Role of ICT in Agribusiness- A case study of Criyagen AgriApp.

Vinay Kumar, P1*., Dr. M.R. Girish2., Dr. Basavaraj Girennavar3

1. Mr. VINAY KUMAR, P.

Sr. MBA (ABM) Student,

Department of Agricultural Marketing, Co-operation & Business Management, University of
Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, BENGALURU - 560 065
Mailing Address: Vinay Kumar, P. # 203, I Block, PG Boys Hostel, GKVK, BENGALURU - 560
065
E-Mail ID: vinayparvathappa@gmail.com
Cell: +91-8431412416, +91-9538243377

2. Dr. M.R. GIRISH, M. Sc. (Agri.), Ph. D.

Assistant Professor (Senior Scale) & Placement Co-coordinator - MBA (ABM),

Department of Agricultural Marketing, Co-operation & Business Management, University of
Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, BENGALURU - 560 065
Mailing Address: Dr. M.R. GIRISH, M. Sc. (Agri.), Ph. D, Department of Agricultural
Marketing, Co-operation & Business Management, University of Agricultural Sciences,
GKVK, BENGALURU - 560 065
E-Mail ID: mrgirish2000@yahoo.co.in
Tel: +91-80-2333 0153 Extn. 380 (O)
Tel: +91-80-2350 7831 (R)
Cell: +91-94483 85190

3. Dr. Basavaraj Girennavar

Chairman and Managing Director
Criyagen Agri Bio-tech Pvt., Ltd., Bengaluru
Mailing Address: Dr. Basavaraj Girennavar, MD, Criyagen Agri Bio-Tech Pvt., Ltd.,
Department of Plant pathology, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, BENGALURU -
560 065
E-Mail ID: basu@criyagen.com
Cell: +91-9483220470
 ABSTRACT

There are number of ways by which information is disseminated to the farmers, Institutes and

Business in Agriculture. One of them is Information and Communication Technology (ICT) which

provides requisite information to these 3 elements in agriculture at right time and in a cost effective

way. The Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can create new opportunities to

bridge the gap between sources of information and information seekers in the developing

countries. While Business today are much dependent on these three Integral part of ICT, which

follows as “INFORMATION, COMMUNICATION AND TECHNOLOGY”. All pertaining

information in agribusiness is communicated between the players intensively, with the support of

constant new coming technologies. Here the information involved will be tasid or explicit

knowledge of the individual members in agribusiness. The encoding and decoding of the

information is brought up continuously, where in day by day in technology obsolescence is seen

with equal innovation in technology.

In agribusiness, company’s play a very important role in innovation & building new ICT tool and

techniques such as, Criyagen AgriApp. Which can be utilized by the experts for providing agro-

advisory services. Furthermore, this indicates that there is huge encouragement and opportunities

to develop and adapt ICT in Agribusiness.

Introduction:
There are number of ways by which information is disseminated to the farmers, Institutes and

Business in Agriculture. One of them is Information and Communication Technology (ICT) which

provides requisite information to these 3 elements in agriculture at right time and in a cost effective

way. The Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can create new opportunities to

bridge the gap between sources of information and information seekers in the developing

countries. While Business today are much dependent on these three Integral part of ICT, which

follows as “INFORMATION, COMMUNICATION AND TECHNOLOGY”.

All pertaining information in agribusiness is communicated between the players intensively, with

the support of constant new coming technologies. Here the information involved will be tasid or

explicit knowledge of the individual members in agribusiness. The encoding and decoding of the

information is brought up continuously, where in day by day in technology obsolescence is seen

with equal innovation in technology.

Dissemination of information like commodity prices from nearby markets, disease/pest alerts and

agro advisory services can now be provided to the farmers through the ubiquitous mobile phones.

Sensing technologies are maturing which can be used for bringing more and more farm parameters

onto the expert’s desk in order to provide the personalized advisory series. Challenges faced by

the farmers due to illiteracy and anxiety of using latest handheld devices can be surmounted by

forming groups and by providing education, trainings and handholding in groups.

 (Illustrations and graphs: GTZ 2008, The Participatory Web - New Potentials of ICT in Rural
Areas)
In ICT, the first element is INFORMATION. This important aspect in agribusiness needs

continuous look over it, to maintain the farm and business operations. If, we look into Typology

of information flow along the agricultural value chain, there are many aspects we come across.

Which all have to be taken care to maintain the ICT as a continuous process.

