There are technology players who are looking at this phase and coming up with a solution that will provide a platform for farmers to be able to have information across the entire value chain – right from input to bringing in price transparencies; to being able to assimilate demand and hence give inputs on what to grow per se; to the farmer being able to sell his produce at a higher realisation or price guarantees.

Much of this success, though, rests on farmer endorsements and adoption.

There is outstanding support and recognition from the local state government in this area as the objectives are aligned. The government has approved and launched the formation and promotion of 10,000 FPOs (Farmer Producer Organisation). Each of these FPOs will roughly touch between 500-1000 farmers. This will facilitate access to underserved farmers with better quality inputs, lower-cost financing, agronomy knowledge.

This collaborative ecosystem – between the government and the push of the digital infrastructure – will create a significant impact on the sector.

There is a definite shift in the corridors of power, and concrete steps are being taken to transform and support agriculture. There is an equal and important role that the industries and the broader stakeholders have to play in helping the Indian agriculture transition. This would require collaborative models which are end to end and an open architecture where all players – at any level of the entire value chain, small or big can plug in and become part of a cohesive delivery mechanism that is working towards a common goal of doubling farmer income and promoting sustainable agriculture.

As Mr. D Narain, President Bayer South Asia and Global Head of Smallholder Farming, said during our conversation, “It’s no longer just the views of the private enterprise which is going to make the model successful. That means you will need to bring in a societal mindset to say what does success look like for all stakeholders. Everybody doing business today needs to ask themselves, what is the societal value creation resulting from what I am doing. It is about redefining how you think of value creation, value sharing which is very different from how companies have operated till now.”