nano Nutrients ” which enhances the photosynthesis process for boosting crop production.
As per the Nualgi Nano Biotech, their product Nano nutrient Nualgi- comprises of 12 nutrients like iron, manganese molybdenum, cobalt, zinc and others. These nutrients easily disperses into the stomata because of its Nano form. Crop absorbs more Carbon Dioxide which enhances the process of photosynthesis. This leads to approx 10-15 per cent yield in certain crops and in mustard the yield is about 30 per cent.
This serves as a food for microorganisms and can enhance the fertility of the soil.
Their other product, Nualgi Fish & Prawn Culture, helps to restore aquatic heath by killing the toxic algae that grows due to excessive industrial pollution. This product helps to prohibit the growth of the toxic algae by reducing the Nitrates and Phosphates which gets used up by Diaton algae and improves the aquatic environment.
Visit their website
10. Mitra (Machine, Information, Technology, Resources and Agriculture)
A Nashik based Startup has become the largest manufacturer Dusters and Orchard Spray used extensively in mechanization horticulture farming( oranges, grapes Mango etc). Their products are backed by high-quality Research & Development. Air Blast sprayers are used to spray hormones to fruit and vegetables for their growth which reduces required manual efforts.
To ease out the agriculture production they are developing other products like Rotomaster, Cropmaster & Duster. This could be one of the incredible technological innovations in agriculture in India which could be one step forward to Automative farming.
11.Supply Chain in Agriculture
An Uttar Pradesh based Supply Chain, Gobasco tends to ease out the process of the supply chain in Agriculture through real-time data analysis, with an AI-driven approach, to minimize wastage.
They procure fresh vegetables and fruits from nearby farmers and sell them at a reasonable price, both offline and online. Procurement and selling of crops is done in an efficient manner. Crops are procured at an optimal cost, minimal interference from intermediaries is ensured an optimal transportation method is selected by Gobasco.
They focus on Quality insurance of their commodities to maintain International standards with AI-based grading and sorting.
Real-time data analytics with Deep learning which they gather from various producer and buyers to ensure a risk-free operation and gain high transactions with optimal margin.
EndNote:- Technological innovations in agriculture in India are essentially required to boost this sector which was little stagnant in past. However, with the upcoming latest tech-savvy Startup equipped with latest technologies, this sector is gaining back its lost pride, which is the backbone of Indian Economy.
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