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Financial Value Chain Implementation

Submitted By: Simplify Agri Private Limited

Supported By: NABARD

Introduction

Simplify Agri is a pioneering startup committed to addressing the challenges faced by small farmers in India by leveraging technology to improve bookkeeping, resource planning, and financial inclusion in the agriculture sector. Recognizing the critical role of farmers in India's economy and the need to empower them with digital tools and financial services, Simplify Agri proposes a comprehensive solution that integrates user-friendly mobile applications, financial value chain analysis, and collaboration with key stakeholders like NABARD to create Software tools that will help financial institutions and NABARD to collect live information and analyse the same on financial requirements of farming and optimising the support to farmers based on financial value chain and ensure better productivity and increase financial strength of farming and agriculture.

Executive Summary

Small farmers in India, despite contributing significantly to the national economy, lack proper financial management tools and access to tailored financial services due to inadequate record-keeping. Simplify Agri proposes a collaborative project with NABARD to address this challenge by implementing a comprehensive solution based on:

  • User-friendly mobile app and chatbot interface: Empowering farmers with tools for bookkeeping, resource planning, and financial analysis in regional languages.

  • Structured financial value chain analysis: Enabling banks and financial institutions to assess farmers' funding needs and offer relevant financial products.

  • Collaboration with NABARD: Leveraging expertise, resources, and network to pilot the project with selected farmer groups and scale it nationwide.

Background and Problem Statement

  • Over 80% of global food production comes from small farmers, with over 58% of India's population relying on agriculture for livelihoods.

  • However, inadequate record-keeping and resource planning hamper productivity, financial management, and access to credit for over 90% of Indian farmers.

  • This lack of financial inclusion hinders agricultural development and economic growth.

Proposed Solution

Simplify Agri proposes a solution that addresses the challenge of inadequate bookkeeping and resource planning among farmers by providing a user-friendly mobile application with a chatbot interface in regional languages. The application will assist farmers in scheduling crops, planning management tasks, recording resource utilization, analyzing unit economics, and optimizing production costs. Additionally, Simplify Agri will integrate a structured financial value chain analysis into the software, enabling banks and financial institutions to assess farmers' funding needs and offer tailored financial products and services. NABARD and other organisations who make policies for supporting farmers and their needs will be able to provide better solutions and recommend products as per the farmers needs.

Financial Value Chain Analysis:

  • Integrates with the mobile app to collect farm data.

  • Analyzes data to identify farmers' specific funding needs, and the specific time at which the fund is required.

  • Generates reports for banks and financial institutions.

  • Enables tailored financial product recommendations for farmers.

Collaboration with NABARD

Simplify Agri seeks to collaborate with NABARD to implement the financial value chain analysis and provide analytical reports to banks and financial institutions. NABARD's expertise in rural development, agriculture finance, and farmer support programs makes it an ideal partner for this initiative. Together, Simplify Agri and NABARD can pilot the project with selected farmers from Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) or Farmers' Interest Groups (FIGs), leveraging NABARD's network and resources to ensure the project's success. Analyzes data to identify farmers' specific funding needs, and the specific time at which the fund is required.

Objectives

  • Empower small farmers with digital tools for bookkeeping, resource planning, and financial management.

  • Enhance financial inclusion by enabling banks and financial institutions to better understand farmers' funding needs and offer appropriate financial products and services.

  • Improve productivity, profitability, and sustainability in the agriculture sector through digitalization and financial empowerment.

Expected Outcomes

  • Increased adoption of digital tools among small farmers, leading to improved record-keeping, productivity, and financial management.

  • Enhanced access to credit and investment opportunities for farmers, driving economic growth and rural development.

  • Strengthened collaboration between Simplify Agri, NABARD, and other stakeholders to promote innovation and technology adoption in Indian agriculture.

  • Creating visibility and traceability of Financial Value Chain of different farming process and practices and create interface of the same for NABARD, banks and insurance companies to design and deliver effective banking and insurance products to farmers that will enable sustainable financial strength to farmers.

  • Up-skilling farmers to access and use latest IT, Data Science Technologies for farming.

Funding and Support

Simplify Agri invites NABARD to discuss the possibility of funding and support for this project. By partnering with Simplify Agri, NABARD can leverage its expertise, resources, and network to pilot the project, assess its impact, and scale it up to benefit a larger number of farmers across India. Funding support from NABARD will enable Simplify Agri to develop and implement the proposed solution effectively, contributing to the sustainable development of the agriculture sector and the welfare of small farmers.

Conclusion

Simplify Agri's innovative solution has the potential to address critical challenges faced by small farmers in India and drive positive change in the agriculture sector. Collaboration with NABARD will strengthen the project's impact and reach, benefiting farmers, financial institutions, and the economy at large. Simplify Agri looks forward to partnering with NABARD to create a transformative impact in Indian agriculture and empower small farmers for a brighter future.

Additional Information

  • Pilot project plan with specific targets and evaluation metrics can be provided upon request.

  • Technical details of the mobile app and data security measures can be shared in further discussions.

We are confident that this project will contribute significantly to the development of the Indian agricultural sector and the well-being of smallholder farmers. We look forward to collaborating with NABARD to make this vision a reality.

Note:

This proposal incorporates the feedback provided by Regional Manager of Kerala Gramin bank, CGM NABARD, GM NABARD and DDM NABARD Malappuram/Kozhikkode and FPO’s including:

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  1. Mannarmala Milk & Agro Producer Company Limited

  2. Cocoa Producer Company Kozhikode

  3. Vadakara Coconut Farmers Producer Company Ltd

  4. Niravu Farmer Producer Company Kozhikode

  5. Susthira Farmer Producer Company

  6. Paddy Farmers from Palakkad

  7. Vegetable farmers from Elavancheri

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