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India has the largest agricultural community all over the world, with around 70 percent of the Indian population rely on and engaged in some kind of agricultural activity. However, in some way, the industry has a huge potential for AgriTech startups and entrepreneurs.

Recently, the central and state governments of India have woken up to the farm crisis and are aggressively pursuing policies for the betterment of the farmers. In this line, the Narendra Modi Government has targeted to double the average farmer's income by 2022. But this is possible only when startups associated with AgriTech fill the gap. Also, in the recent budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman further emphasised on agricultural policies being the government’s agenda. She too promised to invest in agriculture.

Why AgriTech Lagging Behind

There are several issues putting back the agricultural industry, including a fragmented land-holding pattern, immense decline in agricultural land in comparison to the population growth and a lack of technological advances. There are also a range of major issues adding woes to the sector – the fundamental problems of depleted ground-water, low-quality seeds and damaged soil quality due to over-use of chemicals; The lack of market linkage creates a considerable gap in the industry that is striving to extirpate the present malpractices in the marketing structure of production; The facilities for transportation and storage are notoriously inadequate; and the scarcity of credit or high lending rates by local entities causes thousands of farmers to commit suicides.

Indian AgriTech Startups Help Create the Opportunity 

The Indian Agri-startups has seen huge growth since 2014. Considering the facts and data, the Agri-exports witnessed a $32.08 billion capital growth, at a CAGR of 6.75% during 2015-2016. AgriTech companies have been instrumental in jump-starting the organized growth in this sector.

According to the NASSCOM report, the sector had raised a $73 million funding last year. Additionally, the global focus on the existing gaps and the potential of remarkable growth has created a surge in the funding in 2019. And till June this year, the AgriTech industry has been able to clinch massive financing of more than $248 million.

World AgriTech Industry Will Benefit from Indian AgriTech Startups 

Market linkage, farmer markets in the digital space, better database management, digital agriculture, and micro-financing are gaining traction and popularity, making the sector conducive to attract funding.

Not only India, South-East Asia, Europe, Africa, and South America are also benefitting from the surge in Indian AgriTech startups. However, there are several areas that need improvements such as the reduction of input costs, better nutritional value in food crops, superior quality seeds to drive crop production and enhancing soil quality. Leveraging technology also assists agritech entrepreneurs or startups to envisage weather patterns, irrigation cycles and soil quality that will advance the quality of production.

Since the Digital agricultural services market is set to reach $4.55 billion by 2020, new-age startups are leveraging technology to tap the retail as well as B2B marketplaces through Digital agronomy startups.