Agricity

Raising Income,reducing latency in Benefits for Low Income Farmers under Blockchain Architecture,Idea is to decentralize existing storage,lessen middlemen and automate supply chain. 

Based upon Decentralization of Existing System,The farmers would be brought onto a platform of a Mobile Application which would take the data of their annual produce,type of crops,purchase cost of commodities fertilizers,area of land etc.In the same manner,urban population be surveyed on type of rice,vegetable,fruits  preferred,and the storage capacity of each household-Storage capacity is required to lessen burden on government silos,granaries,and spread that into numerous household and the compensation be a lesser price for those items.Now,the data from both the intermediaries be crunched and insights derived such as which farmers can suffice the demands of what consumers and a ‘Virtual Corridor be Created ,farmer knows demands,price straight from customer and not the agents.To save time,the food processing of  primary vegetables,fruits be done ‘On the Go’ with use of ‘Mobile Food Processing truck’which can do the washing,sorting on its own.Blockchain Technology would help in carrying transactions with the use of ‘Smart Contracts'and the whole network of stakeholders be robust on this platform,providing scalability.

In my country there have been a large number of suicides by the farmers(16,000/year)due to financial stress and not being able to earn enough, the reason being poor supply chain management , poor cold storage facilities and increased number of unnecessary middlemen.Wastage of fresh food is still there due to A bumper crop and a lack of cold storage chain ,
Small Reach of Food Processing,The presence of multiple intermediaries,
Small Window for selling the produce due to the nature of the crop .

The rural part is not connected to the urban one efficiently.In a country of 1.4 Billion,600 million farmers are there and optimizing the supply chain is the need of the hour since due to lack of proper window for selling and lack of cold storage a lot of agro-produce gets wasted.The poverty rate in India in 2017-18 was at 23% - now made worse by the pandemic.  with 30% of rural Indians falling below the poverty line and 65% population of India residing in rural areas, innovation in agriculture and near-farm industry is the key to alleviate poverty for a majority of Indian households.Also ,this problem is not just India specific but similar problems are being faced by farmers worldwide.Also ,when the Government gives the payment to the farmers,it goes through a lot of layers and due to poor bureaucracy the total amount does not reach the farmer.Farmers are at the beginning of any food supply chain since they are the food-producers ,and even if the deaths gets reduced by one percent in the first year , it would go a far distance in the long run.People dying of hunger and food and grains getting wasted is ironic and  considering the basic ground level issue since food is the basic unit required for survival and it should reach everyone irrespective of anything.In my country and across the globe, agriculture as an occupation is practiced by a vast majority of people but still it is in a crisis with farmers getting under financial debts and committing suicides. In my country , India alone , 16000 farmers each year commit suicides due to getting under financial debts with their average annual income being less than 1200 USD.Tonnes of food gets wasted each year and still people are dying of hunger which states that the proper connection channel has still not been established among people. The problem I am trying to solve is to increase the annual income of the low income farmers , lift them from their debts and lessen the burden on government's cold storage , silos and granaries .

This piling up of intermediaries in the whole supply chain management is what is harming the nation and the people and is the reason that despite being the 6th largest economy , India ranks 102nd at the Global Hunder Index.

This idea has potential to increase net profits of farmers and this would create a domino effect in the economy as increased profits for the farmers means increased purchasing power.The suicides are increasing and if the idea can save even one percent of the lives which could have been ended,it would create a large impact for the society we live in.The objective is thus,to create world where resources are handed over from the right people to the right people and not wasted due to malpractices and poor management.Farmers getting an increase in their net profit would create a domino effect as he/she would use that money in uplifting the quality of life he/she is living in,use that money on their children's education ,buy better tools,increase production and create a Self Sustaining World.Our idea aims to put farmer on forefront where there would be transparency and the consumers would see the impact they have made in their lives by buying from them.We are trying to use storage capacity of the households to store surplus food by to lessen the burden on cold storage and silos.On boarding of farmers can be started from those who are in financial burden and be served first where banks can help in providing the data of those farmers whose loans have been pending and became a Non Performing Asset.The idea would help in creating a better working world since agriculture sector is in itself a gigantic working sector but in deep  stress across the world currently.

To understand the subsistence marketplace stream in the context of an Indian Agriculture Scenario which alone employs 600 Million people we need a micro-level understanding of the intersection of poverty and the marketplace here. What is happening on the ground is that commission agents typically send village commission agents to collect produce from farmers in villages and bring it to the market yard. In the yard, commission agents sell the produce to wholesalers which then sell it to sub-wholesalers who sell it to retailers. Retailers finally sell the produce to the consumer.This is the ground reality on which the whole system works . The price at which market commission agents sell the produce to wholesalers is supposed to be determined by auction, but in practice the process is opaque. 

Personally I have seen something like above in my region 

I tried to talk to farmers which I have seen in my urban area and I have seen something like this in my region .They told me that it was feasible for them to sell the harvest on their own nearside freeways then to sell it to the government which was paying 10 times lesser .I have tried talking to people in the blockchain technology and they explained me that this idea can be very impactful.Trucks are usually primitive and don't help during the transportation of food but equipping them with Blockchain and making the delivery through them is quite unique for such a setup.

I am trying to interview more and more farmers to gain and know the ground reality of the issue .Based on my research I arrived on the facts that :

INR 100,000 would be needed in the first year for product development , building the product and team, launching the MVP (minimum viable product) and finding product-market fit.Among the first two years, the second year would be the year when the transactions start taking place at our platform since the supply chain would be active and logistics being carried from the farmers to the households.

Farmers told me that it would be very hard for them to work with mobile phones which I believe needs to be worked upon to give regional language support to our app.

