Deloitte Maverick Case Study on Indian Agriculture

1. Deloitte Maverick
The Raptors
LIBA Chennai
Tanmoy Porel
Ritaban Sengupta
Rohit Bhattacharya

2. Executive Summary
Mahatma Gandhi said “India lives in villages and agriculture is the soul of economy”. Irrespective of development and
industrialisation, India is still an agrarian economy with more than 50 % of Indian population depending directly on it for
livelihood and agriculture contributes approximately 16% of the GDP. Due to vast expense of land, wild climate variations,
inadequate coverage of orgainised credit institutions, lack of access to or knowledge of seed and farming technologies, poor
infrastructure (electricity, irrigation, storage for perishables, processing capacity shortfall, etc), and an inefficient market
there is high yield gap and low value generation in agriculture. The sector is still considered as a livelihood sector rather than
a business sector and fails to draw investment towards it.
The idea of embedding technology into agriculture is not a new one but an holistic approach has been missing in the sector
and the initiatives taken has only reached till experimentation stage. Based on our primary and secondary research we have
chosen the segment of marginal and small farm holders. We strive to create a smart and balanced eco-system for farming
including all the stakeholders of agriculture industry fueled by Information Technology. Due to lack of infrastructure direct
application of IT is not possible in agriculture but IT can be used as binding thread to bring together the members of the ecosystem who are scattered and unorganized now. We would introduce sustainable intensification using technology enabled
services and technologically advanced inputs. We have introduced ‘Krishi consultant’ who will serve as an one-stop solution
for farming needs. This will help to bridge the yield gap, increase productivity. The monetary benefits can be injected back
into the eco-system to make it sustainable. Next we designed a resilient and effective supply chain to support the ecosystem. The supply chain has been divided into two stages: farm to market and market to fork. In farm to market we have
introduced a specialised agency which will eliminate innumerable middlemen and will provide marketing and logistic
services. In market to fork we have brought in standardization by converting commodities to products using technology.
As India moves towards development and better infrastructure, these reforms are bound to happen. Better today than
tomorrow. We strongly believe that laying a foundation for future sustainable growth supported by ICT (Information and
Communication Technology) is the only way to improve the sector and make it profitable.

3. Market Overview
Target Market
Yield Gap and Low value creation1
Primary Research
Marginal and Small land holding
 Village Name : Khurigachi, W.B.
 Contributes to 84% of
operational holdings
 Farmer’s Name : Kanhai Porel
 Increase in access to irrigation
 Crop : Rice
 The average size of land holdings  Input Cost : Rs 17600 per Ha
in India fell from 2.82 ha to 1.16
 Revenue : Rs 23100 per Ha
ha between 1970 and 2011
 Imperfect markets for inputs/product –
lower value realisation
 The fertilizer per hectare is
inversely related to farm size  Lack of formal education and skills
 High multiple cropping index  Smaller access to suitable extension
 High value crop for higher and services – restricted decision making
in cultivation practices
quicker returns
 Contribution to output is higher Poorer access to ‘public goods’ e.g.
public irrigation, command area
 The cost of cultivation per
development, electricity grids
hectare is high
1:Small farmers in India : Challenges and
 Greater negative externalities – poor
opportunities, IGIDR 2012
quality land, poor water management
2:Can India be food basket for the World? – working
paper series ISB.edu
 Inefficient demand forecasting –
farmers try to push what they produce2
Sustainable Intensification
A form of production wherein “yields are
increased without adverse environmental
impact using same or less resources”
Smart eco-system
Technologically
Advanced Inputs
Technology
Enabled
Services
Sustainable
Intensification

4. Technology-enabled smart eco-system
Value addition & Service enhancement
Real time
info & advice
Financial Services
Insurance Services
Climate Risk
Management
Soil Fertility
Management
Crop Scheduling
Risk mitigation services
Water Management
Training & Development
Forecasting Services
Krishi
Consultant
% of
revenue
Farmer
Informed
decision
making
Fertilisers
Seeds
Pesticides
Irrigation
 Krishi Consultant will act as a single point of contact (SPOC)
 All technology enabled services are integrated and co-dependent
 Consultancy charges are based on revenue generated rather than a fixed fees
 Crop scheduling and Forecasting services – better demand planning, production according to
the need of the market
 Climate risk management and risk mitigation services – risk associated with investement and
methods to reduce it (insurance services)
 Soil fertility management and water management – Better allocation of resources and
optimal usage
 Training & development – Increase in awareness, making the farmers more equipped

5. IT enabled agriculture
1
IT as a strategic tool
 Awareness Database :
Unambiguous Interpretation
with implications
 Decision support system (DSS) :
facilitate farmers to do SWOT
analysis for appropriate decision
making
 Bricks and mortar to click and
mortar : Appropriate alliance for
collective benefit
Kiosks, Telecentres and Smart services
 Integrated approach to
 Non linear development
agriculture with collaborative
 Lack of localisation and user friendliness
demand forecasting
 Lack of infrastructure for direct use :
 Since IT is mostly private sector
Precision agriculture
so attracting private investment
 Kiosks : Dissemination points, multiple usage
 IT infrastructure improvement
 Mass deployment required
and deeper penetration
 Service providing model to revenue generating
 ICT (Information and
model
Communication Technology) will
 Training and Distance education
help to address the untapped
 E-insurance and E-financing
potential of rural India
 Local sourcing
 Remove geographical barriers
 Generate cross border employment
 Telecentres
opportunities
 Localised services and information
 Monitoring : Advance warning
 Attracting private investments from rural
systems and periodic analytical
entrepreneurs
reports
1: Role of Information Technology in Agriculture and
its scope in India, S.C. Mittal
Benefits
 Smart services
 Still in experimentation stage (mKrishi, Reuters
Market Light)
 Mobile phone usage in rural India growing
 High rural teledensity
 Cost effective and eco friendly
solution
 Promoting a centralized system
in an advisory role to coordinate
among specialised institutions
and evolve standards

6. Sustaining the eco-system
Benefits
Bridging the yield gap
 If the eco-system is implemented the
yield gap can be bridged/minimised
 Present average yield (rice) : 2.9636
 Present average yield (wheat) : 2.85
 This in turn will increase the monetary
 Yield potential rice : 5.6272
 Yield potential wheat : 4.9375
benefits per hectare of land
 Yield gap to be bridged : 2.6636
 Yield gap to be bridged : 2.0875
 The monetary benefits reaped can be
 Monetary Benefits per hectare : Rs 111872.7273  Monetary benefits per hectare : Rs 31103.575 injected back into the eco-system
 Rice (Mg/ha)
 Wheat (Mg/ha)
Farm to Fork (SCM)
Farm to market – Stage I
Farmer
Harvesting
Crops produced
Farm
Specialised
Agency
Payment in cheque
Charge % of profit generated
Storage
Market
• Logistic scheduling
• Loading/Unloading facility
• Marketing of goods
• Cold Storage /warehouse
facilities
• Inventory planning

7. Farm to Fork contd..
Market to fork – Stage II
Commodity to Product
Implementation
 Sorting & grading of the product at
the start of supply chain
 Assigning Unique Id (RFID/QR Code)
Processing
Benefits
 Standardisation
 Fosters transparency
 Prevents supply chain stake holders
from exorbitant price margin
 Back tracking
 Sales data collection
Supply Chain resilience
Process
 Risk identification
 Risk prioritization
 Risk mitigation
Packaging
Sales
Results
 Transparency in supply chain
 Efficiency in supply chain

8. Conclusion
 54% population still dependent on
 Push to market what is produced tendency
agriculture (only 16% GDP contribution)  High yield gap due to inefficient supply
 Still a mode of livelihood rather than a chain, lack of access to knowledge of seed
profit making business
and farming, poor infrastructure capacity
planning
Eco-system
Resilient supply chain
Specialised Agency
Logistic Services
Sustainable
Intensification
Profitable
Farming
Technology
based smart
eco-system
Interdependent
Marketing
Services
Value Generation
Increase in productivity per hectare
Thank you
Result
• Reduce yield gap
• Transparency in
supply chain
• Prevent some
stakeholders
from gaining
exorbitant
margins

9. References
Research Papers and Reports
 Supply chain resilience : A risk intelligent approach to
managing global supply chains, Deloitte
 Challenges and opportunities for viability of marginal and
small farmers in India, Mahendra Singh, June 2012
 Agricultural productivity trends in India: Sustainability
issues, Praduman Kumar and Surabhi Mittal
 Can India be the food basket of the world, Working paper
series, ISB
 Pursuit and promotion of science, Agriculture, Ch 21
 TCS mobile agro advisory system, mKrishi
 Manual on cost cultivation surveys, Central Statistical
Organisation (CSO)
 Stratefies to increase Agricultural productivity and land
degradation in Uganda : An econometric
analysis, Pender, Jagger et al
 Developing Indian grain supply chain cost model : a system
dynamics approach, MDI Gurgaon
 Utilizing Industry-led Capacity to enhance supply chain
performance: An empirical study, Cooperative research
centre for Beef Genetic Technologies, University of
Queensland
 The agricultural treasure – an undersold
opportunity, Devangshu Dutta
 A conceptual framework for supply chain collaboration:
empirical evidence from the agri-food industry, Matopulos
and Manthou
 Incraeaing Africa’s Agricultural productivity, A report by Pan
Africa Chemistry Network
 Policies for raising agricultural growth and productivity in

India, S Mahendra Dev
 Secret of Gujarat’s agrarian miracle after 2000, Tushaar shah,
RC Jain, Hemant P

 Sustainable Intensification in agriculture, Tara Garnett, H.
Charles Godfrey, Oxford Martin Programme on future of food
 Increasing agricultural productivity of farming systems in
parts of central India through participatory research-cum- 
demonstrations and knowledge sharing innovations, ICRISAT
 The movement of sustainable agricultural in Japan, Seth A.Y.

Davis, Seton Hall University
 Small farmers in India: Challenges and Opportunities, S.

Mahendra Dev, IGIDR
 Use of mobile technologies for empowering small holder

farmers in India, K.D. Kokate and A.K. Singh
 Opportunities and solutions for sustainable food production,

Sustainable Development Solutions Network, UN
 Connected Agriculture, Cisco

 Role of Information Technology in Agriculture and its scope in
India, S.C. Mittal

 The role of information and communication technology
sector in expanding economic opportunity, William J. Kramer,

Beth Jenkins, and Robert S. Katz, Oxford University
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