Science, Innovation & Startups: Indian Agriculture’s Silver Lining

Modern Rendition of Agriculture

With the advent of science and technology, every nooks and corners of the Industry has received its golden touch. Modern agricultural science has pushed its abilities beyond all the borders by magnifying its efficiency and productivity to retain its sustainability factors.

Holding the hand of Green Revolution by Norman Borlaug, the world received the elixir of modern agricultural science with infusing few tools and techniques. For a long, agriculture was considered as a tool of exploitation of nature and natural elements, but lately with the homogenous blending of agricultural science and digital and analytical tools has transformed the face of agricultural science.

The use of modern technology has had a significant impact on agricultural development. Additionally, technology is the savour, since technology has come into the picture; agriculture practices have evolved with refined scientific techniques resulting in reduced losses and increased efficiency.

Agritech Startups: A Ray of Hope sprouting for Improvement

India, a mini hub for more than 1300 agritech startups, these startups are effectively leveraging AI, ML, and IoT to enhance productivity and efficiency. Post-Covid consistent increase of agritech startups has been recorded. The prominent hubs for agri-startups in India are Karnataka, Maharashtra, and the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR).

Modern agricultural technologies, such as hydroponics and aeroponics, provide us with clean and chemical-free organic crops, retaining all its nutrients. Hydroponics employs a minimal amount of soil and a waterless solution, primarily consisting of hydrogen and oxygen, to yield healthy crops.

In contrast, Aeroponics uses nutrient-filled mist to nourish the plants. In this method, the plant roots are left loose, so that when the nutrient-rich mist is sprayed on them, the nutrients are absorbed by the plant through the root nozzles. The market demand for hydroponics and aeroponics in India was predicted to be around Rs.35 crores and 3100 metric tonnes (MT) in 2019. By 2023, the market is projected to reach 10,500 MT with a CAGR of 26 percent.

Modern Agri-tech Startups in Commercial Landscape

A known fact is, a bunch of talented Agri-tech startups have successfully experimented a new method by blending both traditional methods and modern technologies in their offerings. This new blending method has increased their yield and efficiency while reducing the dependency on unpredictable factors like climate and socio-economic uncertainties.

According to Precedence Research, the global smart agriculture market was valued at $18.12 billion in 2021 and is projected to surpass $43.37 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of10.2 percent from 2022 to 2030.

"Agresearch Labs is keeping itself agile to continuous design and process improvements and frugal innovations" - Arvind Narayanan, Founder, Greenlyfe

Commenting on the essentiality of fresh vegetable for children, Murtaza Poonawala, Founder, Jaywant Green Bliss Corporation, stated, “Fast food and junk food that children love to eat these days provides little nutrition. And because the veggies used in this food are cheap and have a bland taste, many fast food chains add such ingredients to make their mayonnaise, sauces, and chicken more prominent".