Kamath sees vital role for Indian-foreign agrotech players to supply advanced technologies
More than 25 big Italian companies have started machine production in India, and there is a potential for further collaboration, said Alessandro Malavolti, President, FederUnacoma, the Italian Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers Federation.
“This is very encouraging and such collaboration can grow in the future. We would like to invest more and collaborate,” he told participants of the 7th International Exhibition and Conference EIMA Agrimach India 2022.
The Indian tractor market has crossed one million-vehicle sales in 2021, up from 340,000 units sold in 2009 when the EIMA Agrimach was organized for the first time in the country, he noted.
Future of mechanisation is not just in cereals, rice and other foods but in fruits and vegetables, he added on the need to mechanise the farm sector.
The Indian agriculture and allied sectors are on the verge of adopting modern technologies such as IoT, AI and ML, according to K Ullas Kamath, Chairman, FICCI Karnataka State Council.
“Indian and foreign agrotech players can play a vital role in supplying these advanced technologies.”
“There are few players in the market (at the moment), but the presence of 6 to 7 million farmers in the country exhibits a huge opportunity for private and foreign entities,” he underlined at the Agrimach.
The role of technology in agriculture in optimising farm inputs’ usage and reducing wastages was highlighted by T R Kesavan, Chairman, FICCI National Agriculture Committee.
“The cost of technology is going to be expensive and because of that India will be changing towards agricultural services modal,” he added.
Kesavan pointed to a platform that his company TAFE has developed where farmers rent machinery to other farmers. “Last year, we had about 5.5 lakh farmers on the platform and recorded transactions worth Rs.650 crores.” fiinews.com
