Agri-Tech is thriving despite the second wave of the covid-19 pandemic in India. Irrespective of a few speed bumps and lesser production due to movement restrictions and transport constraints, Agri-tech startups are rapidly scaling up, innovating, and even raising capital with ease. In fact, between October 2020 up until now, new start-ups have emerged with their own unique spin to Agri-Tech products and services.
Jai Bharat
A new entrant to the Agri-tech sector, ‘Jai Bharat’ is a start-up founded in October of 2020. Headquartered in Punjab, Jai Bharat was conceptualized by Agripreneur ‘Mohit Dahiya’. The company’s sole focus is to bring about a machine-driven transformation to farming. Their products include agricultural tools that automate manual labor. The first and most notable product launched by Jai Bharat is their Paddy Transplanter Machine.
The automation achieved through this product can substitute the hard manual labor of up to 10 farmers at a time. The paddy transplanter machine works to reduce water consumption for paddy production, through the SRI technique of Rice Intensification. The product is 100% new-age, modern and built on a novel farming methodology that increases the yield in rice farming.
A very commendable fact about the founder of Jai Bharat, Mohit Dahiya is that he created the Paddy Transplanter Machine from scratch. Unique and new to the industry, this product has immense potential in farm usage since it significantly reduces the need for manual labor.
Deep Rooted.co
The next Agri-tech start-up which is a new entrant to the industry is Deep Rooted.co. Headquartered in Bengaluru, Deep Rooted is a D2C start-up as well as a ‘farm-to-fork’ commerce offering which was launched as a new brand in 2020.
The story of how the start-up was founded is interesting because it was launched as a mobile application by the founders of another well-known Agri-tech start-up called ‘Clover Ventures’. Clover Ventures was a B2B Agri-tech firm which was impacted hard by the pandemic outbreak.
So, in order to improvise, the founders ventured into D2C with Deep Rooted.co. which seems to be doing well amidst the second wave of covid-19 in India. Deep Rooted.co is a mobile app which sells curated and packaged fruits and vegetables directly to the end consumer.
Customers can place orders which will be supplied by farms having contracts with Deep Rooted. There are about 70 varieties of fruits and veggies listed on the app.
Another unique aspect about the startup is that their app algorithm can gauge consumer demand. This in turn helps farmers to plan their production season accordingly.
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A new entrant to the Agri-tech sector, ‘Jai Bharat’ is a start-up founded in October of 2020.
What’s in it for me?
Agri-Tech is one of the blessed industries which has not suffered too much disruption, neither in the first wave of covid-19 last year nor during the second wave this year. In fact, one of the industry leading start-ups ‘Dhanuka Agri-tech’ has declared a net profit of 48.64 crores which is a 24.72% rise for them in the quarter which ended in March 2021.
Another Agri-tech start-up ‘Reshamandi’ is also confidently moving forward with their ambitious expansion plans in the midst of the second wave. The industry is not experiencing too many restrictions in movement since it falls under the essentials goods. There are positive signs that start-up founders need not be hesitant to venture into Agri-tech at the juncture. There is ample opportunity for innovation since farmer challenges are many and have multiplied during the pandemic. Hydroponic farming could prove to be a profitable service during the second wave since consumers are actively looking to get access to fresh farm-to-fork produce of nutritious vegetables.
