Agriculture and Internet Discovery of a space where competition is less and potential is large has been the key

for companies to thrive in a short span of time, this space has been termed as a Blue Ocean. One such blue ocean is the Rural Indian market that is calling on innovation to help rid it from the inefficiencies plaguing it. Two-thirds of the population still being dependent on farming, means the monsoon remains the bloodline of the villages. Poor Infrastructure compounds this problem affecting both storage and transport. Internet has had a huge impact in western markets such as USA, where farmers have used it for anything from viewing forecasts in demand and supply, export data, weather reports, current prices, finding customers, research data. The lack of literacy and computer education in India means that these benefits have are still to seep through to our farmers to a large extent. However reports from BMI indicate that the rural internet users are set to overtake the number of urban users. This opening up of a blue ocean provides enormous potential to both technology firms and the farmers. Some companies have already taken a dive into this ocean bringing applications that help make the farmers life simpler through the power of Internet. E-Choupal is a case in hand that has created a market of its own by setting up kiosks that assists farmers in improving their crop. They have now created rural malls known as Choupal Sagar that taking the market it created and proving them with products made by the company. Let us look at the pattern of Internet usage in India to understand its applications and the challenges faced by it. As discussed Illiteracy and exposure to computer education is one major challenge and this is claim is substantiated in the below data taken from IAMAI. We see that a major section of Rural population is just not aware of the Internet, this figure comes down substantially for 2011 due to various initiatives that have introduced the farmers to the potential of Internet in assisting them.

Reasons for non-usage (2009)

90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

Reasons for non-usage (2009)

Reasons for non-usage (2011)

60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Reasons for non-usage (2011)

Another challenge that affects Internet in Rural India is availability of Internet. The below data shows the access points to Internet connection, they reveal startling data as a clear trend emerges between 2009 to 2011 indicating a greater degree of access. Internet is coming closer to peoples homes and in some cases Internet is available at home. But, this still is a small minority of the vast rural population.

Access to Internet (2009)

60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Cyber Caf > 10 Don't Feel Home/Friends km Cyber Caf < 10 kmNeed School Access to Internet (2009)

Access to Internet (2011)

30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Access to Internet (2011)

It has been noted through the above statistics that there is a certain trend towards greater Internet know-how and accessibilty but we also need to assess the quality of Internet penetration in Rural India, for that we need to look at the usage reasons. The data is again taken from the IAMAI report. We notice that the usage is confined to entertainment and casual purposes rather than an interlinkage between agriculture and Internet usage. This indicates that there is a need for further awareness to be created on the scope of Internet in providing assistance to farmers.

Reasons for Internet Use (2011)

45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Music Videos, photos E-mail, Chat Farming Techniques Travel Weather Info Reasons for Internet Use (2011)

When we compare the usage reasons in rural India to the internet farmimg applications being used in western socities we can fathom the gulf between the two in the current scenario. Applications have been built for everything from managing irrigation to commodity trading, from seed selector that gauge the type of seeds best for the soil to applications that make sure you abide by set regulations.