We recently tweeted that according to Forbes – India has 120 million farmers, out of which 30 million use smartphones and have a basic sense of understanding about digital marketplaces. The day is not far where 120 million farmers would be online on a single platform like ICDP accessing better inputs, modern technology or connecting to buyers fetching better price for their produce.

What is more important is that the Indian Farmer is getting digitised which will eventually lead to farm digitisation and a day will come soon when Indian Agriculture would become ‘Precision Agriculture’ than ‘Guessing Agriculture’.

What this means for the Agri Inputs Industry at large :
1. IFFCO’s step to deliver Agri Inputs is a big step for the entire Agri Inputs industry which has been dominated by archaic regulations of state level licensing. This step would eventually lead to making Agriculture “Centre” rather than “State” controlled.
2. IFFCO’s interest into marketing new age Agri Inputs like High Yielding Seeds, BioFertilizers, Biostimulants, Water Soluble Fertilizers, etc means end of road for DAP, Urea and other heavily subsidised fertilizers which only harm the economy, environment and ultimately the farmer.
3. States like Punjab which still donot allow sale of products beyond the list as per FCO 1985 will now open up and look towards Agri Inputs which add real value to farmers in terms of better yields and quality of produce.
4. The Agri Inputs digital platforms currently with (heavily invested) startups which are just a market place for brands and don’t add real value to the industry will open up to manufacturers and industry leaders going ahead with their own e-commerce platforms like Direct2Farmer.com and mobile apps.
5. More Investments in terms of infrastructure, getting the last mile delivery and supply chain efficiency – to and from farmers / rural areas.
6. Massive savings for farmers in terms of cost of Agri Inputs as the middlemen would be taken out eventually. This will lead to a reduced cost of cultivation and more profit for every farmer. More farmers online means better networking, better, faster flow of information and a better economy. ICDP will have 50 million farmers online on their platform by 2020 and this only means : Good for Indian Agriculture, Better for India,  and Best for the Indian Farmer.