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HomePosts Tagged "Leads Connect"
Agribusiness, India, Start ups

SAMARTH featured scientific and technical sessions, gathering industry experts, researchers, and academics from across spectrums and regions to create a collaborative roadmap for sustainable solutions in agro-ecosystems and value chain development.

 BL Agro, one of India’s leading FMCG brands, and its agritech venture, Leads Connect, focused on risk management, climate, and sustainability solutions, launched SAMARTH 1.0 at Krishi Bharat in Lucknow.

The initiative, SAMARTH 1.0, Seminar on Agricultural Modelling and Assessing Risks for Transforming Humanity is designed to unite key stakeholders in a scientific dialogue focused on addressing critical challenges in agriculture. SAMARTH featured scientific and technical sessions, gathering industry experts, researchers, and academics from across spectrums and regions to create a collaborative roadmap for sustainable solutions in agro-ecosystems and value chain development.

Dr Alok B. Mukherjee, Director – Research, Analytics & Modeling at Leads Connect, highlighted the vision behind SAMARTH, saying, “SAMARTH is more than just a research journal. It’ is a way to create real, on-ground impact. By combining advanced technology with an interdisciplinary approach and hyper-local intelligence, we are moving beyond conventional AI to embrace strong AI. SAMARTH is a call to practitioners, researchers, and stakeholders in the agri-ecosystem and climate domain to contribute their work. The best three research papers, rigorously peer-reviewed and by a board, will receive awards of Rs. 50,000, Rs. 30,000, and Rs. 20,000 respectively. Beyond research, SAMARTH is about direct engagement with farmers to ensure real-world relevance. Each edition will focus on pilot studies that drive tangible, sustainable change on the ground.”

In tandem with SAMARTH 1.0, BL Agro and Leads Connect announced a call for papers to contribute to the newly unveiled scientific journal, Satellite Analytics & Transfer Intelligence (SATI). SATI will serve as a hub for breakthrough research, covering themes such as agriculture, climate and disaster management, and value chain analytics. Ten research articles, selected after a peer review process, will be published in SATI, with awards presented to the authors of the top three articles for their contributions.

Navneet Ravikar, Chairman & Managing Director, Leads Connect Services, expressed his excitement, saying, “Our efforts are driven by a deep commitment to develop robust and sustainable solutions for agriculture and the environment. The milk production technology we have introduced has transformed the entire ecosystem, bringing a new level of efficiency and productivity. We are now focused on creating stronger market linkages between agriculture and dairy, fostering a more integrated and sustainable value chain. SAMARTH 1.0 is a testament to our dedication to transforming lives and bringing smiles to people through impactful solutions.”

Special international recognition came from Jan-Kees Goet, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security, and Nature, Netherlands, who also attended the event. He commended the efforts of Leads Connect in supporting farmers and strengthening the agri-ecosystem in India. Speaking on the strides being made in agricultural innovation, Goet remarked, “The Netherlands has been at the forefront of developing technologies that enhance productivity while ensuring sustainability. It is inspiring to see initiatives like SAMARTH 1.0 echoing the same values by bringing together global and local expertise to empower farmers and create sustainable agri-ecosystems.”

SAMARTH featured scientific and technical sessions, gathering

Agro Universities, Agrotech, Company News, India, R&D, Start ups

The partnership aims to bridge the gaps in the agri-value chain and provide farmer-centric solutions like optimal markets for produce and fintech support.

NOIDA based Leads Connect Services, the premier agritech data, risk management, and financial services company, in collaboration with Agribusiness and Innovation Platform-International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (AIP-ICRISAT), recently organised a sensitisation program on marketing strategies for farmer producer organisations (FPO) in Hyderabad.

Leads Connect Services signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ICRISAT at the event to study the dynamics of the agricultural value chain and develop sustainable solutions for all stakeholders in agriculture. The partnership aims to bridge the gaps in the agri-value chain and provide farmer-centric solutions like optimal markets for produce and fintech support.

Navneet Ravikar, Chairman & Managing Director of Leads Connect Services, signed the MoU with Victor Afari Sefa, a citizen of Ghana who joined ICRISAT in March 2022 as Director, the Global Research Program Enabling Systems Transformation, ICRISAT. LeadsConnect which is already working on Chilli, pulses and Turmeric value chain, this MOU will further open new avenues for CBBO, FPOs (Farmer Producer Organizations) Pan India to collaborate with Leads Connect Services to close chasms in the agri-value chain, prioritise the needs of farmers, providing better price for their produce thus empowering communities and stimulating economic growth. This collaboration with ICRISAT unlocks the potential to work in Africa as well for upliftment of the farming community.

