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Post office with wheat prices and weather map
Bayer CropScience is providing direct access to market information for Indian farmers
Together with the Multi-Commodities Exchange of India (MCX), Bayer CropScience is making current market and service information available to Indian farmers. The necessary infrastructure for the project is being provided by the post office branches, all of which have a computer, allowing to access the internet. Starting in 15 post offices in the state of Karnataka which will be developed into agricultural service platforms (Gramin Suvidha Kendra), information will be provided which will be useful to local farmers: market prices for crops, temporary storage possibilities or weather reports. Crop protection agents will also be available in these village service centers. Local farms will thus receive relevant information from seed to harvest. They will be able to compare prices for their crops and other service offers on the spot. Bayer CropScience is thus providing farmers with direct market access as an alternative to the handed-down, inefficient ways which often involve a number of middlemen.
Post offices become service centers for Indian farmers
Because farmers are often unable to read or write, far less operate a computer, the information is prepared and made accessible to the farmers by an employee financed by the project. The farmers are thus able to use the market dynamics better to store crops, for example, until better prices can be obtained. They also get the latest weather report which they can use to make decisions such as when the best time is to harvest. In addition, the farmers can purchase reputable crop insurance policies in the village service center.
“The information needed for the farmers is made available in the national network of post offices via a special project website of the Multi-Commodity Exchange,” explains Dr. Uwe Brekau, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Bayer CropScience. Other websites can also be called up to supplement this information. The post office branches being included in the project have the requisite hardware and the necessary premises. Each one of the more than 155,000 post offices in India could thus successively be turned into a valuable service center for the Indian farmers.
Added value remains within the village community
In this way, Bayer CropScience hopes to gradually improve the general economic situation in rural areas. First, a greater proportion of the added value will remain within the village community and can form the basis for further economic development and for improving quality of life. This should also lay the groundwork for increasing the number of children who attend school.
“Visible successes have already been achieved in the first half of 2009,” comments Suhas R. Joshi, Head of Bayer CropScience’s Child Care Program, on the current project status. “The feedback so far is overwhelmingly positive. Since last year’s launch, around 700 farmers have been informed about the project, and almost 300 of them have already been registered.” According to the farmers themselves, they benefit from the information updated on a daily basis because they now know, for example, where they can sell their crop yields and at what prices.
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Information available in the Internet help farmers to obtain better prices for their harvest. |  |
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| Commodity prices are being displayed on blackboards at postal offices in rural India, making them accessible to the farmers in the area. |
Because farmers are often unable to read or write, far less operate a computer, the information is prepared and made accessible to the farmers by an employee financed by the project. The farmers are thus able to use the market dynamics better to store crops, for example, until better prices can be obtained. They also get the latest weather report which they can use to make decisions such as when the best time is to harvest. In addition, the farmers can purchase reputable crop insurance policies in the village service center.
“The information needed for the farmers is made available in the national network of post offices via a special project website of the Multi-Commodity Exchange,” explains Dr. Uwe Brekau, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Bayer CropScience. Other websites can also be called up to supplement this information. The post office branches being included in the project have the requisite hardware and the necessary premises. Each one of the more than 155,000 post offices in India could thus successively be turned into a valuable service center for the Indian farmers.
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| At the Rural Service Center in the village of Jigalur, postal officer S. K. Kumbar is completing a price information sheet. | |
In this way, Bayer CropScience hopes to gradually improve the general economic situation in rural areas. First, a greater proportion of the added value will remain within the village community and can form the basis for further economic development and for improving quality of life. This should also lay the groundwork for increasing the number of children who attend school.
“Visible successes have already been achieved in the first half of 2009,” comments Suhas R. Joshi, Head of Bayer CropScience’s Child Care Program, on the current project status. “The feedback so far is overwhelmingly positive. Since last year’s launch, around 700 farmers have been informed about the project, and almost 300 of them have already been registered.” According to the farmers themselves, they benefit from the information updated on a daily basis because they now know, for example, where they can sell their crop yields and at what prices.
| Sanganbassapa Shankarappa Ronad, a farmer from the village of Savadi in the Gadag district is pleased about the benefits obtained from the rural service center (Gramin Suvidha Kendra): “In my village, the project gives me price information which is updated every day on a blackboard in the post office. This enabled me to sell my groundnuts at a better price in Gadag. The Gramin Suvidha Kendra helps all the farmers in our village with information, especially about price trends for chickpeas, corn and wheat.” | | |
[ last update: Thursday, September 24, 2009 ]
