ITC will have over 4,000 farmer producer organisations (FPOs) connected via its meta market for advanced agricultural rural services (MAARS) over the next five years, benefitting ten million farmers. The phygital platform will also be buttressed with a new host of services including crop insurance.
Currently, 1.7 million farmers from 1,700 FPOs are on the MAARS network, which offers personalised services to farmers for farm-gate purchase, fertiliser usage, weather advisories, and climate-resilient agricultural practices. It also enables the farmers to access bank credit through kisan credit cards.
Crop insurance and local weather alerts, and geo-tapping of farms for ensuring traceability of the produce, are among the new services to be added to the platform.
S Ganesh Kumar, CEO, ITC’s agri-business division, said with over 1.7 million farmers already registered on MAARS, an eco-system for production of quality produce has been developed. The target, he said, is enroll 10 million farmers by 2030 who would be the backbone of the company’s agri-value chain for sourcing of produce.
The company, which has a presence in around 22 states and has plans to expand to Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and Bihar. ITC is also ramping up purchase of traditional crops such as wheat, paddy, maize, soybean, chilli and cumins to green peas, manoges, fruits and vegetables.
“Farmers associated with us do not go to mandis to get prices, we provide them the facility at the doorstep and purchase at the farm gate,” Kumar told FE. In Madhya Pradesh, the company purchased over 2.5 lakh tonne of wheat through FPOs and its wheat purchase from farmers across is next to the procurement by Food Corporation of India.
Currently, around 40% of diversified conglomerate’s agri procurement is sourced using ITC MAARS platform. The company procures around 3 milion tonne of agricultural commodities – wheat, soybean etc across the 22 states and one of the largest of exporters of agri-products in the country.
Kumar said through encouraging smart practices such as broad bed furrow, use of technology as drones for efficient use of fertiliser and resilient varietals, soil conservation and water stewardship under its climate smart agri initiatives, the company is aiming to ensure quality source of commodities while providing farmers remunerative prices.
Farmers registered on ITCMAARS through FPOs get access to services such as customised farm inputs like seeds, crop nutrients and fertilisers, loans through partnership with banks and technology-based services such as drone-based application of fertiliser through tie-ups with agri tech partners, start-ups and a platform to sell their produce.
ITC started the brand Aashirvaad, which is now an over Rs 9,000 crore brand, by directly sourcing wheat from farmers, through its e-choupal network.
Currently, several stakeholders such as State Bank of India, IDFC First Bank and Axis Bank as well as seed and fertiliser majors such as Syngenta, Corteva Agrisciences and Coromandel, have come on board on the platform.
The company’s revenue from the ‘agri business’ division was at Rs 16,124 crore in FY24, close to one-fifth of its total sales.
It also promotes climate smart agri-practices such as broad bed furrow, use of technology as drones for efficient use of fertiliser and resilient varietals, soil conservation and water stewardship for boosting quality produce and enhancing farmers’ incomes
ITC had launched ‘e-Choupal’, internet-based rural kiosks in 2000 and has currently reached 4 million farmers growing several crops such as soyabean, coffee, wheat, rice, pulses — in Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
(The reporter was in MP at the invitation of ITC)
