AgriBazaar, one of nearly a dozen companies involved in a pilot project to assist the Indian government in building a farmer database, is expanding its activities to include crop advisory, intelligent data, yield estimates, and a marketplace for growers.
"Since 2016, we've been a full-stack agri platform." We have now established a marketplace for growers and other stakeholders. The market guarantees high-quality produce. "These products are available to anyone," said Amith Agarwal, co-founder and CEO of AgriBazaar.
Farmers will be able to purchase inputs through the marketplace, but it will take two to three months to fully operational.
"We've partnered with 34 suppliers, including seed companies and other input manufacturers." "These suppliers will deliver directly to the growers at the farm gates," Agarwal explained.
AgriPay Wallet
AgriBazaar's marketplace deals with a variety of agricultural products and has over seven lakh registrations, including three lakh active participants.
"We work with a variety of pulses, including guar seed, soybean, castor, mustard, and wheat." "Our monthly transaction volume is around 700 crore," said AgriBazaar's CEO.
The company, which is also the country's largest tech-enabled agriculture marketplace, offers guaranteed payment through its AgriPay wallet.
‘Agri Bhoomi’ App
AgriBazaar, which hopes to register 10 lakh growers in the coming weeks, intends to provide intelligent data through 'Agri Bhoomi' in its main app, in addition to its Web-based portal.
"We can provide farm yield estimates to various stakeholders across the country in this segment." "We recently completed a pilot project for the Ministry of Agriculture on this," he explained.
The Agritech startup will use satellite imagery for crop identification and estimation, as well as remote sensing to provide farmers with information on climate-based cultivation patterns. It will also include other technologies that will assist growers in estimating per hectare yield, he said.
Database of Farmers:
AgriBazaar has mapped yield estimates in 3-4 districts in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan on a "pro bono" basis as part of the Agriculture Ministry's programme to prepare a farmer database. Based on its work, the firm has now been tasked with mapping a few more districts in these states, according to the startup's co-founder and CEO.
"We've also created a yield-based crop classification algorithm for mustard and wheat." We collect data and profiles, as well as information about product diversification. Based on this, we can provide advice on what earnings to expect and how to grow," Agarwal said.
Such advisory services are provided by the firm in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, and West Bengal. When asked about mustard crop prospects for the current rabi season, an AgriBazaar official stated that preliminary estimates were encouraging.
"Mustard yield is expected to be good this year, and we have seen growers in Uttar Pradesh shift from wheat to mustard," he added.
