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Agrotech, Funding, India, Industry Reports / Analysis

This reduction aligns closely with the global decline in agrifood tech investments, which fell by 50 per cent year-over-year

AgFunder and Omnivore have released the sixth India AgriFoodTech Investment Report, detailing just under $1 billion in startup investment, a 60 per cent year-over-year decline from $2.4 billion in 2022. However, India maintained a steady deal activity with 129 deals, only slightly fewer than in 2022. This reduction aligns closely with the global decline in agrifoodtech investments, which fell by 50 per cent year-over-year. 

Unlike the global market, however, the total funds raised by Indian agrifood startups were not far off from the $1.3 billion garnered in pre-Covid 2019, suggesting a normalisation of market conditions after a period of excessive valuations. A concerning trend is the limited participation of agrifood investors, with Omnivore being one of the few remaining, alongside generalist and climate-focused VCs. This scenario underscores the need for more committed investors across all stages. 

Below are some of the highlights of the report:

In 2023, Indian agrifood tech startups raised $940 million across 129 deals, down 60 per cent from 2022.

The number of deals remained almost flat with 129 closing in 2023 compared to 133 deals in 2022, indicating smaller deal sizes given the steep decline in dollars raised. 

More early-stage deals closed in 2023 than 2022 indicating continued interest by investors in the category but at much lower valuations than in previous years.

The median deal sizes dropped significantly year-on-year across stages and most dramatically at the late stages: 50 per cent at the early stages (Seed and Series A), 39 per cent at the growth stages (Series B and C) and 89 per cent at Series D and later.

Both AgFunder and Omnivore continue to explore deals that push beyond traditional agrifood boundaries into adjacent sectors, highlighting the growing interconnectedness of food, agriculture, and other industries like climate tech. Despite a decrease in the median deal sizes, the willingness to invest persists, although at lower ticket sizes, with Ag Marketplaces and eGrocery receiving the most attention yet again. However, there are fewer players in the market than before, reflecting Power Law dynamics.  

This reduction aligns closely with the global

Agribusiness, Agrotech, E-commerce, Supply Chain, World

The Online Wholesale Market, functioning as a nationwide platform allowing unrestricted 24/7 transactions, stands as a pivotal endeavour aligned with the Yoon Seok Yeol administration’s national agenda

South Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs have held the opening ceremony for the Online Agricultural Wholesale Market. This market constitutes a pioneering initiative leading the digital transformation of agricultural product distribution.

At the ceremony, Chung Hwang-keun Minister of Agriculture underscored the unprecedented nature of the world’s first online agricultural wholesale market, articulating the Ministry’s aim to cultivate the market to a scale of KRW 3.7 trillion by 2027. He emphasised the overarching goal of reducing wholesale distribution costs by KRW 700 billion and ensuring that these economic gains mutually benefit producers and consumers.

The Online Wholesale Market, functioning as a nationwide platform allowing unrestricted 24/7 transactions, is a pivotal endeavour aligned with the Yoon Seok Yeol administration’s national agenda (71-2. Digital Innovation in Agricultural Produce Distribution). Its official commencement follows ten months of preparatory efforts since establishing a joint public-private task force in February.

To ensure the early settlement of the Online Wholesale Market, the Ministry will prioritize quality management of traded products. First, seller eligibility requirements include an annual transaction volume of over KRW 5 billion for producer groups and corporations. Detailed quality information, encompassing sweetness, acidity, colour, and size, will be provided alongside basic information. 

The Online Wholesale Market, functioning as a

Company News, Dairy, People

He served as the MD of Lactalis India for over a decade and as the MD of Amul for more than ten years

Parag Milk Foods, a manufacturer and marketer of dairy-FMCG products, has announced the appointment of Rahul Kumar Srivastava as the chief operating officer (COO) of the organisation. He served as the managing director of Lactalis India, a division of the world’s largest dairy conglomerate, for over a decade. Additionally, he held the position of Managing Director at Amul for more than ten years.

“With extensive expertise in managing significant procurement operations and a deep understanding of innovative approaches to enhance yields through close collaboration with farmers, while ensuring sustained quality, Srivastava stands as an industry leader. His presence is poised to be instrumental in Parag Milk Foods’ journey toward a new era of leadership and growth. Having been a pioneering force in establishing and maintaining organised brands within a sector primarily dominated by regional and unorganized entities, he is well-positioned to unlock the vast potential of the organised Indian market demand for Parag Milk Foods,” stated a press release.

In his previous roles, Srivastava’s keen insight and vast knowledge have consistently driven efficiency improvements, fortified brand sustainability, and elevated the consumer experience. 

Devendra Shah, Chairman, of Parag Milk Foods said, “Rahul Kumar’s exceptional expertise and unparalleled proficiency in the Dairy realm align perfectly with Parag Milk Foods’s vision.  His ability to blend traditional strategies with contemporary innovations is exactly what we need in these ever-evolving times. He will help in leading our strategy for profitable growth and also pursue the market opportunities associated with the dairy-FMCG sector and growing global nutrition demand. We are confident that with his leadership, the company will continue to deliver sustainable higher business growth.”

He served as the MD of Lactalis

AgroPolicy, India, Sustainability, Trade

Turmeric exports from India expected to rise to $1 billion by 2030

The Government of India notified the constitution of the National Turmeric Board. The National Turmeric Board will focus on the development and growth of turmeric and turmeric products in the country.

The National Turmeric Board will provide leadership on turmeric-related matters, augment the efforts, and facilitate greater coordination with the Spices Board and other Government agencies in the development and growth of the turmeric sector.

