The Indian Agritech sector is growing at a very fast pace, with Precision Agriculture sub-sector being one of the hottest space, from the perspective of startup innovation and activities as well as attention from investors. Precision Agriculture refers to the use of geospatial and weather data, IoT (Internet of Things), sensors, robotics, drones and more to improve productivity, create data-driven farm management solutions and improve resource management. This sub-sector directly impacts Indian farmers by saving time and resources, reducing environmental impact, reducing costs, increasing quality of output, increasing efficiency of farming activities and ultimately increasing income.
Here are some innovations and startups that are revolutionizing Indian Farms:
Farm IoT Devices
These devices have sensors which collect weather and soil related data, interpret it using AI/ML, and give meaningful insights to farmers like soil moisture, air humidity, sunlight intensity, disease prediction etc. They also give a precise schedule for irrigation and fertilizer spraying. These devices lead to reduction of input cost, water saving, better quality produce and higher overall production.
Notable Indian startups - Fyllo, Fasal
Farm Robotics
These devices are either remote controlled, or run autonomously using sensors and AI/ML. They replace farm labour for carrying out manual tasks like spraying, tilling and cultivating. Startups in India often adopt a Robotics-as-a-service model, where Farmers can hire their service to carry out a specific task, thereby eliminating the need to spend heavily upfront on the machine.
Notable Indian startups - Niqo Robotics, Farm Sathi
Greenhouse Systems
Startups providing new-age greenhouse solutions to farmers use tech enabled smart farming methods for production of high value crops like fruits & vegetables, and also offer end-to-end support to farmers like good quality inputs, intelligence and output linkage. Greenhouse systems also help farmers combat climate change as they create a controlled environment and also help farmers save resources.
Notable Startups – Kheyti, Pepper Farms
Agri Drones
These devices are either remote controlled or run autonomously using sensors. They drastically reduce the time taken by farmers to carry out spraying and seeding. They also provide farm analytics through a mobile application that helps the farmer to gain more insights on their farm and make quicker decisions.
Notable Startups - Marut Drones, FarmRobo
Satellite based Farm Analytics
Satellite based farm analytics is provided by running analytics on images of farms generated by existing satellites, with the use of ML and big data analytics. This helps farmers to get insights on soil & crop health, forecast weather and pest attacks. It also helps crop insurance providers and lenders to monitor farms and manage risk.
Notable Startups - Satyukt, Pixxel
Farm Management Software
These are SaaS platforms which collect data on farms from various sources, process it using AI/ML models, and give intelligence for decision making. Data being captured include weather, soil health, crop health, irrigation, input usage, etc. These platforms are mostly being used by input companies, financial institutions, corporate farming companies and large farm owners.
Notable Startups - Cropin, WRMS
This article is a part of the February'24 edition of our Startup Newsletter. Here's the complete publication:
