Global life sciences firm Bayer on Monday said it has signed an agreement with US-based food major Cargill to empower smallholder farmers with digital solutions.
Digital solutions will include comprehensive information on market prices, weather forecasts, and pre- to post-harvest insights, among other things.
Drawing upon the capabilities of innovative platforms such as Cargill's 'Digital Saathi' — a mobile-first, AI-driven service platform tailored to hyper-localised needs, and Bayer's Better Life Farming Centres that supports over 500,000 smallholder farmers, this strategic partnership is dedicated to improving market access for smallholder farmers, it said in a statement.
This partnership between Bayer and Cargill endeavours to connect with 3 million farmers across India within the next five years. Initially, the partnership will be implemented in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh and subsequently expand to other regions.
Additionally, Cargill's 'Digital Saathi' platform offers convenient crop input e-commerce and crop sell offer features, ensuring farmers have improved access to high-quality crop inputs and facilitating market linkages between farmers and aggregators through a digitally-enabled marketplace.
"This integrated approach aims to enhance farmers' decision-making capabilities, streamline agricultural operations, and foster efficient and seamless connections within the agricultural ecosystem,"
Bayer added.
In March, during a meeting of the BRICS Working Group for the Research of Competition Issues in Food Markets, Alexey Ivanov, Director of the BRICS Competition Centre, drew attention to the increasing market concentration in the sector. In particular, all sorts of conglomerates and partnerships are being formed, which at first glance look positive, but on the other hand, form a strong core of monopolists. Such partnerships like GrainBridge*, a joint venture between ADM and Cargill, are classified as digital services, but in fact may be a cartel, Ivanov stressed.
*GrainBridge was created in 2019 by ADM (Archer Daniels Midland) and Cargill. It brought together digital tools to help farmers consolidate information on production economics and grain marketing into a single platform. In 2021, it was acquired by Bushel.
Source: Business Standard
