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| ‘UBER’IZATION OF AGRICULTURE | | | Dr. Parveen Kumar, Dr. D. Namgyal
The word ‘Uber’ization represents a neologism; i. e a word which has gained a new meaning. The word is derived from the functionality of ‘Uber’, the popular commute option in our fast-paced world. The company developed a mobile application that allows consumers to submit a trip request which is then routed to Uber drivers who use their own cars. It describes the commoditization of an existing service-based industry by new participants using computing platforms, such as mobile applications, in order to aggregate transactions between clients and providers of a service, often bypassing the role of existing intermediaries as part of the so-called platform economy. This business model has different operating costs compared to a traditional business. Uber’ization has been made possible by the development of digital technologies developed in the 20th and 21st centuries. This enables business organizations such as Uber, Grab, Lyft and Airbnb to put potential customers into direct contact with potential providers of a service. It is characterized by the elimination or quasi-elimination of middle man roles. Uberized business formats are characterized by the use of a digitalized platform enabling peer-to-peer, or quasi-peer to peer transactions, minimizing the distance between the provider and customer of a service and the use of a rating system for the quality of the service provided by a provider.
This word Uber’ization has various applications and connotes a property of a highly tele-networked business to hit the culmination of order in operations, through increased cost-effectiveness, and structured services. The revolutionary concept of ‘Uberization in Agriculture’ was shown a light upon at the World AgTech Congress 2019 organized by ICFA in India by Sanjay Borkar, CEO and Co-Founder of FarmERP, a market leader in Agritech. The basic principles and philosophy of Uber is now being replicated in the agriculture sector. In a country with agriculture as the predominant occupation and with a population of 1.3 billion with 48% of the population being dependent on agriculture, it is important and necessary to align the sector with technological progress to meet the ever-increasing demand. From traditional agriculture to the modern agriculture which envisages the use of artificial intelligence, drones, censors, block chain, satellite imagery, computer vision, automation and so many aspects that were unheard of a few decades ago. Uber’ization of agriculture is another step towards strengthening farmer and farming sector through the use of various digital technologies. It reduces the time lag between producers, consumers and buyers. Many private sector initiatives have taken towards Uber’ization of agriculture in India. Companies like FarmERP are working towards making a difference and enabling a change in the Agricultural World. The company aims to bring smallholder vegetable farmers; on this platform to increase profitability and make farming a predictable business for them.
FarmERP has created an innovative technology offering, reinforcing development, and aiming at being the Pioneers of Uber’ization in Agriculture Technology. The company has selected two key vegetable growing areas in Maharashtra, Otur and Khadak Malegoan, near Pune and Nashik respectively have been selected. The project covers 24 organic & conventional vegetable crops. FarmERP offers vegetable growers with end-to-end services inclusive of a package of practices, climate-smart advisory concerning nutrition, irrigation, pest & disease management, quality control, harvesting as well. Field officers and farmers use the mobile app to capture all information. Procurement by buyers with labels pasted at farm gate ensures complete traceability. This Uber’ization project also involves Geo-Tagging of grower plots to gain basic information and pictures of farms and produce are put on top priority, creating a task calendar for a particular plot and notifications to growers on daily basis, climate-smart digital advisory services (DAS) in the local language are pushed as and when required. Growers also get resource requirements in advance and can monitor his expenses and budget for the crop cycle. The Agronomists intervene for specific advisories. The buyer can make out the quality of produce and offers purchase rates and if the rate is agreed by the grower, procurement, packing, and sales happen. This entire process from Farm to Consumer is covered over a single digital platform with growers, FPC/FPO, and buyers accessing with their credentials. FarmERP promotes Sustainable Agricultural practices and Climate Resilience during the crop production stage by educating farmers through Digital Advisory Services (DAS). Weekly visits by field officers take place to collect research data and make observations. Collective marketing helps to reduce the emission of distributions in the supply chain, which also contributes to climate resilience. FarmERP extends expertise to these farmers to understand & measure quality standards that the buyers expect. Such Uber’ization projects are very important for marginal and small holder farmers in the country which forms the majority of farming community in the country. These ensure timely availability of inputs, farmer-buyer linkage. Farmers, farmer associations like Farmer Producer Companies and Farmer Producer Organizations and buyers all are benefited by meeting demand and supply at both ends. FarmERP also provides for the buyers also to keep track of what the farmers harvest via the FarmERP app. In this way, the buyers understand/track the quantity and quality of produce beforehand by looking at the real-time crop images that are updated regularly by the field officers of FarmERP. These tracking mechanics help the buyers analyze the products and pre-decide the exact quantity & best buying rates. To ease up further processes, FarmERP labels each product before sending them forward to the pack house where produce is scanned. This ensures product Traceability. Moving to the pack house, scanned products are mixed in lots of finished goods and forwarded to dispatch for packaging, ready to be sold to the end consumers via retail stores and online shopping apps. In today’s era when the farming community is confused with so many different sources of information, Uberization projects like that of FarmERP are a blessing for the farming community. This helps them to determine the right value of production, analyze data correctly, and establish market linkages, ultimately translating into a better price for their produce. Such initiatives also help mitigate uncertainty and enhance profitability for smallholder farmers. |
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