195
mentation opportunities to prove and scale the technology applications across
regions and globally.
23
By aligning incentives based on profits and CSR goals, private businesses are
now becoming more involved in localized initiatives to improve farming practices
and introduce new technologies to local and small-scale farmers. In some cases
(Boxes 7.3, 7.4 and 7.6), they facilitate the access of small farmers to markets and
market information and increase their likelihood of commercial success. Technology
startups are tackling the issues of hunger and food waste in increased numbers. The
entrepreneurial founders of these companies see the elimination of hunger and the
improvement of smallholder farmers as being of great benefit – societally and economically. They use their knowledge of crowdsourcing, mobile telephony, and
localized initiatives to develop programs that can easily scale using digital technologies. This offers a fundamental new approach to public-private partnerships (PPPs)
as the small-scale entrepreneur can tackle larger issues on a smaller scale and then
replicate results. In addition to the tech entrepreneurs, private companies and NGOs
are working together, creating innovative financing tools and technology transfer
mechanisms to meet the needs of the smallholder farmers.
23 https://www.digitalgreen.org
Box 7.3 Connecting Small-Scale Farmers in India: Crofarm and
Retail Stores
1
The farm economy in India accounts for 18% of the GDP and provides
employment for 50% of the country workforce. While large, it is also unorganized with small-scale rural farmers selling through local village mandis that
procure the produce from farmers and then sell it through a series of middlemen eventually delivered to retailers. This results in a fragmented and disjoint
supply chain with wide variations in process and income paid to farmers.
While India is the second largest producer of vegetables and fruits in the
world, almost 25–30% of the products get wasted due to spoilage from poor
transportation and cold storage. For Reliance Retail, India’s largest retail
enterprise, the fractured supply chain results in excessive spoilage and poor
quality of the fruits and vegetables delivered to its stores.
In 2016, two entrepreneurs, Varun Khurana and Prashant Jain, established
a business called Crofarm to find a solution to the issues of farmers supply of
fresh fruits and vegetables to retailers. They had previously worked for
Grofers, an online grocery delivery service that operates in 13 cities in India.
There they saw the disjoint nature of the farm to retail supply chain for perishable products such as vegetables, fruits, and exotics. After Grofers they spent
time with local farmers in Haryana, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh to understand the issues faced by the farmers trying to sell their products.
From this knowledge and their understanding of retailer needs, they developed a series of applications to link farmers directly with retailers and bypass
(continued)
7 Innovation and the Quest to Feed the World
mentation opportunities to prove and scale the technology applications across
regions and globally.
23
By aligning incentives based on profits and CSR goals, private businesses are
now becoming more involved in localized initiatives to improve farming practices
and introduce new technologies to local and small-scale farmers. In some cases
(Boxes 7.3, 7.4 and 7.6), they facilitate the access of small farmers to markets and
market information and increase their likelihood of commercial success. Technology
startups are tackling the issues of hunger and food waste in increased numbers. The
entrepreneurial founders of these companies see the elimination of hunger and the
improvement of smallholder farmers as being of great benefit – societally and economically. They use their knowledge of crowdsourcing, mobile telephony, and
localized initiatives to develop programs that can easily scale using digital technologies. This offers a fundamental new approach to public-private partnerships (PPPs)
as the small-scale entrepreneur can tackle larger issues on a smaller scale and then
replicate results. In addition to the tech entrepreneurs, private companies and NGOs
are working together, creating innovative financing tools and technology transfer
mechanisms to meet the needs of the smallholder farmers.
23 https://www.digitalgreen.org
Box 7.3 Connecting Small-Scale Farmers in India: Crofarm and
Retail Stores
1
The farm economy in India accounts for 18% of the GDP and provides
employment for 50% of the country workforce. While large, it is also unorganized with small-scale rural farmers selling through local village mandis that
procure the produce from farmers and then sell it through a series of middlemen eventually delivered to retailers. This results in a fragmented and disjoint
supply chain with wide variations in process and income paid to farmers.
While India is the second largest producer of vegetables and fruits in the
world, almost 25–30% of the products get wasted due to spoilage from poor
transportation and cold storage. For Reliance Retail, India’s largest retail
enterprise, the fractured supply chain results in excessive spoilage and poor
quality of the fruits and vegetables delivered to its stores.
In 2016, two entrepreneurs, Varun Khurana and Prashant Jain, established
a business called Crofarm to find a solution to the issues of farmers supply of
fresh fruits and vegetables to retailers. They had previously worked for
Grofers, an online grocery delivery service that operates in 13 cities in India.
There they saw the disjoint nature of the farm to retail supply chain for perishable products such as vegetables, fruits, and exotics. After Grofers they spent
time with local farmers in Haryana, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh to understand the issues faced by the farmers trying to sell their products.
From this knowledge and their understanding of retailer needs, they developed a series of applications to link farmers directly with retailers and bypass
(continued)
7 Innovation and the Quest to Feed the World