More than 80% of the about 14 crore households in India which rely upon agriculture for his or her sustenance have a landholding of lower than 5 acres, whereas greater than half of India’s cultivable land is irrigated by monsoon rains. Smallholder farmers typically face challenges in accessing info on climate and agronomic practices to be adopted and different agricultural inputs. AgroStar, a Pune-based digital farmer community and agri-inputs platform, was launched in 2013 to bridge this deficit.
The firm has three verticals – an app which gives farmers with agricultural and agronomic inputs and data on climate; stores by which farmers get inputs on seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, and many others; and an export division that’s into vegetables and fruit.
“We have created one of India’s largest digital networks of farmers, helping them by offering great content, real-time advisories and quality agricultural inputs,” Shardul Sheth, co-founder, and CEO, AgroStar, mentioned. The firm has constructed a multilingual content-led commerce platform, with the AgroStar app witnessing 5 million downloads thus far, of which a million represent lively customers. “Farmers use the app to read and watch agronomic content, post their crop problems to get advice and share and comment on fellow farmers’ posts, search for agri products, and transact on the platform.”
AgroStar presently operates in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh the place farmers avail its agri options for your entire crop cycle with a name to the corporate’s agri-advisory centre, by the AgroStar Agri Doctor app or by visiting its round 3,000 retail shops.
“We have around 500 micro entrepreneurs delivering agricultural products sourced from various companies to farmers across these states,” Sheth mentioned. With greater than 500 advisors, who’re area specialists, servicing the farmers, the corporate says it runs Asia’s largest agronomy contact centre.
In March, 2022, AgroStar acquired Mumbai-based INI Farms, one of many largest exporters of bananas and pomegranates in India. INI Farms’ ‘Kimaye’ model of merchandise can be found throughout retail chains in 35 nations. “Through this acquisition we have given our farmers a global reach, as ‘Kimaye’ is now a global consumer brand,” Sheth mentioned.
AgroStar had raised $70 mn from Evolvence, world asset supervisor Schroders Capital, Hero Enterprise, and UK’s growth finance establishment CDC in a funding spherical final 12 months. Its different traders embody Aavishkaar Capital, Accel, Bertelsmann, Chiratae Ventures, and Rabo Frontier Ventures. The firm, which reported gross sales of Rs 500 crore in 2021-22, is aiming to the touch Rs 1,000 crore in gross sales within the present fiscal, he mentioned.
Source: www.financialexpress.com”