With an investment of USD 272 billion in agritech and allied segments by 2030, India stands to generate USD 813 billion in revenue, creating 152 million jobs and impacting 1.1 billion lives, says a report launched by Aspire Impact, the foremost Impact Leadership champion and advocate in the country. The report titled 'Investing for Impact: Food, Agri and Agritech' has been authored by leading agritech experts, industry leaders, academics, and thinkers. The pressing need to make agricultural practices more sustainable and less polluting was emphasized at the COP26 by United Nations held in Glasgow recently. With agriculture continuing to remain the mainstay of the economy for the country, investment in agritech and allied segments can transform the face of Indian agriculture with far-reaching implications for food security and sustainable farming solutions.

Outlining ten disruptive investment ideas, the report offers a comprehensive roadmap on how new-age technologies, innovative practices, process reengineering, and refined business models can combine to make the Indian agri and food industry future-ready.

The ten themes include Farm Mechanization and Farmgate Infrastructure; Water and Soil Management; Cold chain and logistics; Bio-inputs and Sustainable farming; Plant-based Proteins; Climate Risk Mitigations; Sustainable Forestry; Food Fortification; Protected Cultivation, Vertical Farming and Hydroponics; and Dairy Farming.

This was the fifth in a series of reports launched by Aspire Circle as part of an initiative to generate 100 Impact Ideas for India's Inclusive Growth through collaborative research involving over 200 experts to shape India's Impact Economy.

"In the last decade, India attracted close to USD 9 billion in FDI investments in the agriculture sector. This decade brings an opportunity for India Inc to take advantage of the massive untapped potential this sector holds and transform it to be sustainable and future-ready. With smart innovations, infrastructure & policy support and newer business models the top 10 ideas researched by IFP community can attract USD 272 billion in investments and generate USD 813 billion in revenue, impacting 1.1 billion lives," said Amit Bhatia, founder of Aspire Circle & Creator - Impact Future Project.

India has its share of challenges when it comes to agricultural practices. India's mechanism levels are at 40-45%, unlike the developed economies' 90%. The country has been estimated to be at the biggest production risk, with 68% of the cultivation area being directly dependent upon the monsoon accounting for 40-45% of total agriculture production. With a gap of 3.2 million MT in cold storage, the food processing industry incurred a loss worth USD 14 billion in 2018. At the same time, 55% of the country's forests are prone to fire, with 70% having no natural regeneration. The demand for key food grains is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3% against the projected population growth of 2%, further underlines the country's challenge today. India would require around 600 million tons of milk per year in 2060 and onwards to meet its dairy needs. Significant investments in the sector and a policy push are needed to ensure agriculture practices and ecosystems transformation. With agritech start-ups and innovative models speculated to dominate the sector, India Inc has already started paving this path to change.

"Only when we get ahead together do we win as a nation. Agriculture must become a steady and profitable trade for India's 130 million farmers and their families. Agritech entrepreneurs will be part of that solution, leveraging innovation, technology, and persistence to reinvent agriculture and food systems. In the years to come, we hope to see more scalable, long-term solutions to help the agri ecosystem move away from practices based on natural resources extraction and depletion to ones designed for regeneration," Said Jinesh Shah, managing partner, Omnivore.

"The world's oldest industry is also the newest sunrise sector. From massive movements towards plant-based proteins to protected cultivation to tech-driven farmer services and collectivization of small-hold farmers, man's ability to produce more with less in a socially responsible-environment-friendly manner has grown by leaps and bounds. In a country like India, this is also a politically sensitive sector impacting the lives of an extremely large section of society, making reforms difficult. In this context, a platform like IFP is extremely valuable, bringing various stakeholders together, Ideating on solutions and identifying actionable initiatives," said Purnima Khandelwal, co-founder, INI Farms.