Aspada Investment Company, a venture capital firm that provides early-stage risk capital, has made a commitment of Rs 20 crore ($3.3 million) to Delhi-based EM3 AgriServices Pvt Ltd. EM3 provides pay-per-use agricultural machines and services for small-hold farmers.

Small farmers cannot afford machines and equipment that can increase yields and productivity. EM3's goal is to eliminate the need for ownership by providing access to technologies that increase yields.

According to Rohtash Mal, Chairman and Managing Director, EM3 AgriServices, pay-for-use service models are the only solution to meet the challenge of increasing farm productivity without the farmers having to invest in machinery. So far, investors have been interested only in cold chains and warehouses and EM3 is one of the few investments in core Indian agriculture aimed at positively enhancing a small hold farmer's P&L account.

Adwitiya Mal, Executive Director, EM3, said the company delivered the services under the Samadhan brand through its services centres. Each centre delivered a complete suite of basic and precision agri operations from soil to the farm gate. EM3 had been operating in Madhya Pradesh for over a year and with Aspada's investment, it would create a pan-India network of service centres. It would also invest in team building, strengthening its technology platform and enhancing soil and chemistry research.

Kartik Srivatsa, Managing Partner, Aspada Investment Advisors, who describes EM3's model as Farming-as-a-Service (FaaS), said Aspada believed that EM3 could become India's first organised small-hold agricultural services platform at scale and would materially improve farm processes and productivity among small farmers.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW