The problem
For many small farmers the input dealer is also the lender. Seed and fertiliser are taken on credit at sowing and paid for after harvest, which is why the same dealer gets the business every season.
Studies of Indian farm markets call these tied transactions. The loan, the inputs and sometimes the sale of the crop all run through one person, so a farmer cannot easily go elsewhere even when a dealer a few kilometres away charges less.
Nobody publishes what nearby dealers charge. If a farmer could see those prices in their own language on a basic phone, they would at least have a number to bargain with.
- Who has this problem
- Small and marginal farmers who buy inputs on credit from a local dealer.
- Languages needed
- Hindi and regional languages
Where the demand comes from
What people do today
- The workaround
- They ask neighbours, or accept the dealer's price.
- Why that fails
- Credit ties the farmer to one dealer, and research describes that informal credit as carrying high implicit costs.
How others solved it2
Products and services that work on a similar problem, in India and elsewhere.
- DeHaatIndia
Sells farm inputs with crop advice through local centres and an app.
- GasBuddyUSA / Canada
Crowdsourced fuel prices from nearby stations: the same idea for a different product.
Read and watch2
Where the facts on this page come from.
- ArticleInnovative Agricultural Input Marketing Models in India
IIM Ahmedabad
- ArticleFarmers' choice of market channels and producer prices in India
Food Policy (ScienceDirect)