OBJECTIVES:

1. To study the information flows along the agricultural value chain.

2. To study ICT role in AgriApp Criyagen.

Typology of information flows along the agricultural value chain

ICT‘s power is in collection, processing and exchange / distribution of information. Each

stakeholder involved in the agricultural value chain has different functions, interests and

information flows that need to be managed Some surveys have clustered mobile applications

around the categorization of information flows in agricultural value chains according to the inter-

stakeholder communication needs that are satisfied. Parikh et al., 2008 distinguish three categories:

a) link-to-link (L2L): those information flows required to coordinate the distribution of produce

along the value chain, b) peer-to-peer (P2P): communications required to share knowledge and

experiences between members of the same stakeholder group, and with the expert community

serving that group and c) end-to-end (E2E): communications between producers and consumers,

to facilitate exchange of non-economic values as external inputs to market pricing (e.g.

certification).

We use a clustering that focuses on the function of information in the farming process.

a) Extension services:

Applications discussed under this category cover communications required to transfer and

exchange knowledge and experiences to and among farmers, to facilitate the dissemination of

information from research and extension agencies to farmers. This information flow addresses the

significant skills deficit among small producers, and offers the potential to reach many more

farmers than relying on traditional extension channels only.

Mobile projects in agriculture extension can be clustered in two broad categories:

A. mLearning: Transfer of general know-how on farming techniques and trends, information on

plants and varieties and how to grow them, etc. This mainly takes the form of one-way push
communication to subscribers to a service (e.g. general information related to particular crops,

weather forecast) or enables users to send queries to a database. More interactive forms also offer

possibilities for exchanging experiences among farmers.

B. mFarming: Individual decision-support systems and services based on localized contextual

information, i.e. delivering location-specific (spatial) information based on microclimatic patterns,

soil and water conditions throughout the cropping season, in order to inform decisions on

agricultural measures to optimize plant growth. In essence, this is about making some key elements

of precision farming‘available to small producers. mFarming requires remote sensing instruments.

and GIS. It can also involve advice systems such as remote diagnosis of diseases by experts.

Information requirements and business processes offering opportunities for mobile applications

along the value chain

b) Market information and interaction:

This category clusters information flows required to coordinate the procurement and distribution

of produce along the value chain. The use of mobile technology is expected to improve market

transparency and efficiency and strengthen the farmers‘position as sellers of commodities.

a. Market information: This includes price information systems (e.g. market prices of different

inputs and agricultural commodities in different trading locations).

b. Trade facilitation / trading platforms: trading systems and platforms to identify best sale/buy

opportunities and commodity exchange platforms.

Here, after discussing about the part and parcel of INFORMATION. We now will discuss about a

second element -COMMUNICATION.

c) Support services and systems

a. Operational process management:

b. Quality control: communications between sellers and buyers, producers and consumers, to

facilitate exchange of quality of product (e.g. grading) and non-economic values as external inputs

to market pricing (e.g. certification of fair trade products, adherence to quality standards,

ecological footprint, verification of origin of product).

c. Logistics and business process management: Applications that facilitate sound business

processes in rural areas (e.g. transporting agricultural commodities, tracking goods, organizing

seller/buyer accounts).

d. Financial services: Communications and processes to provide financial services such as

payment or insurance to rural farmers and agents involved in the agriculture value chain.
Applications in this area particularly address the issues of distribution, outreach and business

processes that enable dealings with clients in rural areas.

After, we are done with INFORMATION & COMMUNIOCATION OF ICT. Now we will discuss, how

technology plays its vital role in connecting and transferring other two elements in making ICT an effective

method in Agribusiness

In agribusiness, company’s play a very important role in innovation & building new ICT tool and

techniques, such as wireless sensor networks, mobile sensing and human participatory sensing

which can be utilized by the experts for providing agro-advisory services. This indicates that there

is huge encouragement and opportunities to develop and adapt ICT in Agribusiness. The encoding
and decoding of the information is brought up continuously, where in day by day in technology

obsolescence is seen with equal innovation in technology. Dissemination of information like

commodity prices from nearby markets, disease/pest alerts and agro advisory services can now be

provided to the farmers through the ubiquitous mobile phones. Sensing technologies are maturing

which can be used for bringing more and more farm parameters onto the expert’s desk in order to

provide the personalized advisory services. Challenges faced by the farmers due to illiteracy and

anxiety of using latest handheld devices can be surmounted by forming groups and by providing

education, trainings and handholding in groups. There are many mobile applications that global

agribusinesses have brought into market by building new technologies that supports all models

and methods of Agriculture and its related Business. Some of the examples are well explained

below from the figures.

There are some of the technologies developed in INDIA, to support agribusiness rapid growth in

the country, which are as follows.

IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited (IKSL):

Mobile operator Bharti Airtel partnered with IFFCO (Indian Farmer Fertilizer Cooperative Ltd) to

form the joint venture IKSL in 2007. This company provides information on market prices,

farming techniques (including dairy and animal husbandry), weather forecasts, rural health

initiatives and fertilizer availability, etc. IKSL sends 5 free daily voice updates (except Sunday) in

local language so that also illiterate farmers can benefit. The project also runs a 24-hour helpline

to answer farmers ‘questions. Content is developed with inputs from agricultural universities,

experts and government departments

m-Krishi: Initiative by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) started in 2007 to deliver customized

advisory services to farmers on crop production, market information, weather forecasts, etc. m-
Krishi is a high-end technical service, which involves installation of different kinds of sensors in

farmers‘ field to collect information on soil humidity and weather conditions.

e-sagu: e-sagu is a tele Agriculture project started in 2004 by the International Institute of

Information Technology IIT, Hyderabad, and Media Lab Asia. e-sagu delivers farm-specific,

query-less advice ,typically once a week from sowing to harvesting. This service reduces the cost

of cultivation and increases farm productivity as well as the quality of agri-commodities.

e-Choupal India : Although e-choupal is not a mobile application in the strict sense, it is

mentioned here since it is the most successful attempt to create a virtual market and address the

weak infrastructure and the involvement of numerous intermediaries. e-choupal was launched in

2000 by the Agri-division of ITC Ltd.

The model is centered on a network of ―e-Choupals‖, information centers equipped with a

computer connected to the internet, located in farming villages. E-Choupals serve both as a social

forum for exchange of information .choupal means traditional village gathering place in Hindi)

and an e-commerce hub.

ABOUT THE APPLICATION

AGRIAPP-Criyagen, in its attempt to redefine the services provided to the farming community,

has introduced a new feature to cater to the needs of the farmers to its full potential. The mobile-

based agricultural information service is a giant leap of AGRIAPP-Criyagen towards becoming an

epitome of complete Agri information systems.

This new venture, which offers a plethora of services, could very well be positioned as a right tool

for information dissemination that leverages on the modern technology. The information regarding

various mobile-based services like agriculture knowledge based services, text based, voice based,

Agri advisory services, videos, latest news, registration upon qualification and marketing aspects

of company products through the mobile App.

AGRIAPP-Criyagen, Flash screen

FEATURES:

There are numerous features of this application with a simple to use interface, which makes it

much adoptable. Farmers in turn are able to utilize most of the features effectively to earn

maximum benefit.
  Package of Practices

 Chat

 Call

 Videos

 News

 criyagen

 Register

 Order

 Settings

 Refresh

 Home screen

AGRIAPP Criyagen:Home Screen

PACKAGE OF PRACTICES

This feature enable farmers to access to all the information related to the crop. From sowing till

harvesting. Once this icon is clicked, the following interface appears. The farmer can select desired

crop and can have all information regarding it. For example if he selects coconut.
Crop Specific POP Package of Practices

He gets basic details about coconut. If he require the Package of Practices of coconut he may click

on Open Package of Practice which in turns download PDF of that specific crop. This PDF gets

stored in phone and can be accessed directly or by going into files.

If the user press back button while downloading the pdf downloads in background and

automatically opens once download is complete. It will also give notification that Package of

Practice is downloading in background.

 AGRIAPP- Criyagen: Downloading of PDF
Ex. If back button is pressed it will give notification which will disappear in 2 sec automaticly
Example of pakage of practice of coconut:

AGRIAPP- Criyagen: Package of Practice of a Crop

  It has all the relevant information required to have a healthy growth of the coconut.

 The variety, type of soil, climate, pest, nutrition deficiency, Pest and Diseases there control

etc.

CHAT:

 This icon once clicked, enable farmers to directly chat with our experts. They can also send

photos, videos to backend.

 The message sent by user is displayed immediately and the color of the bubble is light

green. If internet is connected and message reaches the expert the color of bubble turns to

normal green.

 There is a notification if internet is not available.

 AGRIAPP- Criyagen: Chat Functions
CALL US:

 This feature directly enables farmers to communicate to our experts by just clicking the

icon. Once this button is clicked, the call is directed to customer care.

 The number is automatically stored in cache memory even without pressing button, if there

is change in number from backend and farmer is unable to call, as soon as he is connected

to internet the number updates to new one.

VIDEO:
 AGRIAPP- Criyagen: Agricultural Vedios
By clicking this option farmer can directly access agriculture and its related video from different

channels in three languages i.e. English, Kannada and Hindi based on the language he is accessing

AgriApp.

