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Commodity and food major Cargill has developed a technology platform to connect with farmers helping them with crop advisory, besides providing input and market linkages.
Digital Saathi, the mobile-based, hyper localised service platform is being piloted by Cargill in the key maize-growing regions of Karnataka from February this year.
Developed in-house by the Digital Lab at Cargill Business Services India in Bengaluru that handles finance, IT, HR, transportation and logistics for the global business, Digital Saathi leverages technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to generate and offer crop advisory services.
Cargill has already enrolled about 6,000 farmers on its platform with the help of local NGO partner in five maize-growing districts of Davangere, Chitradurga, Shivamogga, Haveri and Ballari. Cargill runs a large corn processing unit near Davangere.
“We plan to onboard about 30,000 farmers by May 2022 and some 100,000 by next year,” said Raman Saxena, Founder, Digital Saathi.
“Digital Saathi is a step towards building farmers’ ecosystem, supporting them and increasing productivity and profitability,” said Simon George, President, Cargill India.
Digital Saathi provides farmers with solutions like discussion forums and information on market price, weather forecast, pre and post harvest practices among others. From next month, the app will also feature crop input e-commerce and market linkage options, Saxena said. Small and marginal farmers can gain access to multiple stakeholders such as agri-input suppliers, buyers, traders, processors, farmer producer companies and peer farmers through the app.
Cargill has set a global goal to provide training on sustainable agri practices and improve access to markets for 10 million farmers by 2030 and Digital Saathi is a step towards that direction.
Sourcing maize
Cargill plans to source maize from farmers through the app going forward and would also take the platform to other states in India.
“We’re also optimistic about this platform and plan to take it to overseas markets,” George said adding, it can also be deployed in allied agri sectors such as poultry, dairy and shrimp farming.
The company is also looking at bringing in other partners such as fintech and crop insurance companies on to the platform.
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