There is significant potential and interest worldwide in the health and wellness benefits of turmeric, which the Board will leverage to further increase awareness and consumption, develop new markets internationally to increase exports, promote research and development into new products, and develop our traditional knowledge for value-added turmeric products. It will especially focus on capacity building and skill development of turmeric growers for harnessing greater benefits out of value addition. The Board will also promote quality and food safety standards and adherence to such standards. The Board will also take steps to further safeguard and usefully exploit turmeric’s full potential for humanity.

The activities of the Board will contribute towards greater well-being and prosperity of the turmeric growers through their focussed and dedicated attention to the sector and the larger value addition closer to the farms, which would provide better realisation to the growers for their produce. The Board’s activities in research, market development, increasing consumption, and value addition will also ensure that our growers and processors continue to maintain their pre-eminent position in the global markets as exporters of high-quality turmeric and turmeric products.

The Board shall have a Chairperson to be appointed by the Central Government, members from the Ministry of AYUSH, Departments of Pharmaceuticals, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Commerce & Industry of the Union Government, senior State Government representatives from three states (on a rotation basis), select national/state institutions involved in research, representatives of turmeric farmers and exporters, and have a Secretary to be appointed by the Department of Commerce.

India is the largest producer, consumer and exporter of turmeric in the world. In the year 2022-23, an area of 3.24 lakh ha was under turmeric cultivation in India with a production of 11.61 lakh tonnes (over 75 per cent of global turmeric production). More than 30 varieties of Turmeric are grown in India and it is grown in over 20 states in the country. The largest producing states of Turmeric are Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

India has more than 62 per cent share of world trade in turmeric. During 2022-23, 1.534 lakh tonnes of turmeric and turmeric products valued at $207.45 million were exported by more than 380 exporters The leading export markets for Indian Turmeric are Bangladesh, UAE, USA and Malaysia. With the focused activities of the Board, it is expected that turmeric exports will reach $1 Billion by 2030.

Turmeric exports from India expected to rise

AgroPolicy, Sugar industry, Supply Chain

The additional sugar in the domestic market will ensure reasonable prices all over the country

Keeping in view the strong demand for sugar for the upcoming festivals of Onam, Raksha Bandhan, and Krishna Janmashtami, the additional quota of 2 LMT (over and above 23.5 LMT already allocated for August 2023) is being allocated for August 2023. The additional sugar in the domestic market will ensure reasonable prices all over the country.

Despite a 25 per cent increase in international sugar prices in the last year, the average retail price of sugar in the country is about ₹ 43.30 per kg and is likely to remain in range bound only. There has been less than 2 per cent annual inflation in the country in sugar prices in the last 10 years.

During the current Sugar Season (Oct-Sep) 2022-23, India is estimated to have produced of 330 LMT sugar after the diversion of about 43 LMT for ethanol production. Domestic consumption is expected to be around 275 LMT.

At the present stage, India has sufficient sugar stock to meet its domestic demand for the remaining months of the current SS 2022-23 and the optimum closing stock of 60 LMT (sufficient to meet sugar consumption for 2 ½ months) will be available at the end of this season i.e. 30.09.2023.

The recent increase in sugar prices will cool down soon as each year during July-Sep, just before next season, prices increase and then come down on the start of cane crushing. Thus, the price rise in sugar is very nominal and for a short duration.

The additional sugar in the domestic market

India, Start ups

Harvesting Farmer Network (HFN), a leading agriculture technology platform in India, has raised $4 million from Social Capital, a Silicon Valley-based technology investment firm managed by Chamath Palihapitiya. This is the first institutional round raised by HFN, which will be used to reach more than 120 million smallholder farmers across India, as well as explore opportunities in India’s rural markets.

HFN helps smallholder farmers (defined by the UN as a farmer owning less than 2 hectare of land) in India to increase their income by empowering them with a collective bargaining platform. Through HFN’s platform, farmers are able to buy farm inputs, access financial services such as loans and insurance, as well as sell their crops to national and international customers enabling them to scale and grow their businesses.

Founded by Ruchit Garg during COVID-19, HFN was created to reduce the friction between farmers and buyers, initially by enabling them to connect directly on Twitter. Since then, more than $500 million of crops, consisting of over 360 crop varieties, have been listed on HFN’s digital platform from every state across India. These crops have been sold domestically as well as to international markets. A global agricultural powerhouse, India produces more than $275 billion of crops annually.

As of August 2022, more than 3.7 million farmers are digitally connected to the HFN platform, witnessing a 2.5X increase in their crop earnings. Recently, many forward-thinking farmers have even launched offline centres known as “HFN Kisan Centres” to help fellow local farmers sell their crops and buy staple inputs such as seeds and fertiliser at affordable prices.

Ruchit G Garg, Founder CEO of HFN, said: “At HFN, our goal is to help farmers realise their full potential by reducing the plethora of inefficiencies across the agriculture value chain. Simple and widely-available technologies like WhatsApp and Twitter have allowed us to create massive data-driven farmer co-operatives, which allows farmers to negotiate better rates for farm inputs and more competitive prices for outputs.”

Jay Zaveri, Partner at Social Capital, said: “India is one of the bread baskets of the world and we’re excited to partner with HFN to bring a safe, secure, and empowering platform to the more than 120 million smallholder farmers across India. Our goal is to enable Indian households to access high-quality farm produce and for farmers to build a profitable livelihood through HFN.”

HFN plans to use the new funding to rapidly expand its footprint across India, and over the next 12 months, it expects to connect farmers in every single one of India’s 708 districts across the country.

Harvesting Farmer Network (HFN), a leading agriculture