Aims to onboard 500,000 farmers by March 2022
MUMBAI, 9 July 2021: GreenSat Innovation Labs Pvt. Ltd. a leading agritech company signed an MoU with Gramin Vikas Trust (GVT), a rural welfare organization, and IndiaHub e-Governance Pvt. Ltd., an innovation-driven start-up, as a technology partner for their Smart FPO (Farmer Producer Organization) initiative.
Under the initiative, the GreenSat Innovation App will offer end-to-end support that extends from precision farming to banking, market linkages, and innovative crop insurance products. In addition, it will offer direct access to National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) wherein the latter will offer a commodity trading platform for the bigger FPOs, providing farmers with direct access to the market.
The targeted project size for the first year (2021-22) is 100 FPOs with 500 FPOs planned for each successive year. More than 10,000 farmers have already signed up for the project with an additional 5,00,000 farmers expected to be on-boarded by March 2022.
Speaking about the initiative, Deepak Yadav, Founder, GreenSat Innovation Labs Pvt. Ltd., said, “At GreenSat our focus has been on utilising the power of technology and data to offer innovative solutions to our farmers. We believe that technology is the game-changer that can revolutionize agriculture, removing bottlenecks that have crippled the sector for decades. This partnership is the result of our determination to offer complete end-to-end solutions for farmers where they can find information, finance, insurance cover, and a market for their products."
"We are glad that Gramin Vikas Trust (GVT) picked us as their partner for this project with their proven track record in successfully implementing rural welfare projects. IndiaHub shares our passion for utilising technology to bring sustainable solutions for farmers. Together, we hope to revolutionize farming as we know it, providing farmers with a single platform for all their requirements,” Yadav added.
Co-curated by GreenSat Innovation Labs Pvt Ltd, the initiative is aimed at developing an Atmanirbhar Kisan - Smart FPO model to offer low-cost user-friendly technology to address the four major challenges faced by most farmers today, namely, crop management, gathering funds, ensuring adequate insurance cover, and market linkages for sales. These challenges will be addressed through two of GreenSat’s innovative tech-based solutions, namely, precision farming services and its faceless agri-banker concept.
Shiv Shanker Singh, Chief Executing Officer, Gramin Vikas Trust further explained, “When GreenSat approached us with the Smart FPO initiative, we immediately realised that it would fit with GVT’s vision of bringing sustainable improvement into the lives of our rural poor and marginalised communities. It would bring the power of technology to our farmers’ doorstep, providing them with critical information, while connecting them with much-needed financial and market support. With this comprehensive support on one platform, it will also help in transforming rural communities, giving people the power to harness technology and bring change into their own lives.”
The app will offer users access to both precision farming services and the faceless agri-banker concept. Precision farming services will offer farmers critical information such as weather forecast, detection of diseases and pests, crop growth monitoring, nutrient tracking, irrigation management, and agri-doctor assistance. The faceless agri-banker concept integrates all financial support services in one place, including, loans, insurance, sales, commodity research, and access to NCDEX.
Elaborating on the initiative Shekhar Tyagi, Director Operations, IndiaHub E-Governance Pvt. Ltd., added, “We have already seen the power of data and technology in the corporate sector. Today, no business decision is taken without a careful analysis of all the data available. The Smart FPO initiative takes these essential tools to the agricultural sector, giving farmers critical support in every aspect, from crop management to trading in commodities. With all the necessary data at their fingertips, they can make informed decisions in areas like procuring finance or connecting with the nearest markets. It will also help them avoid the pitfalls that have plagued the sector, such as lack of insurance and poor market linkages.”
The project will initially be marketed in, Haryana, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Arunachal, J&K and Nagaland.