The agritech company also launched its game-changing AGRANI app. The app is an end-to-end SaaS-based platform developed for all stakeholders in agriculture. It aims to connect all dots from farm-to-fork in the agricultural spectrum and provide farmer-first solutions using Space Tech Analytics and Artificial Intelligence. This is a part of the agritech’s initiative ‘Khet Se Kitchen Tak’, an agri value chain solution to support the farmers’ community, agri-businesses, and FPOs.

ICRISAT is a non-profit organisation that conducts agricultural research for rural development in various parts of the world. It also conducts workshops, seminars, and knowledge sessions to create awareness among the agriculture community.

“Launching AGRANI and signing the MoU was a revolutionary opportunity for us,” says Navneet Ravikar, Chairman and Managing Director of Leads Connect Services. AGRANI intends to bring farm advisory, financial services, and market linkage to the doorsteps of farmers, agribusinesses, and FPOs. It also provides timely access to finance for FPOs and agribusinesses for community infrastructure requirements like storage, processing and transportation.

Ravikar adds, “It’s a transformative value chain platform that will bring much-needed transparency to transactions held at the mandis and FPOs. Our mission is to empower and connect farm value chains to create a sustainable, scalable agribusiness ecosystem. With AGRANI, we are taking a step towards achieving this mission by providing farmer-centric solutions. And this is just the beginning. We look forward to continuing our mission of enabling farm value chains for a brighter and more profitable future.”

The partnership aims to bridge the gaps

Agrotech, Company News, India, IT, Start ups

It aims to connect all dots spanning from Farm to Table in the agricultural spectrum for providing farmer centric solutions using Space Tech Analytics and Artificial Intelligence

Leads Connect Services, the premier Agritech data, risk management, and financial services company, introduced the game-changing Agrani platform at the Uttar Pradesh Global Investors Summit 2023 (UPGIS).

Agrani is an end-to-end SaaS based platform developed for all stakeholders of Agriculture and Disaster Management. It aims to connect all dots spanning from Farm to Table in the agricultural spectrum for providing farmer centric solutions using Space Tech Analytics and Artificial Intelligence.

UPGIS was a singular opportunity to launch the app. It created the perfect storm by bringing together global corporate leaders, policymakers, think tanks, and political and government leadership to raise awareness and generate more reach for the technology.

“Agrani is not just a simple market linkage app; it’s a game changer for the agriculture industry,” stresses Navneet Ravikar, Chairman & Managing Director of Leads Connect Services. “We’re proud to be launching it at UPGIS. Land, water, and soil health are witnessing stressed scenarios due to phenomenal urbanization and other allied activities. This may create a scenario of uncertainties in the context of productivity and economic stability. Therefore, appropriate interventions are required. Through AGRANI, we’re aiming to provide stage wise agronomy advisories such as impact of weather, biophysical, and crop management practises on yield productivity. We have also assessed the need for financing and crop insurance to help strengthen the ecosystem. This requires robust and transparent underwriting algorithms and medium. We’ve created agricultural credit and value chain scores for seamless, and efficient farm lending with electronic applications, disbursal of loans, insurance pay-outs linked to weather, field data all this aimed to benefit transfers in agriculture and help farmers struggling to get timely access to finance.

We have also enabled an omni-channel insurance platform, to provide seamless access to all relevant insurance products – health, crop, cattle, life, and motor. The platform will also deliver continuous post-sale service assistance, including claims management.

The adoption of diverse technologies can aid in the advancement of food processing and logistics. We are also establishing the right market linkages between farmers and buyers to create better transparency in pricing and better value, especially for perishable products.

By bridging the gap between farmers and customers, the platform helps to expand the food product distribution network for farmers and other stakeholders in domestic markets.

Similarly, Mandis and FPOs need digitisation to bring more transparency into transactions and farmers need more sales channels. Through our AGRANI Value Chain Platform, we aim to provide timely access to finance for FPOs/Agribusinesses for community infrastructure in terms of storage and transportation. We also have walk in Agrani Centres that would act as the physical outlets for all platform services to the stakeholders.”

It aims to connect all dots spanning

Interaction, Sustainability

In the face of climate change, farm risk management has taken several new turns. The increased implementation of technology in agriculture paved the way for several new avenues in risk management. The importance of drones came to light and farmers regained confidence in farming while these new avenues offered problem solving solutions. Naveneet Ravikar, Chairman & Managing Director, Leads Connect Services, expounds how risks in farming can be mitigated with technology, especially by using drones. Edited excerpts:

What is Leads Connect’s role in farm risk management?
Farm risk management has always been one of the most important components of services which we provide. The company has capabilities and experience of delivering end-to-end services
for farm risk management. There are various aspects of farm risk management beginning from crop health monitoring and stress estimation, claims settlement and risk assessment, disease
and pest identification to pre-harvest and post-harvest yield assessment.Our team uses advanced and cutting-edge technologies for assessing and quantifying risks associated with agritech spectrum. In addition, the focus has always been on timely assessment of risks with accuracy and precision. This helps in identifying pertinent measures for mitigating risks. We have presence in more than 100 districts across India for projects relating to the aspects of risk management. Moreover, the company has huge experience in delivering crop cutting experiments (CCE) and risk management projects/services.

