Agrograde launches AI sorter for arecanut
By Abha Lohia ·
- Agrograde is a Pune agritech startup building technology that makes fresh produce packhouses run autonomously
- Its new computer-vision system sorts arecanut, handling about one tonne an hour, first installed at a Mangaluru trader
- Accuracy began near 75 per cent and rose to roughly 89 per cent after the AI models were retrained
What happened
- Agrograde launched an AI optical sorter for arecanut.
- It handles about one tonne per hour.
- The first unit runs in Mangaluru.
- That site processes nearly eight tonnes daily.
- Accuracy rose from 75 to 89 per cent.
Why it matters
- Consistent quality is hard when sorting large volumes of nuts.
- Colour sorters miss defects that vision AI can spot.
- The trader earlier depended on manual sorting.
The business
- Agrograde builds AI sorting and grading machines.
- It targets fresh produce packhouses.
- Its systems use computer vision to inspect single items.
- Rejected material is separated automatically.
The founders
In numbers
89%Sorting accuracy · 2026
What happens next
- Accuracy is expected to improve with more data.
Terms in this story
- Startup: A startup is a young company built to find a new way of doing something and to grow fast, usually by serving many customers at low extra cost. India's government also has a narrower legal definition that decides who gets scheme benefits.
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