E-commerce Gaining Pace in Supply of Agri-inputs

With disruption of agricultural supply chain amid lockdown and approaching kharif season, the agri-inputs industry is now speeding up their efforts to reach out to maximum farmers. With the help of rural e-retailers, many companies have now started the e-delivery of inputs. East-west seed company, recently joined hands with digital agri-tech players like Agrostar, Bighaat, Dehaat and Gramophone to provide commodities to farmers at their doorsteps. 

“We wanted to create a pan India reach to the e-commerce connected farmers and evaluated many potential e-commerce players. As most of them have regional strength areas, we decided to go with four partners as part of plan to reach larger number of farmers across the country” said Dilip Rajan, managing director, East-West Seed India. He further added that, “Market-oriented vegetable farming creates income for smallholder farmers and build their resilience to external risks. The sheer diversity of vegetable crops, short growing duration, and irrigation efficiency in vegetable farming reduces vulnerability to climate change. 

The major players in Indian vegetable seed market are Nunhems (a subsidiary of Bayer Crop Science), Seminis (a subsidiary of Monsanto), Syngenta (Switzerland based MNC), Namdhari Seeds, Mahyco Seeds, Krishidhan Seeds, Bio seeds, Nuziveedu Seeds, Rasi Seeds and others. With this step, the East-West seed plans to emerge among the top five vegetable seed companies in India by 2021.