The agriculture sector has different layers in the supply chain, from farmers to consumers. However, the procurement process in the agriculture supply chain involves layers like quality assessment, supplier management, logistics, payments, business intelligence & various other data-oriented activities. As procurement lies in the frontline for agribusinesses, its evolution has become quite crucial for informed business strategy. Procurement is at prime while discussing supplier risk, profitability and sustainability. 

The revolution of the procurement process with technological advances such as digitalization has become a need in ‘the new normal’ in the COVID-19 situation. Ensuring Food quality, handling the paperwork and pricing have become riskier due to malpractices and lack of technology in place. That is to say, that manual processes lack transparency for producers and buyers in crop procurement and these challenges can be mitigated using digital technologies at the procurement level itself.

Digital Revolution in Agriculture Trade

As the COVID-19 pandemic has locked down most industries, the processes that go with it have ceased as well. Unavailability of manpower, laboratories for quality and other parameters testing are unreachable/closed & various logistics-related issues during the pandemic has given rise to an urgent need for rapid, on-field quality testing solutions that save time and enables quality-based trade in the supply chain. AgNext, with its new-age rapid on-field quality testing solution, Qualix, is all set to revolutionize the way food trade happens amidst the pandemic. 

It can address various challenges such as food quality, fair pricing, transparency, food loss, malpractices due to manual interventions & most importantly the business losses. 

Qualix can optimize procurement in the agricultural last mile. 

• Rapid Food Quality Assessment-  To bring trust, speed & transparency in food transactions, Qualix provides instant on-field quality assessment. Presently it can assess commodities like grains, oilseed, pulses, spices, tea, milk and animal feed.
• Information Services: To enhance business opportunities and improve products and services, agribusinesses can collect insights from the data collected on-ground related to food. Digital information service is the heart of the data transfer among each layer of the value chain.  
• Digital Profiles: Authenticated identities and digital profiles of stakeholders help agribusinesses keep a formal history of transactions, location, feedback, and other parameters. 
• Track and Trace Systems: Modern agribusinesses need real-time visibility and tracking for traceability and certification of food products which is possible with traceable digital solutions.
• Quality-based transactions: The risk and cost involved in cash payments are drastically reduced using digital financial services such as mobile money transfer applications and services.

Thus, the digital revolution for procurement can offer efficiency and reduce value losses. The management of risk and informed decisions, and effective responses to events are possible only with agile AI and cloud-based platforms. Automation is the latest technology trend that can eradicate time-consuming quality assessment processes & data analysis. Such innovation at the procurement level will help reduce strain from the supply chain, making the process faster, reliable, and all the more efficient.