Infusing traditional with digital: India’s agro sector backed by new farm Law & private players like Adani, Tata, Cargill

Technology has changed the narrative of the Indian Agrarian Sector with the Prime Minister’s idea of digital agriculture coming to attainment. The advent of technological advancements has maximized benefits to farmers and enhanced their incomes, turning the sector into a lucrative venture and in turn attracting the youth of the nation. In addition, the new farm law and the technological benefaction from private players like the Adani Group, Tata Group, ITC, proves to be advantageous for an average farmer to grow and sell his crops. This opens an opportunity for the youth to transition from a traditional desk job into their own line of work.

According to the Prime Minister of India, Indian agriculture needs innovation to adopt new forms of farming. Government assistance alone cannot do the job, and the industry needs a big infusion of funds from the private sector as well.

The Indian government is committed to boost farmer’s income by removing the barrier of lack of information. The Union Ministry of Agriculture and Microsoft India recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to administer a pilot project in hundred villages of six states in India. The project involves developing farmer interface for smart and orderly agriculture including post-harvest management and distribution.

The government plans to prepare a farmer database by documenting the land records of farmers across the nation. Related data to various government schemes and programs like PM Kisan, Pradhan Mantri Crop Insurance Scheme, MNREGA and Soil Health Card have been included and more data is under process of inclusion. This will create a vibrant agro-ecosystem and make farming easy and profitable in India. 

Apart from the digital initiatives, the entry of the private sector into the field of agriculture will lead to multiple benefits. Small and marginal growers will be provided with better job opportunities and big scale farmers will end up getting more remunerative prices for their produce.

 The new farm laws supplementing the growth initiatives by the likes of Adani Group, PSGC Technologies etc., will provide greater advantages to  farmers to grow and sell their produce.

Going back two decades to the genesis of Indian agricultural reforms, we can fully grasp the undertone of the new farm bill. It was under the government’s proposed concept of ‘Rainbow Revolution’ when the first ever National Agricultural Policy (NAP) came into existence in 2000. NAP amongst various other provisions implicated that “private sector participation will be promoted through contract farming and land leasing arrangements to allow accelerated technology transfer, capital inflow and assured market for crop production.”

The association between  farmers and the  private sector goes back to  1987. Around this time PepsiCo affiliated with tomato farmers in Punjab, followed by Bharti Field fresh and various other projects by seed companies like Syngenta and Mahyco.

Since then, several developments have taken  place in the sector,  culminating in the new farm laws. Private players like the Adani Group and several startups like Nimble Growth continue roping in farmers and making them self-reliant by employing more remunerative techniques.

Before the advent of the new farm laws, Adani Group with its subsidiary- Adani Agri Limited (AAFL) along with 24 Mantra Organic and other startups like Just Organic, I Say Organic etc., educated and trained farmers to venture into organic farming to  boost their incomes.

 Since the implementation of the new farm laws, the Adani Foundation, has trained field-based paddy growers under the technical supervision of Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Bhadrak.

Additionally, private players like Om Metals Infra Projects, ITC, Cargill, Adani Group etc., facilitated the requisite infrastructure and transportation of food grains in collaboration with FCI. These companies prevented tonnes of food grains from getting damaged by building scientifically designed silos. 

In conclusion, it can be said that the proliferating growth of the Indian agricultural sector can be attributed to the digital initiatives taken up by the government. The technological developments and contributions of private investors like Tata Group, ITC, Adani Group and the new farm law, too, are leaving no stone unturned to widen the horizon of the sector.