A community based solution to reduce information asymmetry in agriculture: Why We Invested in Krishify

^{"By addressing the massive information asymmetry in the agricultural ecosystem, Krishify is helping farmers in numerous ways - reduction in input costs, higher yields, broker-free trading as well as access to newer markets. It also provides additional income earning opportunities for key opinion leaders from within the farmer community through various e-commerce opportunities on the platform"}

The last few years have seen a lot of innovation in the agri-tech space with startups such as Bijak and FarMart that are trying to tackle logistical and transactional challenges in the sector. Even so, one of the biggest challenges India’s agriculture sector continues to face is the lack of awareness regarding farming/dairy techniques, poor market linkage in crops and dairy, and inadequate access to and visibility of requirements for farming tools and equipment..

While farmers and agri-retailers now have access to the internet, they lack access to dependable expertise, knowledge and peer networks. Krishify provides a social and professional networking platform that bridges this gap. Led by founders Rajesh Ranjan, Avinash Kumar and Manish Agarwal, Krishify has successfully created a farmer-centric community,providing a solution for the information asymmetry that is widely prevalent in the Indian agricultural ecosystem. 

Krishify enables an exchange of information and matches potential buyers and sellers.

The multilingual platform, which is also available as an app, provides curated content by experts in agriculture and related fields, as well as interactive platforms, aimed at increasing income and productivity for farmers. The applications of this approach are manifold -helping identify and manage crop diseases so farmers can get better values for their produce, acting as a trusted intermediary to help sell cattle at higher prices, connecting farmers with sellers for their mechanisation needs, increase options for selling their produce and source high-quality farm inputs at cheaper costs etc. Agri-stakeholders like retailers, cattle traders, breeders,and mandi traders use Krishify to discover and interact with a wide community of farmers.

Mukesh is a resident of Aspura, a small village situated on Delhi-Jaipur highway who aspires to become a big dairy farmer. However, his difficulties range from finding quality, assured and reasonably priced cattle for his farm, to connecting with other stakeholders of dairy farming like insurance and loan providers and so on. And then, Mukesh learned about the Krishify app.

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^{“Krishify helped me in establishing my dairy in many ways. It expanded the source of cattle, its feed as well as my access to information and services manifold. It’s made a difference in helping save costs.”}

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Mukesh now runs a successful dairy farm with more than 10 cattle which he bought on Krishify. He frequently uses Krishify for cattle trading and information related needs.

With over 5.5 million monthly sessions and 500K Weekly Active Users in less than 24 months since its launch, the platform has gained significant traction and has recently ventured into commerce as well.Its steadily expanding network of farmers and ancillaries is creating a strong base for this. Through commerce, it aims to increase value realization for farmers by enabling better access to markets and aggregation opportunities through the innovative use of data. The company is now targeting to onboard 100 million users and unlock a potential Gross Merchandise Value of over $400 billion.

Over time, we expect Krishify to become a one-stop solution for many parts of India’s sprawling agricultural sector.

Krishify has shown great potential for creating high social impact through increased income and lower costs for farmers, as well as the creation of a community that could have long-term social and professional benefits. Krishify’s model and vision are aligned with Omidyar Network India’s commitment of investing in bold entrepreneurs solving for the Next Half Billion and we’re very excited to partner in this journey with the team.

Image Credit:Dainik Bhaskar and Krishify