The world's largest fertiliser cooperative, IFFCO, on Wednesday announced the beginning of free door-to-door delivery services of its agricultural inputs across India through their digital platform - Indian Cooperative Digital Platform (ICDP).
The aim of this initiative is to bring the experience and benefits of modern e-commerce to rural India, by synergizing an efficient supply chain system with the latest technology tools.
Through this service, IFFCO will reach out and offer services to farmers in hinterlands of rural India which are otherwise inaccessible from the rest of the country.
"This service will bridge the gap between the need and availability of agri-inputs, especially in interior regions of the country. The aim is to increase convenience for the farmers across India and improve their access to inputs such as water-soluble fertilisers, agro-chemicals, bio-fertilisers, seeds, and plant growth promoters", said Managing Director, IFFCO, Dr U.S. Awasthi.
Farmers will now have access to an entire range of essential agricultural inputs such as water-soluble fertilisers, agro-chemicals, bio-fertilisers, seeds, plant growth promoters and other agro-based products.
These products will be available in packages of up to five kg and will be delivered at no additional cost.
However, the traditional fertiliser products like Urea, DAP, NPK, would not be sold online.
IFFCO is also including digital training lessons in the hinterlands to bring awareness about the usage of the products and skilling the farmers in digital platforms and cashless transactions for easier access to products and services.
This will enable the farmers from the most interior regions of the country to compete with the semi-urban and general urban farmers, who are closer to the markets.
"Farmers would be able to procure agricultural inputs instantly by the click of a button through our digital platform. ICDP has been working in this direction with the aim to enable as many farmers as possible to reap the benefits of digitization. Going forward, we plan to convert this platform into a thriving digital marketplace where farmers and cooperative societies can buy and sell their produce online without going through the vicious cycle of middlemen and touts who eat away a large chunk of their profits. We hope this initiative will reap financial benefits for the farmers of the rural hinterlands and eradicate the roadblocks permanently in this realm", Dr Awasthi added.
As a first-of-its-kind industry-initiative, ICDP will offer these delivery services in the interior rural areas, where leading e-commerce players are also not present.
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