It is said that if you can measure it you can manage it. Most farmers are unable to manage cost of production for various reasons, not least because they don’t keep tab of it. To take the sweat out of cost management, Shivrai Technologies has launched Farmizo Khata a mobile application that can be downloaded from Google Playstore and Appstore. The company says it has a simple user interface. The application is being offered free of cost. Shivrai Technologies has partnered with State Bank of India’s digital platform Yono. The details which the bank obtains about a farmer’s cost of production and profit, should help it in lending decisions, and perhaps even crop insurance.
Users create their profiles on the app by entering personal details. The app will guide them to register their plot. It will assist in geo-tagging their crops. Farmers will then have to enter the expenses incurred on cultivation crop-wise and plot-wise, and the amount realised from sale of the harvest. The app will throw up the total cost of production, the profit, and the cost per kg and per acre.
Pune-based Shivrai Technologies is known for its farm enterprise resource planning solution which is in use in 25 countries. It intends to soon launch a direct-to-consumer app that will enable fruit and vegetable growers to connect directly with consumers bypassing middlemen. The company was founded in 2001 by technology entrepreneurs Sanjay Borkar and Santosh Shinde. They say they manage half a million acres. They intend to get two million farmers on board over the next two years.
(The above information has not been independently verified. It has been obtained from the company’s press release. The top photo is by Vivian Fernandes).
