Agriculture goes online, courtesy Chordia

Nanda Kasabe

PUNE: There have been umpteen portals on agriculture, all promising to change

the lives of the Indian farmer. Given the fact that India is one of the largest

agricultural producers in the world, it is only natural that a number of portals

would focus on showcasing the latest technologies that would make things easier

for them. However, a number of these continue to focus on only on content

without any thought to helping the farmers out with the kind of practical

difficulties they may face on a daily basis.

But, Pune-based Chordia Technologies begs to be different. The IT company

promoted by Pradeep Chordia, which is currently into developing software

solutions for food and other related industries, will soon unfold its latest

offering–www.agrifoodindia.com.

Says Pradeep Chordia, "Although India is one of the world's largest

agricultural producers, its share in the world agricultural trade is less than

one per cent. The reasons are not far to seek. Only 10 per cent of the country's

agricultural output is being processed. We believe it is time to exploit this

sector to its fullest by offering the Indian farmer a platform to take better

decisions and strike deals in a more effective manner."

Chordia Technologies is no stranger to agriculture. The Chordia group has

been involved in the agri-food industry for the past several years. Moreover,

the company has produced Food-India CD in association with APEDA (Agricultural

Produce Export Development Authority, Government of India) and is currently

working on a Horti-India CD which is supported by the National Horticultural

Board.

Chordia Technologies VP (Operations) H V Lake calls this B2B portal an online

market place. "This will be an e-mandi which aims to garner transactions of

the agro and food business community with its sheer originality of approach and

flexibility of operations." The portal will also be a meeting place for

agri-food industry professionals to exchange notes on careers, consultancy,

who's who, events and calendar, get into discussions, seek expert advice and get

books, CDs and links to other Web sites and portals.

The company has plans to approach agricultural graduates to set up service

centers in rural areas. The farmers could then log onto the site and check out

the information they need so it could be used to their advantage. The site

database has already touched a figure of 7,000 and is expected to grow further.

Although the listing is currently free, members will later have to pay

subscriber costs.

Once the portal is in place, there are plans to introduce micro sites within

the portal to ensure maximum information to the consumer. There are plans to set

up food laboratories in the next couple of years to test food products. Around

Rs 70 lakh has been pumped into the portal to build value. A year after its

launch, Chordia expects revenues to the tune of Rs 1 crore.