The company is now fully equipped with cutting edge technologies, advanced frameworks such as machine learning and DeepTech, SpaceTech analytics and drones-as-a-service (DrAAS) for performing studies and delivering services on different dimensions of agritech. Besides association with nodal agencies of government, corporates and other organisations for addressing the challenges of the agricultural system; the team has performed numerous pilot studies on construing the dynamics of agri-risk management in different parts of India. These studies have helped us to develop robust and consistent frameworks for developing agritech solutions.

What risk management approach is best suited for Indian farmers when it comes to climate as a risk factor?
Climate change disasters are now a reality. This is now not anymore just a point of discussion. Regions across the globe are being hit and badly affected by different disasters. Impact of climate change disasters are far reaching and long term. Moreover, these paralyse the social, physical and natural system services. Besides adverse impact on the livelihoods and ecosystem, natural disasters threaten the sustainability of the economy. Agricultural sector has been the worst hit by climate change and is completely vulnerable to the perils of climate change. It is therefore absolutely necessary to implement climate resilient measures for strengthening the prospects of agricultural sustainability. As far as risk management is concerned for Indian farmers, steps can be taken in following directions:

• Crop management practices significantly vary in different parts of India. Thus, it is very important to adopt management practices according to the agro-ecological conditions of the region.

• Complexities are deep rooted and dynamic in Indian regions. Henceforth, implementation of smart technologies is an absolute necessity for deciphering the intricacies of agro-ecosystem.

• India is also now facing the heat of climate change. Considering its demographic dynamics and topographical complexities, it is very likely that the threat of climate change will only escalate in the near future. Therefore, it is necessary that Indian farmers must adopt climate resilient approaches such as climate resilient seeds, modern irrigation methods, etc.

• Adoption of climate smart technology is now a must in the agricultural sector.

• It is now absolutely necessary to use drones for accurate monitoring of farm health and for identification of crop stress / diseases / pests. Technology in agriculture, these days, is used extensively to mitigate risks.

Can you elaborate this with examples?
Technology is definitely a key in developing effective solutions for agricultural challenges. Specifically, there would be a huge role of technology in developing effective solutions for agriculture in following dimensions:
• Accurate and precise monitoring of farm health.

• Real time alerts and advisory.

• Crop yield simulation and prediction.

• Impact Time bound claim settlements.

• Assessment of advisories on increasing the
yield.

• Automation of crop cutting experiments.

• Crop disease identification.

• Fraud monitoring and mitigation.

• Seamless on-boarding of farmers into the digital system. This will help in increasing the transparency in the system.

• Enabling farmers through Fintech measures farmers in digital platforms. This will bring transparency in the system.

• Generating scenarios in the context of AgriValue chain analytics.

Drones are used extensively these days and data generated from their application is redefining agriculture. Can you justify this statement and share some facts about the use of
drones in risk management?
There is no ambiguity in the fact that drone analytics has potential in confronting the challenges of agriculture. Drones for risk management are instrumental in following dimensions:
• Availability of high-resolution data from drones helps in accurate and precise monitoring.

• Drone data can also be used to generate accurate thresholds. These thresholds can further be used for upscaling the agricultural studies.

• Drone analytics can be very important in fraud mitigation while settling the claims. • Drone data can be significant in identification of crop diseases and pests.

• UAV analytics can become a game changer for addressing the issues of irrigation monitoring. This can be a strong step towards precision farming.

• Drones can also be used for fertiliser and pesticides spraying.

Anusha Ashwin

In the face of climate change, farm

Finance, Interaction, Opinions

A separate fund needs to be earmarked for R&D in the field of remote sensing, UAV for crop yield estimation and crop claim management and state technical units to be earmarked funds for the purpose. We expect a subsidy of 50 per cent or 10 lakhs whichever is less for buying drones and their accessories to be used for agri research to both research units and private sector agritech companies. The crop insurance premium needs to be subsidised to Rs 10 for all farmers (farmers share the rest premium to be paid by the central government and state government in the ratio of 70:30) with landholding less than one hectare with compulsory coverage by all banks and FIs. All insured farmlands by banks should be geotagged and Aadhaar linked. The banks are to be paid an additional 2 per cent of the premium over and above 4 per cent being paid by the insurers.

A separate fund needs to be earmarked