Digital Agriculture: Why India Needs to Digitally Enable Farm Policies

Agriculture is continuing to show resilience in the face of one of the most disruptive crises the world has ever seen, writes Anil Nair at Financial Express. In the first quarter of the financial year ended June 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic contracted the Indian economy by 23.9%, with a 40% drop in manufacturing and muted activity in the service sector.

Agriculture was the lone bright spot and grew 3.4%. Agriculture not only grew and propped up a pandemic-hit economy but created jobs too. This indicates that to make our world more sustainable and inclusive, all of us – citizens, businesses, and the government – must double down to spur rural growth.

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Agriculture in India continues to battle the challenge of low farmer income and declining productivity. Technology can be a game changer and it is heartening to see agritech startups taking the lead in bringing smart, implementable solutions to farmers in India. According to Nasscom, India has over 450 startups in this space. Funding is up 300% over the previous year. The focus is on digital transformation for creating new value chains that are innovative and disruptive. More than 50% of these agritech startups offer supply chain solutions, including market linkages and better access to farm inputs. It augurs well that experts estimate we’ll see 9 million jobs in this space by 2024, and most will be in rural areas.

How we farm and use our land is responsible for about one-quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions. If we include emissions from processing, transport, storage, cooling, and disposal, that figure rises to more than 40%. Agritech, particularly digital solutions, can certainly help alleviate this.

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The government of India announced three new policies recently. The bill on agriculture markets called the ‘Farmer’s Product Trade & Commerce Bill, 2020’, seeks to promote an ecosystem where farmers can choose who to sell to for realizing the best prices. A digital portal can increase pricing transparency and enable more profitable trades. Leveraging the country’s robust digital payment systems will ensure speedy financial realization. The government’s stated objective of facilitative electronic trading can thus be actualizd.

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