Why agri-tech might need a different approach to boost innovations Premium

Primarily an agrarian economy, India holds large potential for research and technological innovation in agriculture. Nevertheless, innovations in this space which is estimated to be around $24 billion, have barely scratched the surface given the myriad challenges such as low market adoption, high customer acquisition costs, lukewarm investor interest, high infrastructure costs, and more.

Primarily an agrarian economy, India holds large potential for research and technological innovation in agriculture. Nevertheless, innovations in this space which is estimated to be around $24 billion, have barely scratched the surface given the myriad challenges such as low market adoption, high customer acquisition costs, lukewarm investor interest, high infrastructure costs, and more.

Compared to tech in other sectors, Indian AgriTech might need a different approach to turbocharge innovations in this space, say experts. IIIT-B, for example, takes an interdisciplinary approach and often looks at developing solutions as digital public goods.

The institution has been developing a host of AgriTech projects with the idea of introducing higher efficiency in agricultural processes. These include AutoGrow - an Autonomous greenhouse System for Precision Agriculture, Smart Greenhouse with secure long-range connectivity, a Remote Compost Monitoring system for Sustainable agriculture and AgriSense (an IoT system for with a soil monitoring device) among others.

“Autogrow, which is the autonomous greenhouse system for precision agriculture, is an autonomous system for growing food. We are trying to solve a very India-specific problem,” says Ramesh Kestur, faculty at IIIT-B.

The system seamlessly integrates biological food production with an IoT/AI-based system and includes automated greenhouse control of climatic conditions, irrigation, and nutrient supply to plants. This can provide substantial gains in increasing the efficiency of crop production while using optimal resources and thereby reducing costs.

“If you see in the West, they lack resources such as lighting and therefore cannot grow throughout the year. So, we should not imitate their solution. We have enough light, and we can grow 365 days a year. We just need to control whatever is critical for our condition,” Kestur explains.

Given the abundance of sunlight and temperature in the country, his team avoided including components like LED lights in the system which helped to reduce cost and complexity. After eliminating the unnecessary, the team then looked what needed to be controlled.