The 65-year-old Tractors and Farm Equipment Ltd. (TAFE) is optimistic about both the domestic and export markets. In an interview, its Chairman and Managing Director, Mallika Srinivasan, shares her thoughts about collaborating with start-ups, interesting consumer trends and impact from U.S. tariffs. Edited excerpts:
TAFE appears to be making a significant bet on the startup ecosystem?
We are working with two startups - eFarmer and xFarm. We have fully acquired eFarmer, a European company manufacturing AutoSteer and Precision AG Solutions. It is now completely integrated with TAFE Advanced AG Solutions (U.K.) and our Advanced R&D Centre of Excellence in Chennai. xFarm is the result of our strategic investment in xFarm, Italy. A dedicated team has developed solutions for contract farming in seed multiplication, commercial crop farming for exporters, and supply chain solutions for food companies. We’ve completed pilots for paddy and cotton seed, maize and potato commercial crops. We look for more opportunities to partner with startups in this space, especially in the alternate energy space.
Can you tell us about your drone services initiative?
We have been running this for over a year now. Right now, it’s small, but we are looking at expanding this. TAFE’s AGAAS (Agriculture as a service) introduced drones for crop monitoring, spraying, and precision application. We want to see if this helps the farmer optimise his input. Does he save on fertilizer, chemicals, and how does this affect his output cost? And that’s what matters to the farmer at the end of the day. And we have had encouraging results. We have already sprayed over 1,00,000 acres of farmland, generating good business growth. These services are complemented by AI-driven crop modelling, satellite imagery, and predictive analytics to improve yields and optimise inputs.
