ITC Next strategy has substantially scaled up the Value-Added Agricultural Products portfolio, says Sanjiv Puri

In the Company’s 113th AGM address Mr. Sanjiv Puri, Chairman and Managing Director, ITC
Ltd shared his Vision on ITC: Stakeholder Value through Purposeful Performance. Relevant
Excerpts from the speech are below:

Enabling farmers to enhance their range of remunerative crops for both domestic and international
markets, the ITC Next strategy has substantially scaled up its Value-Added Agricultural Products
portfolio. This includes Spices, Coffee, Frozen Marine Products, Processed Fruits, Medicinal &
Aromatic Plant Extracts, among others. The state-of-the-art Spices processing facility in Andhra
Pradesh leverages ITC’s strong backward integration, identity-preserved sourcing, Organic and
Integrated Crop Management (ICM) programs, as well as custody of the supply chain. ITC takes pride
in being a farmer-centric organization that contributes significantly to rural empowerment. I am
confident that ITC’s impactful initiatives will continue to strengthen the competitiveness and
resilience of India’s agri sector.

The ITC Next strategy leverages the Company’s century-long relationship with farmers to promote
value-added agriculture, accelerate digital adoption, and build climate resilience. ITC’s world-class
brands anchor demand-responsive agri-value chains that ‘produce the buy’, providing its businesses
with unique competitive advantages. As one of the largest procurers of agri-commodities, ITC
supports 20 agri-value chains, sourcing over 3 million tonnes from 200 districts in 22 States. This
enables ITC to derive unique sourcing efficiencies apart from offering identity-preserved, attribute-
specific, traceable agri-commodities to discerning customers in India and overseas. ITC exports agri-
commodities to over 85 countries, linking farmers to global value chains.

ITCMAARS Digitized 6 million Acres Covering 1,000 FPOs

At the core of ITC’s interventions is ITCMAARS – the ‘phygital’ eco-system that enables wider agri-
tech adoption enhances efficiencies and access to markets as well as financial services. Leveraging
the power of collectives, the ITCMAARS ecosystem now constitutes over 1,650 FPOs covering more
than 1.5 million farmers. By 2030, we aspire to connect over 10 million farmers. The predictive,
hyperlocal & dynamic advisories coupled with an input marketplace have enhanced net farmer
returns upto 30% in a short span of time. Over 10,000+ soil tests, with personalized crop nutrition
recommendations based on sophisticated AI-based algorithms, have been facilitated resulting in 10-
15% reduction in fertiliser usage and 15-20% improvement in crop yields. Agri-tech solutions are also
being progressed across multiple value chains including drone usage, which focuses on nano
nutrients and crop protection. Through remote sensing, ITCMAARS has digitized 6 million acres
covering 1,000 FPOs to help deliver contextual and crop stage-specific personalized advisories.
Recently, ITCMAARS launched the world’s first GenAI-based regional voice chatbot for farmers called
‘KrishiMitra’ that has been co-developed with Microsoft.

ITC’s PPPs with NITI Aayog

ITCMAARS also harnesses the collective knowledge garnered over decades to provide farmers best-
in-class services. This includes the experience gained from ITC’s Baareh Mahine Hariyali programme,
which enabled substantial increase in farmer incomes. The expertise gained has also enabled us to
implement such best practices in 45 Aspirational Districts. Exclusive PPPs with NITI Aayog in 27 such
districts have improved yields up to 30%, and reduced cultivation costs by nearly 15%, thereby boosting farmer incomes up to 60%. In addition, over 5 lakh farmers are trained annually in best practices
through Farmer Field Schools and demonstration farms organized by ITC.

READ MORE ARTICLE AT : SMART AGRI POST