Bharat Intelligence bets on turning farm data into jobs – CNBC TV18
Maharashtra’s farm economy is confronting a double bind: shrinking landholdings and a dwindling pool of skilled farm workers. Agritech ventures are stepping into this gap, and one of the most active is Bharat Intelligence, which is using data and automation to solve farm labour bottlenecks today while laying the groundwork for broader, job-generating services tomorrow.
From labour pain point to digital pipeline
In regions like Nashik, farmers report that timely access to skilled labour has become their single biggest operational hurdle. Bharat Intelligence set out to tackle this mismatch by building a demand–supply bridge for farm workers, anchored in local languages and everyday tools.
Instead of releasing a traditional app, the startup integrated its system with WhatsApp and built a Marathi-first chatbot. Farmers receive messages in their language and can respond at their convenience. For those who prefer calls, the platform triggers automated, natural-sounding voice interactions that feel like speaking to a human, again in the local language. This lowers adoption barriers and ensures even non-smartphone users can participate.
Advisory services are next
The team plans to fold agronomic advisories into the same conversational experience. The roadmap includes:
- Soil testing inputs and analysis
- Crop selection guidance and package-of-practice recommendations
- Irrigation scheduling and water-use suggestions
- Pest and disease management alerts
By unifying these functions in a single chat interface, the platform aims to move from solving urgent labour needs to becoming a daily operating system for farms.
Why Maharashtra is a priority
Recent state data highlights the structural shifts challenging agriculture. While operational holdings have climbed over the decades—from roughly 5 million in the early 1970s to more than 17 million today—the average farm size has contracted sharply, from about 4.28 hectares to around 1.23 hectares. Smaller plots, combined with climate pressures and low margins, make it harder for farmers to absorb labour shortages or adopt new practices quickly.
There is also a demographic element. Fewer young people are choosing farming as a career, and agriculture’s share in state income has fallen significantly over the long term, with services and industry rising. The result: more operational complexity on smaller farms, just as experienced labour is getting harder to find.
Data-driven, locally tuned
Bharat Intelligence says it has developed its own data pipelines to map crop cycles, labour requirements, and field conditions at a granular level. The company combines geospatial analytics, satellite observations, and on-ground inputs to generate actionable insights. This data backbone supports matchmaking between farmers and workers, as well as the advisory services slated to roll out this year.
The approach is designed for Maharashtra’s diversity—from grapes and onions to sugarcane and vegetables—where labour demand peaks are highly seasonal and location-specific. Matching the right skill, at the right time, to the right farm is central to the model.
Traction and capital
The startup recently closed a pre-seed round of approximately ₹7 crore, led by Sahyadri Farms, a major grape exporter. With operations currently active in Nashik, Bharat Intelligence reports access to about 1 lakh acres of farmland and is preparing to scale across Western Maharashtra.
Gender, jobs, and the human capital lens
Maharashtra’s agricultural workforce shows near gender parity, with women comprising almost half of agri labourers. That makes the reliability and safety of job matching critical. A platform that formalizes demand, schedules work predictably, and reduces the friction of discovery can offer stability for workers while reducing downtime for farmers.
By professionalizing rural labour flows and eventually adding training and certification layers, the company aims to convert fragmented rural work into sustained livelihoods—an important counter to migration and underemployment.
Beyond waivers: the next phase for agri growth
The state’s farmers increasingly need targeted solutions rather than broad-based support alone. Labour logistics, cropping decisions, and market linkages are all pressure points that can constrain growth if left unaddressed. Bharat Intelligence is positioning itself as part of that stack: first fixing labour, then enhancing productivity through advisory, and eventually tying outcomes to markets and finance.
What to watch next
- Rollout of integrated advisories within the chatbot, including soil-to-irrigation guidance
- Geographic expansion beyond Nashik into Western Maharashtra
- Quality and reliability of automated vernacular voice interactions at scale
- Job creation impact for rural workers and utilization rates for farmers
- Potential partnerships with FPOs, input providers, and buyers to close the loop
As Maharashtra navigates smaller farms, climate risk, and shifting rural demographics, building a “friendly rural pipeline” of data, services, and jobs may be the catalyst for sustained agri growth. Bharat Intelligence’s bet is that solving labour at the field edge—then layering insights and advisories—can turn farm data into real employment and better incomes.
