Launched in 2016, Agri Bolo offers 360-degree solutions to farmers, right from agricultural inputs to farming best practices to sustainable pricing. The company is currently working with farmers in Haryana and Rajasthan. India’s addressable agritech market opportunity is expected to reach $24.1 Bn by 2025, out of which agritech start-ups have only tapped $204 Mn.
Recently, the Economic Survey revealed that agriculture and allied sectors were the least impacted by the pandemic even when the economy as a whole struggled to cope and the sector is expected to grow by 3.9% in 2021-22. In spite of farming’s potential to pivot from a rural livelihood sector to a tech-powered, modern enterprise — and the number of agritech start-up’s in India — farmers across the country continue to suffer and losing to climate vagaries, pest attacks and poor-quality agricultural inputs. Add to that lower price realisation due to a broken supply chain ruled by middlemen, and one can easily understand how the ecosystem is systematically pushed into a vicious cycle of debt and low growth. According to an NSO (National Statistical Office) report, more than 50% of agricultural households in the country are in debt.
Growing up in a farming household in Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar, brothers Arvind and Ajeet Godara were aware that few people from the farming community had full information regarding the crops in demand and best farming practices.
The duo decided to set up a comprehensive platform to guide farmers through the entire agricultural lifecycle, from crop selection to procuring seeds and input purchase to farming and selling at the right price. And thus, was born the agritech start-up, Agri Bolo in 2016, with limited farmers on board. Today, more than 3 lakhs are registered on the platform, while the company mostly operates in northern and central Rajasthan and south Haryana.