CHANDIGARH: If technology started Green Revolution in the mid-1960s to multiply key crops’ production, livestock, and horticulture output, information technology (IT) and artificial intelligence (AI) drive the new millennium’s agriculture and its self-made entrepreneurs like ex-IITians Taranjeet Singh Bhamra and Rajamanohar Somasundaram.
Their AI-powered platforms help the growers, buyers, and end-users of farm produce. Bhamra went to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Kharagpur, while Somasundaram graduated from Kanpur. In 2016, Bhamra founded AgNext Technologies, an award-winning venture-capital backed company that envisions a new world of food value chain based on data science that can transform the way we grow, procure, trade, store, and consume food, benefiting all stakeholders in agribusiness. The Mohali-based enterprise built a platform for instant quality assessment and traceability linkages to remove subjectivity and bring transparency across food value chain.
The company is bridging the agricultural sustainability and food safety gaps by digitalising food quality, safety, and traceability. Agriculture engineer Bhamra, who also holds a postgraduate diploma from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta, said: “The major loss in the food supply chain occurs on production, storage and transportation of food from farms. AgNext’s AI-enabled solution ‘Qualix’ uses molecular science, computer vision and the internet of things (IoT) to sense food rapidly at every node of the supply chain to maintain its quality. It detects the conditions and the place in which the food is kept, and when it starts losing its quality. AgNext’s aim is to change the dynamics of food quality and safety in India by replacing manual procurement, trade, production, and consumption with technology.”
Somasundaram, known as the ‘aquaman of India’, founded Aquaconnect, a venture that works with shrimp and fish farmers to improve their aquaculture productivity and market linkage through AI and satellite-based remote sensing technology. The Aquaconnect app is an AI-driven advisory solution and package of practices (POP) that helps farmers improve productivity, predict disease and achieve higher income.
Somasundaram said: “Despite being a Rs 51,800 crore industry, aquaculture lacks technology adoption and efficiency. Production inefficiency due to the lack of scientific farming and tech tools raises the input cost, losses due to diseases. Farmers don’t get loans for inputs.” Started in April 2017, Aquaconnect’s Aquabazaar e-bidding platform helps 20,000-odd farmers of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat sell the produce directly to buyers. AquaCRED brings financial inclusion, transparency and predictability to credit access, lowering risk. Aquaconnect Super Store is where fish and shrimp farmers can buy quality feed, healthcare products, and equipment.
Both Bhamra and Rajamanohar Somasundaram are upbeat about the use of AI in Indian agriculture. Bhamra said: “Till 20 years ago, nobody used data science in farming. A bit ahead of our times, we managed to create a niche segment and a scalable model that can be applied globally.”
Somasundaram said: “We had some initial difficulties in making farmers adopt technology. Now we plan to enter Punjab and Haryana, where inland fisheries are coming up. We are on the cusp of transformation.