Agri Entrepreneur Growth Foundation (AEGF) has partnered with Mastercard to launch Bharat Kisan Manch, its digital platform to provide access to markets and formal financial services to millions of Indian farmers and agri-entrepreneurs.
The platform will be powered by MasterCard’s CommunityPass digital infrastructure, making it safer and easier for farmers to get paid more and faster for their produce.
AEGF is the implementation arm of the Syngenta Foundation, which is also supported by the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), Tata Trusts, and several other organizations focused on social impact in India.
Mastercard Community Pass is designed to overcome infrastructure challenges that arise in digitizing rural communities, such as unreliable connectivity, low smartphone ownership, and lack of permanent identification or credentials.
The collaboration will combine MasterCard’s expertise in technology and digital payments with AEGF’s network of 15,000+ agribusinesses in rural areas, to expand farmers’ access to knowledge, products, services and partnerships.
The initiative aims to benefit millions of farmers and agri-entrepreneurs over the next three years, enabling them to have easy access to markets and formal financial services.
This collaboration is part of AEGF’s commitment to equip 20 million smallholder farmers in India with much-needed digital tools and financial services, and in the process, create sustainable livelihoods for 100,000 agri-entrepreneurs by 2030.
Rajendra Jog, Executive Director, Syngenta Foundation India, and Director, AEGF, said, “This collaboration between Agri-Entrepreneurs Growth Foundation and MasterCard will accelerate the digitization of millions of small farmers and millions of rural entrepreneurs through the Foundation. It will help smallholders to increase their income by reducing input cost and increasing production value and access to credit and crop advice, leveraging the Bharat Kisan platform.
Simon Winter, Global Head, Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture said, “By connecting to the Community Pass, farmers can gain easy access to agricultural services that lead to higher efficiency, better crop yields, higher prices and increased profits. Additionally, farmers with a digital presence can better build their credit profiles and access institutional credit.
Through MasterCard’s CommunityPass digital infrastructure and AEGF’s agribusiness network and training, farmers can access new markets and a much wider pool of potential buyers, improving their livelihoods in a commercially sustainable way. can make
Tara Nathan, EVP, Digital Innovation for Emerging Markets, Mastercard, said, “Mastercard is actively working to digitize agricultural value chains in many countries and connect farmers to buyers for supply and purchase of produce. Working. Access to information, advisory and financial services. Community Pass helps farmers create transaction history and opportunities to build credit, which in turn increases farmers’ inclusion in the formal financial system. This initiative is also in line with the Government of India’s efforts to promote inclusive growth leveraging technology.This collaboration with AEGF will help create an effective model of agricultural digitization that can serve as a global example. .
Mastercard is already engaged in connecting people in underserved, remote and often offline communities with digital tools, including India’s 1.5 million farmers who use Community Passes to access agricultural markets, buy agricultural commodities like seeds and fertilizers. Equipment suppliers, and financial services.
The Bharat Kisan Manch platform will first be launched in the states of Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh and will gradually be rolled out to all markets across India.
First Published: 21 Sep 2023, 16:42 IST