Agritech set for a push in Modi's third term with DPI and Krishi satellite

In addition to DPI, the BJP-led NDA government plans to launch the “Bharat Krishi Satellite” for activities such as crop forecasting, pesticide application, irrigation, soil health, and weather forecasting.

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi begins his third term, expectations are high for transformative policies to strengthen the agriculture sector through technology and digitisation.

Key among these initiatives is the implementation of the Centre’s ambitious digital public infrastructure (DPI) initiative for agriculture, highlighted in the BJP’s manifesto “Sankalp Patra".

“We will develop Digital Public Infrastructure to remove information asymmetry in agriculture and provide farmer-centric solutions and services,” it said.

The DPI aims to eliminate information asymmetry in agriculture and provide farmer-centric solutions and services.

In fact, Telangana became the first state in India to adopt this framework, launching the first agriculture DPI in August last year. Startups and agritechs like Niruthi, NaPanta, and Krishitantra have joined the ecosystem as data providers or consumers.

The next step is to expand this framework nationally and encourage more states to adopt it. Startups are expected to benefit from better data access, developing new use cases in partnership with the government.

The agriculture DPI or ‘Agristack’ will consolidate data from government departments, academic institutions, farmer organisations, and private sector stakeholders on a single platform.

It will include a federated farmers’ registry, assigning each farmer a unique ID linked to their land record. The government is also developing a unified farmer service platform to digitise the delivery of agri-services by both public and private sectors.

This open-source, interoperable public good will ensure that accurate data is available for crop planning, access to farm inputs, credit and insurance, crop estimation, and market intelligence.

The architecture for three core registries (farmer registry, geo-referencing of village maps, and crop sown registry) has been finalised.

As of February 2024, the app for the farmer registry is developed and a pilot program is underway. Geo-referencing for 75 percent of the country's villages is completed, and the digital crop survey has been launched on a pilot basis in 12 states.

Additional support registries, such as crop registries, agri data exchange, consent manager, sandbox, and a unified farmer service interface (UFSI), have also been developed.

The push for DPIs has been a recurring theme in the government’s policies. According to a McKinsey report, in partnership with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of India, AI-driven digital solutions enabled by DPI could add over $65 billion to the Indian agriculture sector.

“…the next phase will be focused on scaling the ecosystem of data providers, use cases and service providers in the next 3-5 years,” World Economic Forum, one of the partners, said in its latest paper.

Agritech in India is still in its early stages, having penetrated only one percent of its potential market value of $24 billion. Given the vast untapped market, opportunities abound for startups and new agri enterprises to make a significant impact. The implementation of DPI will be a crucial driver in accelerating this growth

Krishi Satellite

India is currently home to more than 3,000 agritech startups, of which over 1,300 use emerging and disruptive technologies (EDTs) such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and the Internet of Things to support agricultural operations.

In addition to DPI, the BJP-led NDA government plans to launch the “Bharat Krishi Satellite” for activities such as crop forecasting, pesticide application, irrigation, soil health, and weather forecasting.

The idea was first pitched by The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) back in 2022. The organisation had proposed dedicated satellites for supporting the country’s agriculture sector. Using satellite imagery and remote sensing to better understand yield gaps, receive data in water stress, etc.

At present, startups like Cropin and Satsure are working in the field to gather and crunch the satellite data procured from multiple sources, to enable farmers and crop insurance players make decisions.

A major chunk of agricultural tech startups, many of which incorporate satellite data or other space technology, are likely to benefit from the development, if implemented.

Agri-tech startups are also looking forward to a new Rs 750-crore fund called Agri-SURE. With ticket sizes of Rs 25 crore each, this fund will help startups in sectors such as agri-tech, food processing, animal husbandry, fisheries, supply chain management, farm mechanisation, and biotechnology to scale up over the next five years.

The government’s focus on drone technology in agriculture, highlighted by the Kisaan Drone initiative and the allocation of Rs 57 crore for drones and drone components under the PLI scheme, is expected to continue.