OdishaPlus Bureau
The seminar on ‘Smart Solutions by Agri Start-ups and Value Chain Management’ at Krushi Odisha was one of the most sought after event. Bringing some of the best brains from the agriculture start up and value chain industry like Mr. S. Sreenivas Rao, Co_Founder TraceX, Mr. Saroj Nayak, Dean Faculty and Planning, School of Basic Sciences, IIT Bhubaneswar, Mr. Ananda Kumar Mishra, Founder & CEO, Grozip, Mr. KC Mishra, Founder & Director, eKutir, Ms. Anu Meena, Founder, AgroWave, Mr. Ashok Prasad, Co-Founder, Unnati, the seminar was held in front of a packed crowd.
Mr. Saroj Nayak, the moderator opined that farmers should be encouraged to use solar technology as it is cost effective, easily available and renewable. He further elaborated on the various schemes and subsidies given to farmers opting for solar technology in their farms being given by both the central and the state governments.
Mr. KC Mishra elaborated how in the year 1980, the advent of mobile technology was hailed as the 4th industrial revolution. “There is a need to link farmer to the consumer and vice versa. Bloom, our brand has received investment from the Swiss Government. We are working intensively with farmers in 5 districts of Odisha with pans to penetrate further” said Mr. Mishra.
“Marketing is not done post harvest; it’s done since from sowing the seed. Bloom gives smallholders (farmers with very small land patches) access to cutting edge information, finance, and markets, while streamlining the world of other supply chain stakeholders including farmers”, added Mr. KC Mishra.
Mr. S. Sreenivas Rao agreed that production plan is an issue with agri business firms. Quality and consistency of production still remains an area of concern. The lack of trust in the industry can be attributed to supply Chain credibility, unorganized and disconnected supply chain, lack of trust in supply chain claims and the inability to track and trace the product,” said Mr. Rao. He said that the industry needs new age tech solution landscape, digitization and data leverage, productivity management (Precision Farming), value chain enablers and more importantly post harvest and market linkages.
Mr. Rao said that especially in Odisha, the challenges are; fragmented and shrinking landholding low productivity per hectare, no crop diversification, land being prone to natural calamities, drought, weather extremes and limited access to credit availability and market. He proposed a Public Private Partnership PPP module of value chain management for allaying some of these incapacities.
Mr. Rao informed about his company TraceX and its, venture called FoodPrint which is an integrated digital agriculture platform. He also proposed that inorder to focus more on agriculture; can we have agriculture as district level subject?
Mr. Ananda Kumar Mishra, whose company Grozip was one among the top 4 companies of India at Alibaba, chosen to represent India at the Chinese Global Forum stressed on eradicating supply chain issues and providing market solution. “Grozip is a technology focused on demand last mile delivery involving commodities of India”, said Mr. Mishra.
Mr. Ashok Prasad who is the Co-Founder of Unnati, a digital distribution platform that gives direct access to farmers bringing in efficiency in the value chain said that farmers can get in touch with them directly through their app and avail all of their services within the app itself.
Ms. Anu Meena, Founder of an agriculture startup called AgroWave is a B.Tech. from IIT Delhi. She was listed in the prestigious international magazine Forbes while being honoured with the Forbes 30 under 30 Asia title. She also was one among the Top 10 innovators listed by India Today. She is also a TEDx speaker.
“In India, the total agriculture commodities sale is 274 million USD. While other startups generate almost 60 million, we at AgroWave contribute a mere 18 million USD. So you see there is huge gap in demand and supply and this is where the agriculture startups can come in and address the supply chain and value chain shortcomings.”
“We are bringing farm to market mobility supply chain through network of smart route management. We provide 20-25% better price to farmers by calculating various variables so they don’t face losses. We work with farmers, traders, businesses like hotels and restaurants to ensure fresh agriculture produce and its monetary value to farmers directly in their bank accounts where all the transactions happen digitally thus ensuring transparency”, said Ms. Meena.
‘Krushi Odisha’, the annual flagship five day exhibition cum Agri fest, organized by Dept. of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment, Govt. of Odisha in collaboration with FICCI is being held from 20-24 January 2020 at Janata Maidan, Bhubaneswar. The mega programme which envisages leading farmers to profitability, involves various aspects like farm income, implements, modern technology in farming, financial assistance to farmers and capacity building.