Agriculture in India is often narrated through the image of the farmer. They become the one standing at the center of the agri economy. Policies are drafted, startups are built, and innovations are pitched with the assumption that the farmer is the primary customer. But this isn’t the frame.
In reality, the farmer is not the one driving the market. The true economic forces that shape what gets grown, how it’s grown, and which technologies succeed originate from two other players in this ecosystem. The trader and the consumer are they key players here.
If you follow the flow of money, influence, and decision making power in agriculture, it becomes clear that the farmer is not the initiator of demand, but the responder. They are the price takers and not makers.
Small and medium farmers rarely operate with complete autonomy over what they buy or what they produce. In India, we have the majority of them. Their decisions are heavily shaped by external factors. This includes, what the local trader is paying more for, what crops their neighbors are planting, what mandi prices are trending, what might work in the coming season based on monsoon. In brief, farmers are reacting to market signals. They don’t always have the power to make the decision rather try to survive within it.
Now look at the other end, the consumer.
People in cities want organic food. Pesticide-free fruits. Fresh, traceable vegetables to add to their clean diet. Also millets. These preferences are loud and growing. The modern Indian consumer is shaping agricultural patterns in more ways than we see. Because of this, retailers and D2C brands or startups/companies adjust how they buy. They want certified produce (harder). They demand better quality. They’re even willing to pay more.
This demand moves upstream right from the store to the trader, and then from the trader to the farm. So, the trader becomes the first true buyer in this chain. They are the ones who decide what they will procure, what quality they will accept, and how they will price it. They set the norms for volume, timing, quality of produce, inputs and many more.
we assume that the farmer is the buyer. The apps, tools, and products for the farmer as if they are the ones making bold purchasing decisions. But farmers often don’t have that freedom. They won’t invest in new tools unless someone downstream is paying more. They won’t shift practices unless there’s a clear gain seen by people or at least by their neighbor.
This is why understanding who the real buyers are in agriculture matters. The farmer are important and nothing moves without their hands in the soil. In agriculture, it begins with the people who pay and more often than not, that’s the trader who procures and the consumer who consumes.
Understanding this isn’t just a mindset shift. It’s a strategy reset for the transformation.
Because in this ecosystem, the real customer isn’t where the field starts. It’s where the money ends.
Cheers
PS: For builders. For Farmer lens – Part 2.
Check out the previous post: Why EVs have DMU in India?
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