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MCX - Direct market access for farmers
Post offices are being developed into agricultural service platforms
Bayer CropScience provides 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. Networked post office branches across the countries, which all have access to a computer, provide the infrastructure required for the project. Starting in 15 post offices in the state of Karnataka, which are being developed into agricultural service platforms (Gramin Suvidha Kendra), useful information is provided to local farmers. Crop protection agents, fertilizers, soil test or weather insurances are also available in these village service centers. Local farms thus receive relevant information from seed to harvest and can also compare prices for their crop yields and other services on the spot. Bayer CropScience is thus providing farmers with direct market access as an alternative to the long-established, inefficient channels via several “middle men”.
Post offices become service centers
Because farmers are often unable to read, write or operate a computer, the information is prepared and made accessible to the farmers by an employee financed by the project. This enables them to make better use of market dynamics, for example until better prices can be obtained.
“The information needed for the farmers are 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 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 Indian farmers.
Added value remains within the village community
In this way, Bayer CropScience hopes to improve the overall 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 were achieved soon after the project started,” explains Suhas R. Joshi, Head of Bayer CropScience’s Child Care Program, commenting on the current status of the project. “The feedback so far is entirely positive. From the launch at the end of 2008 until March 2011, a total of 681 farmers registered for the project for a small fee.” The farmers themselves acknowledge they benefit from the information updated on a daily basis because they now know, for example, where they can sell their crops and at what prices.
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Information available in the Internet help farmers to obtain better prices for their crops. |  |
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| Prices are displayed on boards at post offices, making them accessible to the farmers in the area. Mr. M.S. Gorwar, Head of the post office in Korrati is updating the price information. |
Because farmers are often unable to read, write or operate a computer, the information is prepared and made accessible to the farmers by an employee financed by the project. This enables them to make better use of market dynamics, for example until better prices can be obtained.
“The information needed for the farmers are 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 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 Indian farmers.
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| Post office clerk S. K. Kumbar from the local regional office in Jigalur completes a table with price information. | |
In this way, Bayer CropScience hopes to improve the overall 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 were achieved soon after the project started,” explains Suhas R. Joshi, Head of Bayer CropScience’s Child Care Program, commenting on the current status of the project. “The feedback so far is entirely positive. From the launch at the end of 2008 until March 2011, a total of 681 farmers registered for the project for a small fee.” The farmers themselves acknowledge they benefit from the information updated on a daily basis because they now know, for example, where they can sell their crops 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 board in the post office. This has enabled me to sell my groundnuts in Gadag at a better price. Gramin Suvidha Kendra helps all the farmers in our village with information, especially about price trends for chickpeas, corn and wheat.” | | |
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