RETHINKING

FARMING WITH
LOCATION
INTELLIGENCE

Abhinav Ayush Shreya Sanyam

Pokhriyal Chaubey Bansal Garg
 WHAT IS THE CURRENT
SCENARIO?
High Farmer’s Debt

Low Productivity Low Farmer Income Value Chain Issues

MS Swaminathan report suggests that Farmers in India bear the maximum risk The production cycle is undertaken
productivity of an Indian farmland is and get the lowest returns in the value by farmers, end to end. The issues
lowest among several comparable chain. plaguing on the production side are
countries structural, requiring institutional
Acc. to NABARD and NSSO, Between interventions
Farmers do not have access to modern 2012-13 and 2016-17 the income has
technologies, farming practices & inputs risen by just Rs 2,505/month The marketing cycle Involves
several players, including traders,
CROP FARM ECONOMICS aggregators.
COUNTRY Paddy Wheat Maize Groundnut Sugarcane STATE Expenses Receipts Net Income
India 2929 2583 1667 913 68012 Punjab 11,768 28,117 16,349 There is a high potential to provide
China 6321 3969 4990 2799 85294 Haryana 6,288 17,144 10,916 support on marketing, including Average Debt: 74,100/-
Japan 6414 - - 2336 Karnataka 2,779 7,908 5,129
post harvest support, transport,
SA 6622 2872 8398 3038 90787 Assam 788 5,197 4,409
storage, grading and certification
Indonesia 4261 - 2646 1523 - Telangana 4,267 8,666 4,399
Canada - 2591 7974 - - Madhya Pradesh 2,284 6,538 4,254
Vietnam 3845 2711 4313 1336 65689 Maharashtra 2,654 6,575 4,021
Kerala 2,270 5,872 3,602
Comparative Yield of Select Crops in Various Countries (Kg/ha)
Gujarat 2,250 5,773 3,523
Source: Agriculture Statistics PocketBook 2017
Source: National Sample Survey
WHAT HAS LED TO
THIS PROBLEM?

ABSENCE OF
BRANDING
If products fail to differentiate in the eyes of the consumer, then
a market remains commodity driven. India has its own example
of successful branding like Basmati rice and Nagpur orange.

EXISTENCE OF
PRICE ASYMMETRY
Real wholesale prices across wholesale markets are much
higher than the US and many developing countries like
Philippines. Such price Asymmetry causes small farmers
to not command fair price for their products.

INFO ASYMMETRY ON QUALITY CHALLENGE TO

INPUTS AND CREDIT ACCESSIBILITY PRIVATE SECTOR PROCUREMENT.
Delivery of information with regards to scientific Presence of multiple middlemen between the farmer
innovations, such as information on HYV seeds or better and the private player creates issues of incompetent
farm management practices; as well the information procurement due to low output of desired quantity and
relating to credit facilities and adjacent policies Is even denies farmers of fair prices.
unequally distributed.
 “Currently, the value of production derived from
a plot of land is lesser than its potential, due to
PRIMARY & excessive focus on paddy & wheat. Additionally,
SECONDARY RESARCH crop diversification into cash crops or allied
activities require a large capital investment –
almost a 700% increase in investment (Rs. 1.5
Lakh of investment for wheat/ paddy needs to
be scaled to ~ Rs. 12 Lakh to set up a livestock
farm over an area of 1 acre land)”

A researcher & consultant with the World Bank, NABARD

Weather shocks, pest attacks, This leads to Affects the credit availability,
disease outbreaks aggravated low yield & loss insurance coverage & benefits
by climate change of production for farmers “Every commodity is extremely differentiated,
with a varying value chain. Hence, the pre &
post harvest support extended to farmers for
each crop will vary significantly and a “one
solution fits all” strategy
s will not suffice”

Founder of a pan India ag-tech startup

Farmers are unaware of Issues in accessing these inputs due Produce suffers from
inputs required to achieve to poor supply chain, availability & low yield & low quality “Currently, institutional buyers incur a high
high crop yield working capital issues transaction cost to procure produce-with issues
in consistency and grading. This presents a
high opportunity area”

