UPL has entered Indian agriservices market with their digital platform Nuture.farm. It will offer different services for entire Agri-value chain, ranging from pre sowing to post harvest market linkages. UPL has planned an investment of $350 million over next 3-4 years in developing technology driven solutions for farmers and implementing them both in India and overseas market.
Nuture.Farm Services:
The Nuture.farm App will provide the following services:
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Purchase inputs such as seeds and fertilizers
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Book a service such as soil testing, sowing, spraying and harvesting and seek crop protection advisory to tackle any pests and diseases;
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Facilitate access to credit and insurance to the farmers on its platform through partnerships.
The onboarding to Nuture.Farm’s digital platform is free, the farmer will have to pay for the services. The services are priced reasonably to cover the costs and enable some savings to farmers compared to the market.
Creation of Job Opportunities:
Apart from the services to farmers, it will also provide huge job opportunities to the local youth as they will be relying on them to help farmers onboard its digital platform. The company is also working with some FPOs to deliver its services. The youth will also be trained to offer services such as soil testing and creating awareness about the sustainable farm practices among the farmers.
Current Operations:
They have already started their operations in 9 states- Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Almost a million farmers have already been enrolled on their platform covering 1.8 million acres of land. The company is aiming for four fold growth this year with more than 6 million acres of land.
Indian Agri - Services Market:
In India, the agri-services market is very unorganized and evolving as farm mechanization picks up and adoption of digital services is on the rise, aided by the spread of mobile network connectivity. The emerging digital farming landscape in India is largely dominated by agritech start ups that are offering a range of precision farming services, leveraging technologies such as remote sensing, artificial intelligence and machine learning among others.
