With movements even within districts restricted, agri-techs like NinjaCart are procuring more from farmers and even moving produce to customers’ homes. NinjaCart, for instance, has partnered with Zomato, Swiggy and Dunzo, and has assured farmers it will buy the produce.

NinjaCart co-founder Vasudevan Chinnathambi told FE many farmers were not sowing new crops after the lockdown because they were unsure of whether they would be able to sell the produce. “We have assured them we will buy from them and this will ensure continuous supply of vegetables and other crops,” Chinnathambi said. He added that since January, the quantum of produce procured has risen 30% and after the pandemic, many more farmers are selling to his company.

It’s not clear, however, how many farmers will benefit from such initiatives because as CropIn Technology sales head Amit Salunkhe points out, there is at times a shortage of labour and the logistics too is not easy to handle.

“An even bigger concern is the weather because excessive rain could destroy crops like it did last year,” Salunkhe said. Salunkhe’s firm is also being asked to ensure last-mile connectivity to residential complexes. “The last-mile delivery is not something we were considering we are being asked to try and do it,” he said.

Info-edge backed Gramophone has been facilitating home deliveries and has seen a big jump in volumes of close to five times over 2019. Gramophone had been toying with the idea of introducing services for fertiliser management and soil testing services later in 2020, but co-founder and CEO Tauseef Khan told FE the demand is high, so it may launch them sooner.

Meanwhile, a clutch of bankers wants to team up with agri start-ups to try and get farmers to go digital and use sensors and data for precision farming. “Everyone wants to digitise farmers,” Salunkhe said. Digitisation is, of course, of very little use if there are not enough seeds and if transporation becomes a roadblock.

“Moreover, there are credit constraints with both formal and informal sources having dried up. But government support may ease the credit situation” Khan said.

Data from Nasscom highlight the agri-tech sector received $248 million in funding in the first six months of 2019, with nearly two-thirds going to start-ups working in the market linkage sector.