I believe that a lot needs to be surveyed , data collected , the sector being very large.The platform would be made sustainable by making it free to the farmers for the First Five Year and then giving the power and option to either keep using the platform or pay per usage. This would apply only for the farmers not in debt and financially stable farmers. The first year would be all about educating the farmers , the consumers and on boarding them onto the platform .The data analysis would be done in the first year. The 2nd Year would be the year when the transactions can start taking place at the platform since the supply chain would be active and logistics being carried from the farmers to the households The price of the vegetable/fruits would be determined by the marketplace price minus the cost incurred in transporting which when reaching the farmer would still be a good amount while the consumers would end up paying less price according to the quantity of the product. The operating cost would thus be sustainable by using the supply chain’s money only given by the consumer.

Our core technology would be Blockchain as 

•For such architecture Blockchain Technology would help in carrying the transactions with the use of ‘Smart Contracts ’ and the whole network of different stakeholders would be robust on this platform thus providing scalability which is utmost required here due to a large population. 

For ,Direct Benefit Transfer using Blockchain we propose an end-to-end blockchain-based infrastructure to record disbursement of subsidy for each enrolled beneficiary.

I have tried to build a sentimental value through the various options like checking the Farmer Financials as in this model we want to make the buyers believe that they are helping the farmers and they can keep a track of what changes are coming in their lives .

There is a "Hearts Given"count  button on the farmers app where he can get to know what his buyers are liking his harvested product.

We don’t want to have a secrecy model here just like Youtube where the audience knows the amount of subscribers , views like and dislikes and even earnings of their favorite creator.

There is chat option also available where people can talk to the farmers and know their whereabouts which clearly is lacking nowadays but is important as someone is toiling hard to bring in the sun  all year and I believe that the culture can change a lot when we connect the people .

The gas fees and other resources incurred will not be deducted straightaway from the payment recieved from the customer but be taken from the farmer after a certain level of finacial state has been achieved by him.

Till then , no money be taken .

I aim to equip the trucks using the Mercedes-Benz Truck app portal that allows vehicles to be individually equipped with apps that increase both features and efficiency. Fleet managers can access all of the available apps via a clearly organized platform and then initiate the installation process for the entire fleet or individual vehicles. Though , it is not currently being used by any of the truck companies in South Asia , as trucks, here  are meant to be not concerned with what they are carrying and I want it to be equipped with apps which facilitate the business and truck be made a part of the supply chain in a contributing manner .

Currently we aim to serve area on outskirTs of metropolitan cities as they are at a node from where agriculture actually begins and urnaisation ends and it would be easier as such points.For example ,a place called Gurugram is at the outskirts of New Delhi where I the solution can be implemented.I havent launched the solution we expect to serve 10,000-30,000 Customers in our first year.

Our impact goals are to equip the every person in the chain with digital literacy as well as agriculture literacy .We want to increase the per capita income in India along with the Human Development Index. Wealth creation needs to be done in a personalized manner for the farmers as farmers getting an increase in their net profit would create a domino effect as he/she would use that money in uplifting the quality of life he/she is living in , use that money on their children's education , buy better tools ,increase production and create a Self Sustaining World .The suicides are increasing and if the idea can save even one percent of the lives which could have been ended , it would create a large impact for the society we live in.

The first indicators of our progress would be the banks as we would be working with them and finding the farmers who are stuck in financial debts as they are more prone to suicides .We would measure their financials and keep an eye on how they are spending it and educate them on various factors.

The gas fees and other resources incurred will not be deducted straightaway from the payment recieved from the customer but be taken from the farmer after a certain level of finacial state has been achieved by him.

Till then , no money be taken .We also keep an eye on SDG Goals like Responsible Consumption and Production , Reduced Inequalites,Zero Hunger , No Poverty for our measuring.

What is happening on the ground is that commission agents typically send village commission agents to collect produce from farmers in villages and bring it to the market yard.In the yard,commission agents sell the produce to wholesalers which then sell it to sub-wholesalers whosell it to retailers.Retailers finally sell the produce to the consumer.This is the ground reality on which the whole system works.The price at which market commission agents sell the produce to wholesalers is supposed to be determined by auction,but in practice the process is opaque. This piling up of intermediaries in the whole supply chain management is what is harming the nation and the people and is thereason that despite being the 6th largest economy , The biggest obstacle for any farmer-centric and farmer-driven company is first and last mile connectivity that requires a lot of time, management and money.

My team is Ideal to implement this idea as we live in an area which is on the outskirts of the city and we have the knowledge of how the logistics is planned and delivered in the chain.

I did my Engineering in Software Development thus I can connect what happens on the ground with the technical aspect.

My teammate has the knowledge of supply chain management and commerce which makes our team an all rounder in the domain. 

We have'nt partnered with any organization.

There are women farmers who employ their daughters on their farms and thus these young girls get deprived of education.Us working with such women would empower them to educate their children .During all of this , the support we would be needing would be of data acuisition and Research and Development of the fruit/vegetable processor for the truck.

The prize money would be utilised in the initial funding of the tasks like these since due to low internet infrastructure the data acuisition from the rural part would be a tedious work.

This social and economical justice is what the project aims to achieve.

Crops like Potato and Onions are the most consumed and require minimal processing but in crops like rice and wheat,portable 'on the move' food processing machinery would be the solution.
In the urban areas, the data will have to be collected  from each house ,and made a part of the blockchain so that in the future ,the scalability is easier .The data now just needs to be calibrated with the data of the farmers .
As soon as the product is delivered the payment would reach the farmer without delay since the whole transaction is blockchain based , called Smart Contracts.