By Digitising This Ancient Practice, We Made Farm Data Reliable, Transparent
Harvest inspection in India is the world’s largest data collection process that affects the country’s overall agricultural performance. The 60-year-old harvest inspection system, known as Girdawari, is paper-based and thus the data can’t be verified. This is when FarmGuide proposed to the Rajasthan government that we can offer a digital Girdawari app for its field agents.
The reason our product stood out was because we did not seek to radically change the practice, we only sought to make a digital reflection of paper-based Harvest Inspection. Our solution also made Girdawari reliable and transparent.
To make an impression, Team FarmGuide worked non-stop for 9 days to deliver an impeccable app that would perform as promised. The app being a digital image of the paper-based system helped the field agents known as Patwaris to understand and adopt the technology within a day. The user-friendly app also made it quicker for Patwaris to cover land parcels within their jurisdiction, thus meeting Girdawari deadlines.
Now, all the data being collected by Patwaris is verifiable as land parcel entries are geo-tagged and duplications result in the Girdawari form not being submitted. The app also reduces human-errors as the 23 fields are now filled using drop-down options.
After a successful pilot in 9 tehsils over the past 3 harvest season, we are proud to announce the Girdawari app will be rolled out across Rajasthan in the next harvest season — Kharif 2017.
Our solution helps identify cropping patterns for seed companies to reach farmers before the time-critical sowing period. It also helps reduce post-harvest wastage as warehouses, food processing and cold storage units can be set up using this information.
Next, we hope to expand to other states so that India has a consolidated, reliable source for harvest information.
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