The agriculture sector is nowadays seen as a sunrise sector. It is a major contributor to India’s GDP and acts as a primary source of income for more than half of the Indian population. India’s vast agriculture sector includes majorly small and medium cultivators. Post the Green Revolution, the sector hasn’t witnessed any major technological innovations. The impact of the same is also gradually fading fast.

The government now understands the importance of technology. They know technological solutions can give a long due push to the Indian agriculture sector. This will help bridge the gap between agriculture 3.0 and agriculture 4.0. The government has set up a new fund for this initiative. Speaking at the Dubai Expo 2020, additional agriculture secretary Abhilaksh Likhi said that though the government is going to invest but has decided to limit its participation to equity ownership of 20%.

Acting in the same direction, as per reports, the agricultural ministry has invited agritech startups and evaluated the proposals. The government wants to provide equity grants, provide technological help, and other supportive measures to agritech startups. Apart from the agricultural ministry, representatives from ministries of electronics and IT and health will also be a part of it.

Agritech is making way for agriculture 4.0

Agritech startups are focused on providing services such as digital solutions for agriculture, data-based inputs, crop monitoring, crop rotation, weather predicament, rural development, education, automation, and market intelligence. These will help in taking the next technical leap in the farm sector.

Startups are helping the sector with big technological change, and by raising large sums. This is because they disrupt the traditional way of doing business and leapfrog to efficiency, winning the trust of potential investors. India has surpassed the UK to be at number three in the list of countries with unicorns after the US and China. As of January 2022, India has 83 unicorns, with a total valuation of $277.77 billion. A unicorn is a startup having a valuation of at least $1 billion.

Currently, it is estimated that there are about 600 to 700 agritech startups in India. These are contributing at different levels in the agri-value chain. Agritech uses artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), the internet of things (IoT), etc, to understand the data being collected from fields and agri sector for greater resource use. This helps in increasing efficiency, transparency and building a sense of inclusiveness.

These startups act to empower farmers and small agrifood operators and give consumers a better deal. At the same time, these agritech have a network that also helps the bigger front-end players who demand bulk quality produce and have challenges indirectly linking with farmers.

Agritech works with different models. Some of them are farmer-to-consumer (F2C), farmer-to-business (F2B), and business-to-farmer (B2F).

Agritech startups have the potential to steer the shift towards demand-driven digital markets. However, the sustainability and scalability of startups will become of critical importance over time. There will be a lot of churning, with fallout and consolidation through mergers and acquisitions. If policies, institutions, and partnerships can harness the current momentum, the startup ecosystem can lead to the next-generation technology revolution in the agriculture sector.

While this central government-agritech partnership will make way for a digital revolution, this will also help in increasing the productivity of farmers. They will be able to grow more crops and sell the produce in mandis. This will help in increasing their income. As the inflow of agricultural produce in mandis will increase, this will also increase the workload of commission agents in mandis involved in mandi accounting. There will be a lot of paperwork as well as payments to be tracked. Understanding the concerns of commission agents in mandi accounting and turning them into opportunities, Bijak which is India’s Number 1 Agritrading App, came up with a solution for mandi accounting called ChargeERP.

ChargeERP is the solution

ChargeERP accounting software has been designed keeping in mind the daily interactions of commission agents in agricultural mandis. It is a cloud-based accounting software introduced with the core aim of reducing the agent’s workload. ChargeERP is the easiest, fastest, and most secure mandi accounting software available in India. One of the many benefits of this platform is that it can be accessed from anywhere and from multiple devices. It provides data security with end-to-end encryption. Plus, it doesn’t require any kind of technical or accounting expertise.

If you are looking to explore more about this next-level accounting software, feel free to dial +91 9311341199 or visit www.chargeerp.com, and request your free demo today. We also suggest that you follow us on Facebook for regular updates. You can also view the latest instructional videos on the ChargeERP YouTube channel.