Cropin launches cloud platform dedicated to agri-tech

Bengaluru-based agritech firm Cropin has built an agriculture intelligence cloud called Cropin Cloud which can provide data generated for over a decade and guide farmers and those associated with the agri-business including suppliers, banks and insurers, to get better crop yield and quality.  

Backed by investors like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and CDC Group, Cropin said, it is looking at digitising the agricultural industry with this new platform. This is a cloud platform with integrated apps, which can solve challenges such as traceability, yield unpredictability, supply chain disruptions, and other agri-food ecosystem challenges. 

“The global agriculture ecosystem is facing large disruptions triggered by climate change, geopolitical tensions, food supply-chain challenges and an ever-increasing global population,” Krishna Kumar, CEO and co-founder of the business said. He added that “solving these challenges demands a technology platform that enables the ecosystem players to transform their business operations.”  

Founded in 2010, Cropin’s other products are live in 92 countries. The company has partnered with over 250 business-to-business (B2B) customers and has digitised 26 million acres of farmland. It claims the world’s largest crop knowledge graph of more than 500 crops and 10,000 crop varieties.  

According to Kumar, the idea is to combine three different sets of tools in one place. The platform provides access to a series of apps with different use cases throughout the agricultural industry, aimed at farmers and large agri-businesses, but also at other players such as banks and insurers. These offer benefits ranging from increased supply chain visibility to enhanced risk management.  

The platform also comprises a data hub, enabling users to combine a huge range of data, which includes data sourced from customers themselves, via remote sensors, internet-of-things (IoT), connected devices and machinery and drones, as well as third-party sources such as satellite imagery.  

The intelligence tools, the company said, comprise 22 models that use machine learning and artificial intelligence to support better planning and forecasting in areas such as crop detection, crop stage identification, yield estimation, irrigation scheduling, and pest and disease prediction.  

While digitisation has touched almost every business sector across in the country, agriculture continues to lag behind. As per Statista, agriculture's contribution to India's GDP soared merely from $81.36 billion to $83.43 billion between Q1 2021 and Q1 2022, suggesting the country has a long way to go in order to digitise its agricultural sector.  

Besides, being a highly fragmented sector, agricultural cycles are prone to periodic disruptions, depending on seasonal conditions, the report said.  

Nonetheless, the demand for agritech is gradually becoming well-acknowledged from both government and private institutions. In September 2021, Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Cisco, NCDEX, Jio Platforms, ITC, and Ninjacart to accelerate agritech projects leveraging technologies like machine learning, big data analytics, blockchain and also remote sensing and GIS technologies to enhance farming methodologies.  

Cisco’s Agricultural Digital Infrastructure (ADI), Jio Platforms’ JioKrishi, and ITC’s Site-Specific Crop Advisory (SSCA) are collectively implementing technological advancements to identify potential challenges and offer actionable outputs to deal with agricultural roadblocks.   

Also, the advisory model is becoming a growing trend for agritech startups in India, which is increasingly offering tech-driven data and insights to farmers. For example, online agri-trading marketplace Agribazaar, which has grown a new business unit offering analytics-driven data to its registered farmers, charges a premium for the products that customers buy on its platform by promising better quality of produce.