Farming Is A Profession Of Hope!
Problem Statement
Even though the government invests billions in agriculture in providing beneficiary schemes for our farmers, we don’t have a unified application that can fulfill all farmer’s needs, and they still need to hustle for small things.
Here, our challenge is to design a unified application, a platform that can meet all of the fundamental demands of farmers.
Understanding the Current Situation
Government has a separate app for Insurance(PIKVIMA)
The government spends 2.37 lakhs cr.
They announce it twice a year with the recommendation of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP)
They upload it on their sites, and there is a special broadcast on DD Nationals every day, Sometimes on the radio broadcast; The government even asks grampancyat to spread information about it.
The sale of agricultural commodities can occur only in the mandis through auction. The sales process in mandis is regulated through commission agents (CAs) who mediate between the farmers and traders.
Problem with the Current situation
Even though the government spends a lot of money on this scheme, only some of it reaches farmers.
Most farmers don’t know how to browse the internet and visit government sites for information.
And most farmers need more time to watch TV or listen to the radio for specific information.
Many gram panchayats just ignore Government advice to spread information about MSP.
Mandies(primarily located in taluka and district places) is not feasible for small farmers. They already make a low profit if they go to the mandi and have to pay for transportation.
Goal
Due to JIO, we have the internet in almost every corner of our country. There are so many cheap smartphone options; their usage has risen to 67.6 % in rural markets, with farmers embracing social technology with surprising speed.
We already have an identification system (Aadhar card)
Aadhar card is linked to our Bank account, Phone Number almost everything!
Our goal is to develop a unified application so that farmers can easily handle their banking, insurance, and other information-related tasks without having to spend a lot of time on them. with the aid of the internet and an aadhar card. so they can focus more on agriculture!
Target users
Small & Marginal Farmers — The Small and marginal farmers with less than two hectares of land account for 86.2% of all, farmers in India, but own just 47.3% of the Indian crop area
Semi-medium and Medium Farmers — semi-medium and medium land-holding farmers owning between 2–10 hectares of land account for 13.2% of all farmers, but own 43.6% of the Indian crop area!
Solution
What we are going to include in our app:
MSP
Support system
Person to person (Helpline)
Chatbot for general inquiry
Insurance Related/Banking Related
New Yojana-related information
AI-powered disease detection system.
Include All regional languages
Complain box/ suggestion box
Simple design so that farmers can easily understand
Live weather forecasting
Prototype
Benefits
Farmers will have correct information about the products they sell, protecting them from getting scammed or conned.
The government will have a good amount of data regarding which farmers are producing which crops in specific regions, which can help them to optimize their Schemes.
There is already a system for banking related, but many people need to learn about new schemes, and they miss the dates for applying. If you want to apply for a particular scheme, you must visit the bank every time, which is quite time-consuming. We can reduce all that with the help of this app(for verification, we can use the aadhar card system)
Same for insurance claims, rather than visiting shetu Kendra, they can apply from the application (for verification, they can provide their video proof), and the application will already have all your documents stored on it(paperless)
They don’t have to watch tv or listen to the radio for the weather forecast. They can have it whenever they want.
Simplified Helpline for farmers
Future scope
The government will receive more region-specific data as farmers use this application to apply for crop insurance; with the use of this data, the government can develop new regionally-based policies and schemes for more effective outcomes.
This application will serve as a solid foundation for agriculture’s eventual digitalization as digitalization spreads throughout all industries on a daily basis.
If our government decides to commercialize agriculture in the future, this application can also serve as the backbone of that commercialization thanks to its exact data.
Farming should be the profession of hope, not greed!
This is my personal project. After I graduated in May 2022, I went home and witnessed numerous small farmers being duped as a result of their lack of information! The real shock came to me when I saw that nearly 95% of people using smartphones still didn’t know the basic information about MSP, government policies, and schemes. While researching, I discovered that there is no unified platform for farmers, which prompted me to start working on this project. I spent the first 1½ months as research while speaking with local small farmers about the current situation and problems in the current situation. and in total it took me 3**½ months to complete it. including the documentation of this case study.
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If you have any feedback or want to chat with me, drop me a message at gthakkarwad@me.iitr.ac.in or connect with me on LinkedIn.