Innovator Spotlight: Gramophone

Gramophone is an Agri-Tech startup that aims to bridge the last mile delivery of agronomically driven solutions and products in a form which is actionable for the farmer.

The Indian agriculture Industry is awaiting a revolution, A lot is being done by private and public sector players in this direction but it would be interesting to observe how these players are going to address challenges and overcome them within a time frame which manifests transformations enhancing the revenue model of the Farmer.

The dynamo to restart the Indian agriculture industry lies with small and midsized farmers who are bearing the brunt of failing systems which are non-inclusive due to last mile delivery issues.This is why it is imperative for stakeholders to take concrete measures in this direction to ensure countries economical and GDP growth.

The good news is that the change has started happening the pace would also accelerate with Government also taking initiatives in the right direction by bringing in more transparency and aiding new modern methodology in the farming industry.

Gramophone is leveraging drivers like the technology, rural mobile phone penetration which is rapidly changing rural consumer behaviour this also holds true to farmers changing the mindset towards modern and scientific methods of farming which are cost-effective, convenient and yield higher results. Having a pragmatic approach towards problem-solving has already reaped benefits to the farmers of Madhya Pradesh.

Gramophones efforts in doing so have made farming more predictable and profitable since inception it has received 400,000+ queries from a base of 200,000+ farmers, with a 100,000+ App Installs. With a preventive approach to agriculture cost of cultivation could be reduced by 15%-20% for engaged farmers and also increased the production by more than 30% in most of the cases. Gramophone has delivered ~30,000 orders in the remotest villages across central India. With more than 100 Agri Experts supporting the farming needs on the ground, call centre and technology team to bring Agronomic & Market Intelligence to the farmers.

Having a rich exposure in the agriculture sector, Gramophone co-founders Tauseef Khan, Nishant Vats Mahatre, Harshit Gupta and Ashish Ranjan Singh have deciphered the pain points of the farmer and have developed an app that allows farmers have to access “actionable insights” about their crops from planting to harvest.

At the time of planting his crop, all a farmer has to do is enter three data points into the app: The crop he is sowing, the date of sowing and the acreage of his field. Based on this information, Gramophone arrays geo-based advice on the kind of inputs the crop needs throughout its life cycle. For instance, at the time of sowing if the crop needs certain nutrients; the app will automatically send a push notification to that effect. Similarly, 15 days into sowing, the app will alert to the farmer on the diseases that might afflict the crop at that stage and how to prevent them. If already ravaged by disease, Gramophone will provide suggestions on what inputs to use to combat it, complete crop life cycle management is done in a pictorial, easy-to-understand format.

With the vision to be the trusted partner of the farmer Gramophone believes in addressing grass root hurdles a consumer could face especially transactions that involve habit and behavioural changes, for example taking into consideration a first time user or a non-user of Smartphone Gramophone offers the option of giving a missed call on a toll-free number,

The radical approach towards problem-solving gives the organizations a cutting edge, further on over the past years the data assimilated pertaining to crop pattern, new molecule adaptability to environment and crop type, soils structure, soil chemistry, changing weather patterns, and disease infestation has started to get cohesive and relevant, this framework provides accurate and precise farming advisory to the consumer at his doorsteps.

However it does not end here the framework also enables Gramophone to benchmark product quality and efficacy of new molecules, insecticides, seeds and various other products, also this data along with artificial intelligence and futurist algorithms gives birth to a futuristic farming ecology of precision and accuracy resulting in measurable and accountable results which could revolutionize agriculture industry by and large and peripheral sectors like rural banking, Rural M-commerce catapulting the economy.

The future is to integrate more solutions like credit management, offering real-time weather based advisor along with the best market to sell products on a single platform.

The trends so far are encouraging existing farmers engaging on a regular basis and new farmers showing trust. The startup has received its second round of funding last year; the signs all around read GO Green for Gramophone!!