Founder of a pan India ag-tech startup

“Indian agriculture needs to adopt crop

diversification- to move away from
inflation drives up the Missing market Support of middlemen, Profit skimming and overdependence on MSP crops & focus on
cost of production support & linkages traders & aggregators reduced profitability
cash crops which present a high risk but high
for the farmers
reward opportunity ”

Founder of a pan India ag-tech startup

 Commodity: Ginger Focus on Odisha The Potential Issues to tackle

Use across food & beverages, life Districts Koraput, Kandhamal, The opportunity presents the potential of Outbreak of diseases & genetic erosion of
sciences, pharma & cosmetics Keonjhar consist of small & marginal, increasing farmer income by 100% local varieties- due to lack of crop planning &
tribal farmers predictive insights
Global Market in 2020 was USD 6.82 Only ~25% land under premium varieties;
billion expected to grow at a CAGR Comparative advantage due agro- potential to scale for industry use Lack of post-harvest support, on-farm
of 3.13% from 2021-27. climatic conditions & of natural processing and market linkages
resources. Additionally, due to Add primary & secondary high value
Domestic ginger consumption saw uneven topography, ginger is added products, such as ginger extracts, Loss of 20-30% production due to
an increase of 11.9% over the period preferred over other crop ginger powder & paste production means, sub-par inputs & lack of
from 2012-2020. storage for freshly harvested ginger

Establish value chain for Ginger

Higher Inputs like Training of On-Farm On-Farm Preparation, Value

Tech Based Zero Energy Storage
Seeds Farmers Processing Addition & Cluster Storage

Washing Processing into Ginger Flakes

Purchase Order from institutional
buyers
Peeling Processing into Ginger Powder

Lime Treatment Processing into Ginger Paste

Branding & Quality Certification
Dehydration Tech Processing into Ginger Extract

OUR AREA OF
FOCUS Storage and Transportation
 THE IDEA

Kuber
India’s First eB2B to
revolutionize farming!

Team Akatsuki’s “Kuber”, aims to create a

data repository and platform to create
clusters with high business potential and low
fraudulence to help with risk mitigation of
agri-financing, digitizing supply chain,
establishing value chain strategy, and
connecting institutional buyers to
famers/FPOs
 UNCERTAINITY IN
PAYMENTS STRUCTURED DYNAMIC DATA
INCLUDING SOCIO ECONOMIC
ATTRIBUTES

LACK OF DATA
LIMITED MARKET
AGGREGATION FOR
ACCESS
LOCATION PROFILING

WORKING CAPITAL/ FRAUDULENT CLAIMS/

UNTIMELY PAYMENTS LIMITED ACCESS TO
THE FARMER BANKS/ REPAYMENT HISTORY
INSURANCE PROVIDERS/
INSTITUTIONAL BUYERS

SCHEMING OF MARGINS UNSTRUCTURED

BY MIDDLEMEN SUPPLY CHAIN

PRODUCT AND THEIR

EXTENSIONS THE
PROBLEM
VALUE
PROPOSITION
Socioeconomic Index Places of Interest

Affluence
Societies
DATA
PREPARATION

DATA
CATALOGUE
Footfall Groceries

DATA
BLENDING

Risk Profiling/ Cluster based

on Business Potential
Economic Activity Banks/ATMs

01. DATA AGGREGATION 02. DATA ENGINE 03. HYPERLOCAL INSIGHTS

05.2 Improved farming inputs like HYV or better
Risk Mitigation/Fraudulent Scorecard
For Banks and Insurance Providers processes like mulching can help increase the
yield from 32.72 q/ha to 157 q/ha

