Can a single agri-platform multiply farmers' incomes through the network effect?

Platform economies have disrupted traditional retail and travel services, with some gains in agriculture. This article argues that Indian agriculture's unique challenges present opportunities for AI-driven platforms. These can boost farm productivity by reducing crop failure and improving market linkages

By Prof Rajendra Srivastava and Annabel Dsouza

Published: Apr 15, 2025 06:10:37 PM IST

Nashik-based Sahayadri Farms has Amulified close to 26,500 smallholder farmers in the fresh fruits and vegetables segment to export premium produce to global markets Image: STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images

“Plant black gram this season, soil pH in your region is ideal, global demand up by 20%.”

Imagine a rice farmer in Maharashtra receiving a message like this on a demand aggregator app, which she also uses to source input materials like seeds, pesticides, fertilisers, etc., through the farmers' collective she is a part of. India has a long history of farmer collectives or cooperatives that use collective bargaining to achieve economies of scale and higher prices for perishable farm produce.

Across India today, pioneering agritech companies like Sahyadri Farms and Samunnati have demonstrated the power of digital platforms in improving farm productivity by increasing incomes for smallholder farmers. Consider how Nashik-based Sahayadri Farms has Amulified close to 26,500 smallholder farmers in the fresh fruits and vegetables segment to export premium produce to global markets, thereby cutting out exploitative mediators and integrating cold storage to reduce post-harvest losses from 30 percent to just 5 percent.

Meanwhile, Samunnati's financial innovations have unlocked $3.5 billion in credit for farmers, with a default rate of just 1.5 percent, by tailoring loans to crop cycles rather than forcing one-size-fits-all repayment schedules. These models have reinvented traditional collective bargaining by personalising broad-based solutions like access to finance and real-time global market linkages with individual farmers' and their families' needs and aspirations.

However significant these achievements seem, they lie at the visible top of the iceberg of hidden innovations that can be harnessed if only the Indian agri ecosystem dares to backcast, i.e. imagine future growth and cultivate platform technologies that can materialise this growth in terms of higher production volumes optimised for a changing climate and food processing innovations to respond to real-time demand from global markets.

Backcasting to make Indian agri globally competitive

It is critical to assess the challenges holding back Indian farmers, many of which have strong historical or political roots, to imagine and create solutions for future growth and prosperity. Globally, the gap between India's farm productivity and that of countries like the US, Brazil or China is staggering. An acre of land in Punjab grows half as much wheat as one in France, while China produces nearly twice as much rice per hectare as India. The reasons are no secret—fragmented landholdings, reliance on monsoons, and a lack of mechanisation and real-time market intelligence—leaving farmers guessing at every step.

The platformisation of farmer collectives by offering a range of benefits, as seen in the case of Sahyadri and Samunnati, is one way to offset farmers' uncertainty surrounding commodity prices and crop failure. But what if the platforms went one step further, not only in offering accurate weather forecasts and granular data on soil pH, moisture content, risk of crop pestilence, etc, but also matching them with the right seeds or crop mix for higher productivity per hectare?

Consider the example of Israeli startup Beewise, which uses AI and robotics to promote bee-pollination-as-a-service, thus increasing the chance of natural pollination of fruits and vegetables and generating revenue by harvesting honey.

Another example is that Silicon Valley startup Heritable Agriculture uses AI to shrink crop breeding time from a decade to two years. By analysing genetic data and climate trends, Heritable's algorithms predict which seed varieties will thrive in specific soil and weather conditions, thus nudging farmers to make more informed decisions for demand planning.

Also read: Data is the new tractor for agriculture: Jeff Rowe, CEO, Syngenta Group

Countering climate change through nutritional security

Imagine expanding the network effects of existing agritech platforms to empower India's 150 million smallholder farms with real-time climate intelligence, not merely to boost productivity but also to diversify harvests to optimise for higher nutrition. For example, by providing customised seeding options, AI-powered agritech platforms can reduce the climate toll of rice monoculture, India's top water-guzzling crop, and incentivise nutrient-rich alternatives like millets and makhana. Precision farming could further cut fertiliser overuse, shrinking agriculture's carbon footprint and reducing field emissions that impact soil fertility.

Apart from the inherent systemic inefficiencies associated with farming in small landholdings, ample research proves that rising temperatures further drive down farm productivity, increasing risks of pestilence and reduced protein and iron content in staple crops. This is where policy efforts to promote alternative nutritional foods like millets and makhana are important for both producers and consumers. Platform-based solutions can further amplify these efforts by nurturing the supply chain needed to grow and market such alternative crops at scale.

Embracing an innovation mindset for agriculture

At the recently concluded, first-of-its-kind innovation boot camp for senior leaders and entrepreneurs, Accelerating Growth through Innovation (AGTI), offered by the Centre for Business Innovation at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad & Mohali, leaders from Sahayadri and Samunnati shared the flywheel effects of their respective platform models. For instance, Sahayadri is already the largest exporter of table grapes from India and is now looking to expand its warehousing capabilities to enhance climate-resilient food processing, especially through its recent fundraising of $50 million from Europe.

Anilkumar SG, Founder & CEO, Samunnati, shares, "We are already serving 27,000 farmer-producer organisations (FPOs) in India by offering them access to high-quality input materials and providing credit capital customised to their needs and cash flows. We are looking to accelerate the value offered by our platform by expanding the number of FPOs in our network and gathering real-time data intelligence on their cash-credit requirements, thereby customising innovative products that improve farmers' incomes. Participating in the AGTI workshop helped us share and build on our success through interactions with other cohort members and senior ISB faculty who provided unique perspectives and ideas on improving the network effects of our platform."

Therefore, the future of growth for Indian agriculture lies at the intersection of productivity, platforms and innovation, and agritech companies ought to leverage deep tech solutions to extract greater value from this intersection.

Prof Rajendra Srivastava is the former dean of the Indian School of Business (ISB) and current Executive Director of the ISB Centre for Business Innovation.

Annabel Dsouza is a journalist, content creator, and policy researcher.

[This article has been reproduced with permission from the Indian School of Business, India]