Startups that are revolutionizing the Agriculture Sector
Agritech as the name suggests refers to the use of technology in agriculture. India is a country where agriculture is one of the major sources of income for more than 40% of the population. Hence, the change in the agriculture sector is important to sustain and progress in the right direction. Gradually, Indian farmers are getting to know about the new technologies which can be adopted to improve the harvest and also to sell the produce. Most of the farmers are adopting new technologies as it has indeed made their life easier with promising results.
Agritech startups play an important role in revolutionizing the agritech industry. These startups are coming up with innovations to tackle several problems in agriculture. This has been seen as a welcome move by many farmers who are benefiting from these technologies. Hence, there is a constant rise in agritech startups in India.
Initially, it was the industrial revolution that gave rise to agriculture machinery which made the farmers' life easier with these machines. In this 21st century, we are heading from mechanical machinery to the application of the internet to improve the agriculture sector. Although it seems surprising, now most of the agritech innovations involve using IT to come up with new technologies that can improve agriculture.
Agritech startups are not far behind in developing IT products that can help farmers improvise the technique of farming, minimize some time-consuming tasks much more effectively, and also sell goods for better prices.
There are several technologies that are used in agritech, such as:
- Smart Farming - Thanks to analytics and machine learning, today it has become easier to understand the weather forecasts, soil conditions, and various other factors that will help farmers to understand which crops will be suitable to grow in such a condition and produce a good yield.
- Drones - You might’ve heard about drone cameras but did you know that now they are being used in agriculture? Yes, drones and satellites are being used to scale the terrain, monitor the crops, pollinate, and even plant seeds.
- IoT - Many farmers today are using IoT to track the weather conditions and soil conditions to understand the best time to plant crops and are used for many other purposes.
Interestingly, these technologies are improvised day by day with new technologies being developed by the agritech industry. Especially after the infamous Covid-19 pandemic, many farmers had to look for alternatives as there was a disruption for the traditional methods with the series of lockdowns and closed borders. The supply and demand chain is totally disturbed by the pandemic. Hence, many farmers saw a ray of hope with the help of agritech startups which not only helped them sell their produce but also in transporting the goods. Several startups also developed apps that helped farmers directly connect with the restaurants and people who can order freshly grown produce directly from the farmers.
Apart from that, the Indian government has been constantly bringing new changes in the agriculture sector, to improve the sector with the help of technology.
Amidst such a scenario, you can find several agritech startups who are doing their bits to raise the Indian economy.
Takachar:
Takachar is one such agritech startup that is helping farmers to minimize agri waste. Vidhyut Mohan, the man behind this startup, was always interested in agriculture-related projects during his student years. His startup developed a unique technology to convert agri waste into fuel and fertilizer. This way farmers can use the recycled agri waste for their advantage and also cut down the air pollution without burning the crops.
Conclusion:
Today, you can find several agritech startups which are bringing a new wave in the Indian agriculture sector. These startups are helping farmers make informed decisions and also improvise their techniques to increase their productivity.