05.3
Kuber Collection Centres
Network Planning

Input Support Technical Knowhow

Help to Switch from

MSP Crops to Cash Crops

For Existing Crops Grading of Crops

Sell the produce to

F&B Industries
Connecting To
Weather Notification
Market Places

05.1 KUBER Cross Selling Agriproducts

The Mobile Application VALUE
PROPOSITION
USE CASE #1 # RISK MITIGATION
FOR BANKS/INSURANCE PROVIDERS

Using Data like CIBIL, Past Loan Repayment History, Weather , Government Policies in
a Region, Access to Mandis/Market Places, Socio Economic Attributes of a region,
etc. in addition to Banks/Insurance Partner’s internal Database can help Churn
Scorecards for Decision Making

Decision Tree Algorithm to

Location Profiling for
Create Risk Score Cards
Risk Mitigation & Flagging
Fraudulent Behavior

Data Driven Pan India

Clustering

Banks/ Insurance Partner’s

Internal Data Base

LOANS INSURANCE

Team Akatsuki’s “Kuber” , Plans on setting up On Ground outlets in these Hotspots

acting as a liaison between Farmer’s and Agri financing bodies to help them take Data
Driven decision while extending line of credit/Loans/ Finance Agricultural Products
# FOR FARMERS THROUGH DIGITAL ECOMMERCE FOR DELIVERY
ACCESS TO HIGH QUALITY INPUT SUPPORT USE CASE #2

Request for a Line

of Credit from
Partner Banks to
Seeds Fertilizers Delivery Services
finance for the
Agri Products
-Market Place for Input facilitation-

Traditional
Model 7%-10% 7%-10% 4%-5%
Margin Margin Margin

DISTRIBUTOR DEALER SUB-DEALER FARMER

100/- 107-110/- 115-120/- 120-125

Proposed
Model
7%-10% Margin 4%-5% Margin

ECOMMERCE DISTRIBUTOR KUBER FARMER

100/- 107-110/- 112-115/-
USE CASE #6 # OPTIMIZATION OF SUPPLY CHAIN
AND MARKET LINKAGE TO INSTITUTIONAL BUYERS

REAL TIME COLLECTION CENTRE SCORECARD

Real time tracking of order

fulfilment across FPOs/ farmers
spread over a region – minimizing
high transaction costs

Farmers FPO Farmers FPO

Middleman Kuber-
District Level Collection Centers

Market/
Mandis
Middleman
State Level

Market/ Institutional
Institutional Mandis Buyers
Buyers

Current Supply Chain Proposed Supply Chain

# INCREASE PROFITABILITY OF ALL STAKEHOLDERS
INCORPORATE HYPERLOCAL & WEATHER NOTIFICATIONS
USE CASE #4

• Profitability increases by procuring certified, graded produce,

Institutional withing their specified parameters at reduced prices
Buyers
• Lower transaction costs as procurement & supply chain
establishing through Kuber’s AI platform

• Traceable origin of produce for the buyers

• Profitability of Farmers increases by producing cash crops with

Farmers higher margins of over 10-15%

• Agri advisory services for inputs, weather forecasts, product

testing & grading, logistics

• Establishing market linkage and value chain strategy

• Branding of commodity for achieving sustainable & high

profitability

Hyperlocal Weather
Recommendation to Forecasting/News
Farmers to grow Notification to alert
most suitable crops farmers on when to sow,
in their geography when to irrigate, when to
apply fertilizers
USE CASE #3 # BRAND CREATION
FOR INDIGENOUS COMMODITY

Branding the commodity of the specific geography can

enable producers to market the product at premium
prices in both domestic and international markets

Kuber will aim to create a unique brand of the

commodity of a region, like done in the case of Koraput
Coffee from the Koraput district in Odisha

Further, assigning a Geographical Identification Tag,

issued as per the Geographical Indication of Goods
(Registration and Protection) Act, 1999.

