IGI Logo

CII Maharashtra Taskforce on Agriculture in association with the S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, organised a Roundtable discussion on Agri Digital Technology: The Segway to Agricultural Prosperity, on August 26, 2023 in Mumbai.  

India’s digital ecosystem is witnessing healthy tailwinds such as affordability and availability of high-speed internet and a maturing digital content ecosystem. The confluence ofthese factors presents an exciting opportunity for innovation in the agricultural ecosystem, where market players can leverage next-generation technology such as data digitization and data platforms, data analytics, AI, ML, the IoT, and Software as a Service (SaaS) to disrupt the status quo. 

Dr Sunil D. Gorantiwar, Director of Research and Principal Investigator CAAST, Mahatama Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri said that the digital farming plays a vital role in understanding crop science and improving agronomic practices to yield better outputs. Scalable and cost-efficient solutions also facilitate large and medium enterprises to pass on a tried-and-tested package of practices to farmers, particularly in developing regions, to help them adopt more scientific methods of farming. 

Mr Vilas Shinde, Convener, CII Maharashtra State Taskforce on Agriculture and  Director, Sahyadri Farms Post Harvest Care Ltd highlighted that “the government’s aim of building a $5 trillion inclusive economy is only possible when agricultural infrastructure is improved through public and private investment to enable productivity, arrest wastage and enhance distribution.” 

Dr Varun Nagaraj, Professor, Information Management & Analytics and Dean, SPJIMR in his address mentioned about supporting the agri startups in a big way as they are the future of modernising and digitising the agriculture sector in India and take it upto the global level. He also mentioned about the importance of the Indusry-Academia collaboration and this kind of sessions are very essential at every step of the way.

Mr V Shankar, Executive-in-Residence, Centre for Innovation in Sustainable Development-(CISD), SPJIMR highlighted the remarkable progress made in Agriculture since the Green Revolution and that now the focus is shifting to productivity and quality.  In this Digital Technology will play a critical role as an enabler through information analytics and thereby invaluable to do precision farming, forecasting, estimating yields, market price tracking, linkages and removing blindness in the system. The income revolution which can happen will bring in dignity to farmers and convert subsistence agriculture into a vibrant agri business.  

Mr Girish Chitale, Co-Convener, CII Maharashtra State Taskforce on Agriculture & Director, B G Chitale Dairies Pvt Ltd reiterated that the advent of Agriculture 4.0 has equipped food producers with an army of farm automation tools and data management solutions that empower them to boost resource and agricultural productivity. 

The objective of this session was to deliberate on Agritech: The progress and the road ahead. The roundtable also featured interesting panel discussions on Role and progress of Agri Digital Technologies, Future of Digitech and Challenges & Opportunities in Agri Sector & Policy Reforms. Esteemed speakers from the Industry and Academia shared their valuable inputs.