ITCMAARS – a crop-agnostic full stack AgriTech platform -- has enhanced net farmer returns up to 30 per cent in a short span of time, ITC Chairman and Managing Director Sanjiv Puri, said on Friday.
ITCMAARS (Metamarket for Advanced Agriculture and Rural Services) is a ‘phygital’ ecosystem that provides on-ground interventions, while bringing the power of digital to farmers through a super app.
The diversified conglomerate launched the platform to harness the power of cutting-edge digital technologies and NextGen agri practices to unlock the potential of India’s farmers.
“At the core of your company’s interventions is ITCMAARS – the ‘phygital’ ecosystem that enables wider agri-tech adoption, enhances efficiencies and access to markets, as well as financial services. Leveraging the power of collectives, the ITCMAARS ecosystem now constitutes over 1,650 FPOs covering more than 1.5 million farmers. By 2030, we aspire to connect over 10 million farmers,” Puri said, while addressing shareholders during the company’s annual general meeting.
The company’s ‘phygital’ initiative currently covers 10 states and 18,000 villages.
“The predictive, hyperlocal and dynamic advisories, coupled with an input marketplace, have enhanced net farmer returns up to 30 per cent in a short span of time. Over 10,000 soil tests, with personalised crop nutrition recommendations based on sophisticated AI-based algorithms have been facilitated, resulting in 10-15 per cent reduction in fertiliser usage and 15-20 per cent improvement in crop yields,” the Chairman said.
Agri-tech solutions are also being progressed across multiple value chains, including drone usage, which focuses on nano nutrients and crop protection.
Through remote sensing, ITCMAARS has digitised 6 million acres, covering 1,000 farmer producer organisations (FPOs) to help deliver contextual and crop stage specific personalised advisories. “Recently, ITCMAARS launched the world’s first GenAI-based regional voice chatbot for farmers called ‘KrishiMitra’ that has been co-developed with Microsoft,” Puri said.
The platform also harnesses the collective knowledge garnered over decades to provide farmers best-in-class services. This includes the experience gained from the company’s Baareh Mahine Hariyali programme, which enabled substantial increase in farmer incomes. The expertise gained has also enabled the company to implement such practices in 45 aspirational districts.
“Exclusive PPPs with NITI Aayog in 27 such districts have improved yields up to 30 per cent, reduced cultivation costs by nearly 15 per cent, thereby, boosting farmer incomes up to 60 per cent. In addition, over 5 lakh farmers are trained annually in best practices through Farmer Field Schools and demonstration farms organised by ITC,” Puri added.