Yesterday, India-based AI and blockchain firm Agri10x announced a partnership with the government to help farmers access its online marketplace, a Business Standard report said. Agri10x will now be able to access the government’s common service centers (CSCs), access points that deliver e-services to rural and remote areas in the country with the aim of digital inclusion.
Leveraging the CSCs, Agri10x will onboard farmers on its platform. Agri10x has developed a blockchain-based marketplace that connects farmers and global traders, reducing the dependence on middlemen. The solution will also help farmers earn a fair price for their produce.
India has a substantial agrarian economy, which contributes about 16% to the GDP. A large number of people are highly dependent on agriculture, with more than two thirds of the country’s population residing in rural areas.
“The Indian farmers have been the unsung heroes of the Indian economy and we wanted to ensure that they get an easy access to a global marketplace to sell their produce directly, without any middlemen,” said Pankajj Ghode, CEO of Agri10x.
“Our aim is to ‘Connect Local Farmers with Global Buyers’ that would not only increase their income levels but will also massively boost employment in the agriculture industry,”
Established in 2016, the company has onboarded farmers from the state of Maharashtra. Now it aims to expand operations to the rest of the country and onboard three millionfarmers by the end of this year. The startup previously said onboarding farmers was the biggest hurdle for the adoption of its platform.
Agri10x has a number of products — a trading platform for connecting buyers and sellers, a mobile app, smart card to make transactions, offline and online grocery store, and another digital-only grocery store. Blockchain and AI underpin the trading platform, but it was not clear if the technologies are used for other services.
There is another agri marketplace in India which has similar goals, called FarmFirst. Developed by Freshstack Technologies, the marketplace recently adopted dltledgers blockchain for end-to-end digital trading.
