ITC turns aggregator with e-Choupal 4.0 to boost farm incomeb

Farming provides livelihood to about 50 per cent of the workforce in the country. The government wants to double farmers’ income by 2022. ITC is trying to help this by attracting the next generation of farmers to sustainable activities as an aggregator.

Diversified conglomerate ITC plans to provide agricultural services through its showcase project, e-Choupal, which leverages information technology to empower farmers.

“This transformative fourth-generation model, e-Choupal 4.0, will be an aggregator of agricultural services,” said S Sivakumar, group head, agri and IT businesses, ITC.

He added, “Whatever has been done through various stages of e-Choupal over the years can be extended to a digital eco-system. The primary objective is to create more value through a model that has products and services.”

ITC plans to launch e-Choupal 4.0 by the last quarter of 2018, but prototypes are already being tested. “We will expand the model to larger geographies depending on sourcing needs for new agricultural products,” Sivakumar said.

The digital e-Choupal will offer a range of farm-focused services such as crop management and farm mechanisation, as well as health care, banking, and insurance.

Each service would be priced. The platform could also be leveraged to provide a delivery system for associated products.

“Eventually, the model can provide services, riding on the available infrastructure provided by the e-Choupal network,” Sivakumar said.

The e-Choupal has gone through various stages of evolution. From providing critical information to farmers to better price discovery, the network has helped boost farm productivity. It also provides agri-sourcing capabilities to ITC’s foods business.

ITC Limited