Agriculture with Technology: Uncovering Agritech's Hidden Potential

Agriculture is the mainstay of the Indian economy. It accounts for merely 1 percent of the potential market opportunity of $24 billion. There are as many as 600 agri-tech startups with a motive of solving agricultural challenges.

As the world is progressing towards a more sustainable one with the help of technology, every sector is updating itself to meet the modern trends. Being a frontline sector of our country, the agriculture sector has a lot of potential in terms of technology growth. 

A report was published at the third edition of “FICCI Summit and Awards for Innovations by Agri Startups”. The FICCI-PwC report says that investors have shown more interest towards the agri-tech industry. Despite the pandemic, agri-tech has attracted an investment of more than $500 million which is $252 million more than that of the previous year.

The agri-tech startups are revolutionising traditional agricultural practices by leveraging latest technologies and modern farming practices such as Artificial Intelligence(AI), Data Analytics, Internet of Things(IoT), etc. Let us look at some those ways:

Smart farming practices

The smart farming model is gradually replacing conventional farming. It facilitates adoption of new techniques that increase the quality, quantity and efficiency of production by automation and other technologies. This makes it easier to meet the ever growing demands of the population.

Modern farming practices such as hydroponic farming and indoor vertical farming are proving to be fruitful as they involve growing plants in controlled environments. The highlight of vertical farms is that they can be started in any place indoors, making them the best choice when there is no availability of farmland.

The agri sector has reached greater heights where highly intelligent robots are put into work. Moreover, startups like Plenty, Otipy, DeHaat, etc are receiving huge investments from leading firms to set the bars of the agriculture industry high.

Analytics driven agriculture

Analytic reports of climatic changes, environment conditions, production and consumption factors, etc are helpful in making accurate and data-driven decisions. Data-driven decisions not only increase the yield but also decrease taken without any compromise in the quality. Analytics and the insights obtain from it make agriculture sustainable 

Looking forward, agri-tech has a way to go. Going by the FICCI-PwC report, the agri-tech industry can attract $10 billion investment over the next few years and can provide a huge job number of job opportunities.