NEWS:

 This features let farmer to read the agriculture related News and the latest happening in

criyagen. Any new News comes as a notification.

 If the news is updated in English it must only appear to person who has selected English

for accessing AgriApp. Similarly if Kannada or Hindi news is updated it will appear on the

bass of the language he has selected.

  The backend must also provide interface to provide the service for the same.

 Logo of notification is same as that of AgriApp logo

CRIYAGEN:

AGRIAPP- Criyagen: About the Company

By clicking on this icon one can read about the company and its products. The company

information is displayed as soon as we click this icon. This includes:

• Introduction of company (ciyagen.com)

• R&D (criyagen.com)

• criyagen address and phone number (criyagen.com)

 To know about our products and their features, Our Products is need to be clicked.
When products is selected it leads to the classification of products as follows:

AGRIAPP- Criyagen: Company Products

REGISTRATION:

The register enables registration of

 Farmer

 Dealer

 Expert

 Enthusiastic

Farmers can register to get all crop related information.

 AGRIAPP- Criyagen: Registration of Users
The user can chose from following classification ie. Farmer, dealer, expert and enthusiastic and

fill in the following details:

Ex. Farmer Registration

Details of registration
Farmers Dealer Expert Enthusiastic

1 Photo Photo Photo Photo

2 Name* Firm name* Name* Name*
3 Phone no.* Dealer name* Phone no. Phone no.*
4 Email id Phone no. 1* Email Email
5 Village Phone no. 2 Education Motive
6 Taluk Email address Field of Address
expertize
7 District Address Address State
8 State State State Country
9 Acreage Country Country
 10 Crop 1* Tin No. Interested in
supporting
farmer?
11 Crop 2* License No. Want to be a
part of
criyagen?
12 Crop 3 Fertilizer
13 Crop 4 Fertilize Y/ N
14 Crop 5 Pesticide Y/ N
15 Enter Notes

ORDER:

 For ordering the dealer or farmer can click on the button, enter his details and the product

he is interested in + the quantity. He is then asked to enter the delivery address.

 Once he press submit button the requirements will come directly to us.

SETTINGS

AGRIAPP- Criyagen: Settings and Personalization

The setting interface has following features
Location
Live location of use is fetched automatically and is displayed in this section.
Language:
The user can select desired language by clicking on this icon. He may choose from following

languages ie. English, Kannada and Hindi.

PROFILE:

AGRIAPP- Criyagen: Settings and Profile

Field officer:
Field officer can login by putting his Name and given password. He can then register farmer’s

information as follows

Notes:
Farmer can note down any information he want and save it in the application itself. He can avail

it whenever it is required
Tell a Friend
This feature enables user to send the link of application to the people in his contact list by clicking

on it.

Message
Hi, check out AgriApp for all your agriculture related problems and it’s free. Link of application

REFRESH:

AGRIAPP- Criyagen: Refresh

Everything will be stored in cache memory for infinite time. When refresh button is clicked it will

refresh (when internet is there).

CONCLUSION:

To conclude on ICT, it is the only futuristic strategy, tool and tradition available with the global

agribusiness to successfully develop and compete with their competitors. ICT being a complex

group of extremely valuable elements like INFORMATION, COMMUNICATION AND

TECHNOLOGY needed by the agribusiness men to carry out their daily work , strategies and

smoother operations at an profitable economy rate. This way with numerous applications, Devices,

tools and Machineries, generation has changed its pace of production, marketing and

advertisements. So, ICT is the only tool to succeed for an Agribusiness Sector in any economy.

Keywords: Agribusiness, agri value chain

REFERENCES:

 Panchard, Jacques, et al. (2007), “COMMONSense Net: A Wireless Sensor Network for

Resource-Poor Agriculture in the Semiarid Areas of Developing Countries”, Information

Technologies and International Development, 4 (1), 51-67.

 Jagyasi,B., Mohite,J. and Pappula, S. (2013), “Applications of Mobile Sensing

Technologies in Precision Agriculture “ , CSI Communications. October 2013.

 Jaffe, Jim, 2011. “ICT-enabled Competitiveness and Job Creation.” National Association

of Seedand Venture Funds. Presentation make at the World Bank’s ICT Sector Week, 2010

[the paper came out a year after the conference (2011 instead of 2010)?, Washington, D.C.

 http://ictupdate.cta.int/en/Feature-Articles/No-more-spilt-milk

 www.iffco.nic.in; http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/may/02airtel.htm

 http://www.e-sagu.in.