The Agriculture & Allied sectors, which is the largest employer of workforce in India, registered a growth of 4% in FY23.
The fact that the sector employs nearly half of the country’s workforce but contributes to less than 1/5th of the overall GVA indicates that there’s tremendous opportunity for improvement in efficiency of agricultural activities.
Other factors like rising demand for healthier food, changing climate conditions, water shortage and massive wastage of food post harvest, together necessitate the adoption of AgriTech in the country.
As internet & smartphones penetrate and reach every part of rural India and more credit flows to farmers, in the next decade a complete transformation of agricultural activities can be expected with the help of AgriTech solutions.
Key Metrices of India's Agriculture Industry:
Impact on Trade - India's agriculture export contributes 11.7% to overall merchandise export of the country in FY23.
Impact on GDP - Agriculture & allied industries contribute 18.3% to overall Gross Value Added (GVA) of the country in FY23.
Impact on Livelihood - 55% of India's population (i.e. over 700 million people) depend on agriculture and allied industries for livelihood.
86% of Indian farmers are small and marginal
Over $20 Billion is the value of post-harvest loss suffered in FY21, which is approximately 2.35% of the GDP.
Less than 58% of overall agricultural income is earned by small and marginal farmers.
India yield per hectare (for cereals) is less than the world average and other major agricultural nations like Brazil, China and US.
India's level of farm mechanization (i.e. the use of machinery in Indian farms) is 47%, which is also lower than other agricultural nations like Brazil, China and US.
This article is a part of the February'24 edition of our Startup Newsletter. Here's the complete publication:
