2.4 Linking digital and physical channels Leveraging physical channels – by, for instance, supporting rural entrepreneurs or using an existing channel of farmer collectives, cooperatives or organized channels, such as mobile money agents or e-governance agents – will be crucial in driving the adoption and active use of agritech services. This can be termed “phygital” – integrating physical channels to deliver tech solutions to last- mile customers. The importance of this is down to the following factors: –Digital capacity, trust and perceived RoI all play critical roles in the adoption and active use of agritech services in emerging economies. While the lack of any physical presence or interaction leads to lower trust in a new service by farmers, the presence of entrepreneurs/agents from the farmers’ own communities helps to build farmers’ capacity to appreciate the advantages of agritech services, supporting them on their journey from adoption to active use and, most importantly, continuing to do so once they are onboard. A good example is the Saagu Baagu project,34 implemented by the government of Telangana, whose partner, Digital Green, appointed a cadre of local entrepreneurs who reach out to farmers about the project and bring them onboard. –An on-the-ground presence is also required to validate digital data in order to bolster AI/ ML models. For example, while government agencies and start-ups can provide geospatial data on crops sown in each farm, their accuracy can be measured only through validation that further strengthens the AI/ML models which analyse the geospatial data. In India, Agri Stacks is employing on-the-ground resources to capture data on the crops sown each season. The plan is to share this data with both the government and the private sector’s geospatial data platforms for validation and to build ML accuracy. 20 Agritech: Shaping Agriculture in Emerging Economies, Today and Tomorrow

Agritech 2024