Digitization of Unorganized Indian Agribusiness

Digital India was launched by the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on 1 July 2015 with an objective of connecting rural areas with high-speed Internet networks and improving digital literacy. The vision of Digital India programme is inclusive growth in areas of electronic services, products, manufacturing and job opportunities etc. and it is centered on three key areas – Digital Infrastructure as a Utility to Every Citizen, Governance & Services on Demand and Digital Empowerment of Citizens. Digital India Programme launched to create digital infrastructure for empowering rural communities, enabling digital delivery of services and promoting digital literacy. Given that 68 per cent of India's population is rural and agriculture is the main source of livelihood for 58 per cent of the population, one must consider the role of Digital Agriculture within Digital India. Digital Agriculture can be defined as ICT and data ecosystems to support the development and delivery of timely, targeted (localised) information and services to make farming profitable and sustainable (socially, economically and environmentally) while delivering safe, nutritious and affordable food for ALL. Rural connectivity will be key to providing low cost data and access to information. It would empower rural youth to realize their full potential, farmers to increase their profitability by accessing equitable markets and rural businesses to offer value added services. Unorganized Agribusiness consists of local food processing units, cold storage units, farm machinery producers and several others . India being the fertile ground of diverse raw material, sky should have been the limit for India’s Agribusinesses. Instead this sector is nowhere in the race not only by the standards of industrialized countries but also in comparison with several other developing countries. This is due to the mismatch between the three main players in the value chain namely Farmers, Agribusiness organizations and the End consumers. Farmers are crucial in this value chain as they influence both the supply side and demand side as well. So, All is Well for Agribusiness only when Farmer is well.