StarAgri Group launches ‘Agribhumi’ to create digital profile for farmlands

Mumbai-based StarAgri Group, an agricultural marketing firm that provides warehousing, procurement and collateral services of agri-commodities, has launched an advanced agri tool “Agribhumi” which will create a digital profile for farms in the country, its co-founder and executive director Amith Agarwal has said. 

“We are so excited about this product. We will create a digital profile using satellite data, machine learning and remote sensing. Farmers, through our Agribazaar app can see the analysis of their farms. Agribhumi analyses the farm using these and detects the problem area with precision sculpting. It processes crop phenology and generates details such as the area and age of the crop. The farmer gets the report, including the soil type and climatic requirement,” he said in an online interaction with businessline.

Agribhumi will provide tools to grow based on the data and farmers can avail of the inputs from Agribazaar at low interest. The tool will also provide credit scores for financial institutions besides providing crop knowledge and advisory for farmers to understand their farms and crops better. 

Crop options

The crop calendar on the Agribazaar app will provide advisory on best practices for the crop’s growth from sowing to harvest besides keeping a track as the crop grows. Farmers can use the advisory for treatment of any crop disease, he said. 

“Agribhumi” will also provide suggestions on maximising profitability. “Suppose a farmer is growing wheat and has never given thought of cultivating maize. We can tell him/her what results can be derived by growing maize. The data can provide results well ahead before sowing. You can have the option of seeing whether you can grow wheat or mustard or soyabean or maize,” he said.

The farmer will also get to know which crop can yield better and provide higher returns. “Farmers can use this seamlessly. All the three lakh farmers who avail of funds from the firm from its non-banking financial arm are allowed to use it free. Over the next 2-3 years, we will have about 10 lakh farmers availing funds from us,” said Agarwal. 

Expanding Agribazaar

Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and, of late, Uttar Pradesh have opted for “Agribhumi”. On offering services free, he said, “We will earn through our loan portfolio. We can also provide the data from this to banks and insurance companies,” said the co-founder and executive director of the company, established in 2006. 

With States looking to increase the yield of crops mainly through diversification, they are looking for data. “With Agribhumi, they will be able to get the data they require, plus it will provide details on the feasibility of a particular crop in a specific region,” said Agarwal, adding StarAgri, incorporated as Star Agriwarehousing and Collateral Management Limited, is working with the Uttar Pradesh government on this aspect. 

StarAgri, which launched in the output market place Agribazaar in 2016-17, has expanded now with trading taking place in over 50 commodities, mainly vegetables, pulses and oilseeds. “We have 35,000 enterprise-level sellers and buyers and our gross monthly value is ₹1,000 crore,” he said. 

The company uses emails, Whatsapp and text messages to promote its market place, which any farmer or enterprise can use to trade online. “It is completely transparent and pricing is competitive. The onboarding is done through a  simple four-step process and the platform provides for seamless bidding,” the firm’s co-founder and executive director said. 

Warehousing operations

StarAgri uses sensors to determine the quality of pulses and other crops besides other parameters to keep farmers informed of their produce. Besides digital services, the company offers financial and warehousing services. “We also buy and sell the crop from farmers. We also provide them seeds and guide farmers until the crop is harvested,” he said. 

On warehousing operations, Agarwal said the company has 1,110 warehouses across the country. “We are the largest player in this space. We have 30 million tonnes capacity and the utilisation rate is 70 per cent,” he said. 

Using warehouses, StarAgri offers collateral to traders and processors. “For traders it is up to ₹50 lakh and for processors, it is even more. The assets under management under our commodity financing in crops such as foodgrains, pulses and oilseeds is about ₹14,000 crore,” he said. 

StarAgri has procurement centres in States such as Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, to directly buy from farmers. “We facilitate the trade by selling the produce to processors directly. The commodity financing is growing 40 per cent annually,” he said. 

Stating that the company has built an ecosystem around the agri value chain, Agarwal said starting with collateral management, commodity financing, lab testing and provides loans to smallholder farmers and processors through its non-banking financial arm. 

Crop analysis data

Loans are offered at 12-13 per cent for farmers, who are provided ₹30,000-40,000 per acre for a four-year period. The farmers have to pay the loans through equated instalments once in six months. “It is difficult for farmers to pay the instalments every month or once every two months. So, we give them this option. If farmers or anyone in their family wants to set up a small industry such as micro dairy we lend ₹10-15 lakh,” he said.  

StarAgri was one of five companies enrolled by the Centre for crop analysis data. “It was a pilot project that was carried out in three districts — Kota in Rajasthan, Mathura in Uttar Pradesh and Guna in Madhya Pradesh. The pilot has been completed and we have given whatever the government asked for. The Centre is now working with other departments to ensure farmers benefit to the maximum,” he said. 

Under the pilot project, StarAgri was asked to analyse the number of farmers in these districts, the crops they grow and the yield they get. The farms, comprising roughly four lakh farmers, were geo-tagged for the pilot.  

StarAgri has also done a study with mustard, wheat, gram and maize on which crop provides better yield, returns, consumes less water and the days of the crop cycle. “Our study found that mustard is promising in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh,” Agarwal said.