Like in the case of Darjeeling Tea, Kashmiri Saffron etc,

the GI Tag will allow the indigenous commodity enjoy
higher credibility & traceability, along with the
exclusivity of using their point of origin as their branding
USE CASE #6 # CROSS SELLING & ADVT.
AS A REVENUE STREAM

By keeping the cost of Primary services affordable, Kuber aims at easy onboarding
with less deterrents and better retention of users. To manage the operational costs
however, it will use suggestive Cross selling and advertisements of farming
equipment and services on its platforms while making sure they are offered at
competent rates to users

Free primary services

Users

Paid Farming Paid Farming

Equipment Services

SEMI-FREEMIUM MODEL

The suggestive Cross selling will be enabled by partnering up with multiple OEMs
(Original Equipment Manufacturers) and Farm Service providers such as Pest Control
and Insurance agencies. Working on economies of scale, Kuber will be not only be
able to add another stream of revenue through commissions and fees, but also
provide standardized and subsidized offering to its users.
 INSTANT LOC & EXPERTISE
TO SOLVE AGRICULTURAL AVAILABILITY OF ADEQUATE AND
PROBLEMS STRUCTURED DATA

MARKET LINKAGE/
AI SUPPORTED VALUE
MARKETING SOLUTIONS
CHAIN OPTIMIZATION

OPTIMISED RISK MITIGATION &

PROCUREMENT COSTS BUSINESS POTENTIAL
W.R.T FARM INPUTS THE FARMER BANKS/ HOTSPOT CREATION
INSURANCE PROVIDERS/
INSTITUTIONAL BUYERS

INCREASED FARM MARKET SIZE OF

YIELD BY 4.5 X AGRITECH CLOSE TO
$204Mn

SUSTAINABLE GROWTH
THROUGH BRANDING THE
IMPACT
 JOB
CREATION
AGRO PROCESSING

WHAT ARE WE SOLVING?

SPECIALISED AGRI-PROCESSING ACTIVITIES
CAN HELP EMPLOY UNPRODUCTIVE
LABOUR IN FARMS.
ICAR found that the employment generated increased
from 32 to 170 person days/year/HH by implementing
SHIFTING DISGUISED AREA OF JOB CREATION scientific ginger production practices.
UNEMPLOYMENT TO
TANGIBLE EMPLOYMENT
OTHER RELATED JOBS
According to CMIE, the joblessness
rate in the 25-29 years age group
JOB CREATION IN
GENERATION OF VALUE ADDED PRODUCTS,
stood at 5.17 percent for 2020-21. VALUE CHAIN CONSTRUCTION OF STORAGE FACILITIES, ETC
WILL HELP CREATE ADDITIONAL JOBS.

ICAR also founds additional 7000 man-days per year of

employment were created in these sectors .

REDUCING JOB CREATION WITHIN

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
THE ORGANISATION SPILLOVER EFFECT

According to the India Employment

Report, 2016 52 million are in disguised HIGH DISPOSABLE INCOME WILL STIMULATE
unemployment majorly in the RURAL ECONOMY AND INCREASE DEMANDS FOR
agriculture sector. NON-ESSENTIAL GOODS.
Improved ginger cultivation has the potential to create
2487 man-days of jobs in management consultancy.
 THE COST
INCURRED Human Resource
Salary Expenses ~ US $ 45,000
Miscellaneous Costs ~ US $ 7,500

Platform/Data Repository Development

Hosting Costs over AWS ~ US $ 4,000

Third Party Data Sources ~ US $,4000

Marketing & Outreach
Data Procurement Costs ~ US $ 22,500
Social Media Marketing USD $ 1100000
Development Costs ~ US $ 22,500
Referrals USD $ 337000
Miscellaneous ~ US $ 22,500 On Ground Campaigns USD $ 3300
THE REVENUE
MODEL

MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION MODEL MINIMAL SHARE OF THE

FOR INSTITUTIONAL BUYERS MARGINS FROM SALE OF CROP

HIGHER INTERESTS ON CROSS SELLING ADVERTISEMENTS OF

LATE PAYMENTS AUXILIARY SERVICES RURAL PRODUCTS
 THANK YOU!

Abhinav Pokhriyal Ayush Chaubey

Sanyam Garg Shreya Bansal