An increasing number of educated children of farmers are taking up farming seriously by adopting sustainable practices and driving a shift towards environmentally friendly agriculture, says Sarabjit Singh Puri, Chairman of Fateh Rural Ltd.

“This is a very big change that has come up. Farmers have seriously started thinking about the usage of chemicals on their farms. They have started preferring the products that can at least help them reach the same level of productivity which a chemical has been giving them,” he said in an online interaction with businessline.

Farmers have begun to use sensors and IoT (internet of things) devices for export-oriented crops, such as grapes, and other cash crops to check water consumption and the usage of pesticides and fertilizers.

DOMINATING SERVICES

This is helping some startups to reap success in many areas, said Singh, who launched his firm from Bathinda in Punjab in 2003.

Fateh Rural, which operates call centres after starting them in 2010, is an advertising and branding firm that takes up marketing activities in rural areas through its call centres.

It caters to multiple segments, though agri input, fertilizer, seed and pesticide companies' activities dominate its operations.

A feature of the 150-employee strong company’s call centre operations, catering to 35 companies, is that it appoints rural women graduates, preferably in agriculture, and trains them to talk in dialects of a specific region to make communication easier with farmers.

Puri said the adoption of technology is changing in rural areas in a big way.

“Over the past 10 years, the usage of smartphones has increased and improved. Almost everyone, including farmers in their 50s and 60s in rural areas, has a smartphone. They ask our staff at the call centres on various apps,” he said.

Thanks to the growth of the internet and YouTubers in the agriculture sector, farmers from different States are able to connect. They are experimenting with new crops and accessing new areas to market their produce, he said.

One of the functions of the company is to do a follow up after agri companies hold farmer meetings.

“Our call centre executives are basically virtual field assistants, who talk to 60-70 farmers every day. They tell about the product or the service or the solution farmers seek (as a follow up to the meeting),” he said.

Fateh Rural, which is catering to farmers in every language, plans to expand across all States in the country.

“Secondly, we plan to expand outside the country. This is because crops are similar in Africa, other parts of Asia and even South American countries. Many languages are available here with us also,” said Puri. The company could consider opening call centres outside the country.