Of agriculture, Internet and consumers

Srinivas R

Agriculture, a term derived from Latin ager - meaning field - and culture – cultivation – now is not just confined to the tillage of the soil. Today it denotes a broad array of activities essential to food and material production, packing, distribution, marketing and consumption.

The Internet is rapidly gaining momentum both in terms of usage as well as the number of applications based on it. Even in agriculture, Internet-based applications hold the key in answering questions and solving problems regarding production and management, and many others in the field to the dinner-plate process.

The adoption of technology is slowly benefiting the end consumer. For instance, the Internet today has become an important source for buying products and services for end customers. It already is a big hit in the US and is catching up in other countries including India. The Internet provides a lot of convenience hitherto unknown to the consumers.

With families becoming nuclear and many traveling far for education and work, the Internet has proved a big boon. Consider the case of 57-year-old Janakamma of Bidadi in Bangalore, who sends a dozen Alphonso mangoes procured from Ratnagiri in Maharashtra to her six-year-old granddaughter in Kolkata. All the effort it took her was to log in to a popular website and order.

Janakamma was confident her little angel would receive the best mangoes, though she hadn’t seen or felt them as she used to in her younger days.

The websites that offer such services source it directly from the farmer. This ensures a fair price for both the producer as well as the customer.

Managing Director of Fabmall.com V S Sudhakar says, “We are working with a florist in Bangalore. They source the flowers from flower producers in and around Bangalore directly. They have a facility where these flowers are treated to remain fresh for a longer period of time. The delivery is done in an AC van so that the temperature control ensures continued freshness.”

Since the sourcing is done directly from growers, online companies can offer produce at a competitive pricing. ”It is a powerful combination - the flowers reach the customer from a source, which is reasonably close and hence cost effectively; and online gives the option for people anywhere in the country or for that matter in the world to order flowers for delivery in Bangalore,” adds Sudhakar.

Today consumers are not restricted just to sourcing flowers online. The Internet has helped consumer to reach the next stage where he can get the price details of the agricultural commodities such as pulses, fruits, oil seeds, cereals, vegetables and spices across the nation on http://agmarknet.nic.in/. Consumers can also get information on prices of all the major markets in India from agmarknet. Various state governments have a similar program of providing details of commodities on the net for the benefit of farmers and consumers as well.

In a similar way, Sericulture department of India has a website to provide price details of silk cocoons across various silk exchanges in India for the benefit of sellers and buyers.

Internet portals such as Agriwatch.com bring together various participants in the Agribusiness sector such as the farmers, traders, food processors and raw material suppliers by providing latest information. This also enables E-commerce in Agricultural products through this vertical portal.

The Internet has succeeded in bringing together various stakeholders in agriculture and more importantly eliminating the middleman. As far as the consumer is concerned, he is enjoying the fruit of the farmer/grower’s labor at a convenience and effort unknown before.

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