Mastercard partners LEAF to digitise agri-value chain

Mastercard has partnered with Lawrencedale Agro Processing India (LEAF) to launch LEAF Farmer Community (LFN), a digital platform to enhance financial assess and inclusion among the farmers in the place.

LFN will empower farmers throughout Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu with digitisation of harvest information, enhance obtain to markets, present expertise on better crops, and importantly, carry in transparency by connecting straight with potential buyers.

“The agrarian ecosystem players are hampered by deficiency of transparent obtain with actionable information. Digitisation solves this challenge by integrating a virtuous loop involving farmers and markets, supplying better obtain to information. We are delighted to companion with Mastercard to take forward our decades of operate in bringing about a constructive adjust in the livelihood of marginalised farmers,” stated Palat Vijayaraghavan, Founder & CEO, LEAF, stated in a statement.

Total digitisation

LFN will carry in obtain to excellent top quality make at scale, enable price tag negotiation with total transparency and handle finish-to-finish logistics with top quality regulate. The full procedure is managed by farmers, with guidance from LFN brokers.

“The core of LFN is digitising the make acquiring procedure. It is a higher-touch design by way of a dedicated on-ground farmer advisory and adjust management team. It is enabled by a rural related, secure cellular phone-driven and online agnostic technological know-how supplied by Mastercard,” Vijayaraghavan stated.

LFN will digitise marketplaces, payments, workflows, and farmer transaction histories by connecting potential buyers, farming inputs, suppliers, ag-techs, and banking institutions with FPOs/farmers, aiding to build a commercially sustainable ecosystem comprising all related agriculture worth chain players with equitable commercial exchange mechanisms.

Doubling farm revenue

This initiative will also guidance the farmers by way of detailed instruction and capability creating in full lifecycle of the harvest, such as publish-harvest management to minimize wastage.

“LFN will leverage the ability of digital technologies to carry collectively essential stakeholders throughout the agri worth chain to ensure that farmers get immediate obtain to the understanding, competencies and markets that they presently deficiency. Alongside one another with LEAF, Mastercard is delighted that this initiative will have a tangible constructive effects on farmers’ earnings, supporting the Union government’s aim of doubling farmers’ revenue in the coming two decades,” stated Nikhil Sahni, Division President, South Asia, Mastercard.

The launch of LFN is an extension of Mastercard Farm Pass, a pilot programme that was introduced in 2018 in Andhra Pradesh. Farm Pass is a pivotal part of Community Pass, a shared, interoperable digital infrastructure for the rural population that facilitates obtain to crucial expert services and minimises expenditures. Right now, Farm Pass supports 600,000 farmers throughout India and East Africa, aiding to increase incomes by twenty five-50 for every cent for a lot of farmers.