Budget 2022 will boost farmer-agritech synergy, will make agriculture sustainable

The Union Budget 2022 heralds new hopes for the Indian agriculture sector. The impetus to digitisation, shift to tech-enabled services, and logistics, financial inclusion of farmers, and focus towards empowering the rural workforce — we compliment the government for taking this transformative step forward which will act as a game-changer for the AgTech sector.

Adopting tech-enabled models of agriculture is the need of the hour to make the sector more efficient, sustainable, profitable, and the farmers more resilient. Revision of agriculture syllabus to include modern agri-methods, the use of kisan drones for crop assessment, digitisation of land records, spraying of pesticides, boosting financial inclusion of farmers through digital modes of payments, and post office transformation to core banking system — all these moves will go a long way in the agriculture sector achieving its maximum potential while encouraging Indian AgTech startups to improve their role in the entire ecosystem.

Creating jobs in the rural economy through a digital ecosystem to skill, reskill, and upgrade the skills of citizens through online training is another welcome move. Also, data exchange among all-mode operators via the Unified Logistics Interface Platform and implementation of the Gati Shakti plan will further enable efficient movement of goods, reducing logistics costs, and time. This would give a major boost to the efficient management of food warehousing, and the processing industries.

Putting climate action as one of the focus areas of the Budget is also a mega move, since the Budget should not only focus on economic development but also on sustainable development for securing the future of generations to come. The AgTech sector plays an important role in educating farmers on sustainable modes of agriculture, scaling operations, and reducing carbon footprint.