Farming, reframed 

 
Seeds of change 
Levelling the field for farmers

Farmer’s name & place does not have to make long trips away from his home to buy seeds
and fertilisers, saving him precious hours that he can spend on tending to his crop instead.
That is because these are delivered to his home by agritech startup, DeHaat. “DeHaat has
not only provided me with quality inputs but also with guidance and advice on applications
on inputs and farming techniques. Since my house is a bit far from the shops, I would have
to travel quite a bit to purchase inputs. However, now DeHaat home delivers the inputs,
which reduces my transport costs substantially. This has also helped me save time and
labour,” he says. Another farmer using the service adds that if it expands in the future, it
could boost the farming community not just in the villages but neighbouring towns too.

These insights were gleaned from phone interviews with 254 farmers, who shared their
experiences and expectations related to the service. Of these, 72 percent of DeHaat farmers
live below $3.20/day, and most were using an app for the first time.

These are the first winds of change brought about by startups like DeHaat, which have
recognised how fundamentally broken the agriculture market is, and are working to fix it.
The Patna-based startup provides 360° solution to farmers through their AI-enabled
technologies to revolutionise the supply chain and production efficiency in the farm sector.

Indian agri space

From the field to fork, there are umpteen business activities that are undertaken for the
finality of the agricultural supply chain. From accessibility of agricultural inputs to the
production of the produce, to the final distribution to consumers—agribusiness has grown
rapidly and has become a major source of subsistence for people across the globe. In India,
agriculture is a vital part of the economy, supporting nearly 50 percent of the country’s
workforce, and occupying more than one-third of its geographical area. However, on
account of India’s broken agriculture markets, the farmers’ endless toil over the produce
still ends up in negative income by the time it comes to the selling table. The farmers are
not getting a good price, the consumers are not getting a good price, something is definitely
going wrong in the middle.

Friend to the farmer

In addition to the home delivery service, DeHaat’s mobile application provides customised
advisory services through automated messages and voice calls, specific to the farmer’s crop
requirements. It also provides them with the flexibility to order inputs and even sell their
output directly to Dehaat, thereby cutting out the middlemen. A vast majority of users have
warmed up to the app without any challenges (66 percent) and as many as 19 percent say
their quality of life has become “very high”, while 20 percent reported “very improved”
production and 11 percent found “very improved” increase in income. Most of these
farmers ploughed the same piece of land that they used before working with DeHaat. The
average farmer had planted 4.3 acres and reported that a third of their household income
came from crops that they used DeHaat services for.

According to the recent report, DeHaat is also helping farmers save 11 percent on cost
inputs. Those selling to the company estimate an increase of 31 percent revenue compared
to their next best alternative. In terms of farmer profitability, farmers estimated nearly
doubling their profit (Rs 13,300 with DeHaat as opposed to Rs 7,100 without the service)
and increasing their profitability by 17 percentage points from end-to-end engagement
with the company.

Some challenges remain, though. Many farmers who have used the service recommend
frequent visits and meetings by DeHaat, better quality inputs and access to loan/credit.

At the moment DeHaat is helping change the farming ecosystem/landscape by tying farmer
education into it. “Now we can get all things related to farming under one roof and that too
without any hustle,” Farmer’s name & place observes. “Also, because of their meetings, we
got to know some new things about farming.”
Founded in 2012 by the alumni from IIT Delhi, IIT Kharagpur, IIM Ahmedabad and other
top institutes, DeHaat is currently operational in eastern India—mainly Bihar, UP and
Odisha—with 1,65,000 farmers in the service network at the moment. They aim to take
their services to 5 million farmers by 2024.