Digital farming assistant "BharatAgri" to improve their yields
Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for about 58 percent of India’s population. However, the sector continues to battle problems like inefficient farming practices, traditional mindsets, and overuse of pesticides, among others.
Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for about 58 percent of India’s population. However, the sector continues to battle problems like inefficient farming practices, traditional mindsets, and overuse of pesticides, among others.
Technology can change the game for Indian farmers. But adoption of technology solutions is a key bottleneck. This is where technology solutions that are simple and compatible with farming practices become the key.
BharatAgri has built a simple technology solution platform for farmers that aims to not only improve their productivity but also improve the value chain of agriculture in India.
Getting into the field to understand agricultural hurdles
When Sai Gole and Siddharth Dialani started BharatAgri in 2017 after quitting their jobs, they shifted to a village in Pune and worked on a farm for more than a year. They lived with farmers to get a feel of the impediments they regularly faced and brainstormed on ways they could use their IIT background to build solutions for these farmers. “They consider this as a unique foundation since not a lot of people get on the ground while building solutions for their customers.
BharatAgri was bootstrapped for two years and was focused on acquiring the initial set of farmers who would use their technology. This was when they realized that going the B2B model would help them out. They worked with industries that worked with farmers and were able to onboard nearly 3,000 farmers on their platform. In 2019, they shifted to the Business to Farmer (B2F) model.
How does "BharatAgri" work?
BharatAgri is among the top startups in India today that provide smart farming practices and actionable insights to farmers based on changing conditions. While growing any crop, the startup’s algorithm takes more than 30 variables that affect the growth of the crop to provide personalized services. According to the founders, this is what brings users back to their app to renew their services. Using the app, farmers generally witness more than a 60 percent increase in their productivity and more than a 20 percent reduction in the cost of production.
Success Journey of "BharatAgri" in India
What started off as a 16-member team with 500 users, is today a 70+ member team with 130,000 farmers across Maharashtra. Their revenues have grown 3x with paid users, and the number of users has grown 70x. BharatAgri has already been awarded two Maharashtra Government and World Bank projects to serve more than 1000 farmers in the state for the next five years.
