Agriculture Landscape

Context

Agriculture remains a major employer for the workforce in India with over 45.6% of the population (PLFS 2022) employed in agriculture. Over the past few decades, the proportion of the agriculture sector’s contribution to the GDP has dropped to just 18%. The farmer income and production levels in India are much lower than in the rest of the world. This is where the Konnect stack was envisioned to unlock increased farm income to uplift farmers as well as contribute to the national GDP.

Problem Statement

Marginal and small farmers have a clear information asymmetry which acts as a major hindrance in their income realization (NITI Aayog India @75 doc). In order to bridge this gap, and embark on the journey of achieving the goal of doubling farmers' income, there needs to be a pointed effort in bridging information asymmetry across,

1. Produce pricing
2. Crop demand trends
3. New agricultural and crop diversification practices
4. Scientific agricultural practices and extension services
5. Easy and quick access to credit
6. Access to high quality inputs at the right time

Vision

The Konnect stack can unlock new digitally-delivered services to facilitate and integrate multiple disparate journeys through both public and private participation. By bringing together the required data and technology infrastructure (which may be privately or publicly owned / managed) through interoperable design and common standards, the stack will be able to augment value for each stakeholder in the agriculture chain.

Konnect stack creates an open ecosystem platform that makes the markets work for farmers and lets the agri-value chain operate at a higher equilibrium by reducing information asymmetry and increasing choices for farmers. The stack,

1. Creates a platform which can be leveraged to link farmers, policy makers, buyers, and farm service providers by creating simple service provider and farmer-facing UIs and leverage Konnect API specifications (powered by BeckN protocol)
2. Enables services for farmers across
   1. Farm inputs
   2. Credits
   3. Market
   4. Extension services
3. Farmer data across state agriculture database (eg. Krushak Odisha database) and other federated data can be consumed in a owner-consented and secure manner