Catalyzing Farmers' Financial Health

Bihar, one of the poorest states in India, is home to a significant portion of the population that relies on farming-based economies. Unfortunately, many smallholder farmers in Bihar use outdated and unsustainable farming practices, leading to poor financial health. This lack of planning for the future and holding savings results in these farmers falling prey to moneylenders and taking out loans from the formal market, where they pay exorbitant interest rates.

Urvara Impact Solutions plans to emerge as a leading ag-tech company to fill this gap and transform the way smallholder farmers operate and manage finances. Urvara plans to work closely with farmers to unlock their full potential through the utilization of technology-enabled good farm practices, creating predictive cash flows, and improving their financial health management practices. With a focus on supporting smallholder farmers, Urvara's vision is to create a world where farmers have access to the latest tools, technology, and financial support needed to grow their businesses.

Urvara's mission is to improve the financial inclusion of smallholder farmers in Bihar and make their lives better. By facilitating connections between farmers and financial institutions, Urvara helps farmers secure funds to purchase advanced equipment, expand their operations, and improve their livelihoods. By introducing drones to farming, Urvara reduces labor costs and boosts productivity, leading to better yields and sustainable farming practices.

Urvara Impact Solutions is prototyping an ag-tech application to onboard smallholder farmers and conduct their financial and land profiling using AI technology. This process generates a financial report for each farmer, which is used to determine their eligibility for financial products that can secure their future.

By providing farmers with access to financial institutions, Urvara's application helps them secure the funds they need for harvest-based requirements. These institutions can then offer financial products tailored to the farmers' future needs, such as risk coverage and wealth management services.

This system has the potential to significantly improve the financial health of smallholder farmers, who have historically been excluded from formal financial markets due to their lack of credit history and collateral. By using AI technology to generate credit reports based on the farmers' land and financial persona, Urvara iwill be able to provide a more accurate assessment of their creditworthiness, increasing their chances of being approved for loans and other financial products.

In addition to facilitating access to finance, Urvara's application also helps farmers adopt technology-enabled good farm practices, such as using drones to precisely monitor crops and reduce labour costs. By improving productivity and efficiency, these practices can lead to better yields and sustainable farming practices, benefiting both the farmers and the environment.

Overall, Urvara Impact Solutions' application represents a significant step forward in addressing the financial exclusion of smallholder farmers in India. By leveraging AI technology to generate credit reports and facilitating access to financial institutions, Urvara is helping farmers secure their future needs and improve their livelihoods.

Regenerate response

The Ag-tech solution developed by Urvara Impact Solutions is focused on serving the needs of smallholder farmers and marginalized communities who are often standing at the last mile in terms of financial inclusion. The platform aims to facilitate their mainstreaming into the banking and financial sector and make them an integral part of the financial system. The application enables farmers to create a financial and land profile with the help of AI-based technology. Based on this profiling, a credit report is generated which can be used by financial institutions to provide farmers with tailored financial products to secure their future needs.

In addition to financial inclusion, the application also supports farmers in making informed decisions about farming practices. Farmers can access consultancy from agronomists and receive guidance on the best practices in the farming sector. The platform also provides access to the best inputs available in the market, ensuring that farmers are equipped with the necessary tools to improve their yields and adopt sustainable farming practices.

The Urvara agtech solution represents a significant step towards empowering smallholder farmers and marginalized communities. By providing them with access to the latest tools, technology, and financial support, the platform enables farmers to unlock their full potential and improve their livelihoods. With a focus on promoting sustainable farming practices, the platform benefits not only farmers but also the environment. Overall, the application provides a comprehensive solution that addresses the multiple challenges faced by smallholder farmers and marginalized communities, making it a valuable tool for promoting economic and social development in rural areas.

Urvara Impact Solutions is a team of four co-founders, each bringing unique experience and expertise to the table. The team is committed to improving the lives of smallholder farmers in India, starting with Bihar, one of the poorest states in the country. Their goal is to transform the way smallholder farmers operate and manage finances through the use of technology-enabled solutions.

Anand Priya Deo is one of the co-founders and holds a degree in Policy Making from the University of Sheffield, UK, as well as a master's in International Law from Venice. With almost 20 years of experience in the development sector in India and abroad, he brings a wealth of knowledge to the team. His expertise in policy making and international law will help Urvara Impact Solutions navigate the complex landscape of regulations and policies governing the agricultural sector.

Gaurav Chakraverty is another co-founder and is an expert in financial inclusion, with over 15 years of experience working with financial institutions. His last assignment was with the Grameen Foundation India as a COO, where he worked on projects sponsored by several reputed financial institutions such as Citi Bank USA, Wells Fargo, and SIDBI. He has implemented projects funded by the Gates Foundation for financial inclusion in various parts of India. His experience in the financial sector will be invaluable in helping Urvara Impact Solutions facilitate connections between smallholder farmers and financial institutions.

Jairaj Nath is the tech expert on the team and has extensive experience as a CTO. He will be responsible for providing all the technology-based solutions for Urvara Impact Solutions. With his expertise, Urvara Impact Solutions will be able to develop and implement cutting-edge technology solutions to help smallholder farmers increase their productivity, reduce costs, and improve their financial health.

Dr. Manish Prasad is a scholar and social activist with a PhD in child labor in India. With over 15 years of experience working in the development sector, he has extensive experience in project implementation. His expertise in social issues and project management will be invaluable in ensuring that Urvara Impact Solutions' initiatives have a positive impact on the communities they serve.

Together, the co-founders of Urvara Impact Solutions are committed to creating a world where farmers have access to the latest tools, technology, and financial support needed to grow their businesses. By leveraging technology to improve farm practices and financial management, Urvara Impact Solutions aims to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and contribute to sustainable development in India.

During the initial phase of any startup, the ideation phase is crucial, where the concept is ideated and refined. The team behind Urvara Impact Solutions has successfully completed the ideation phase and is now working on the prototype development phase.

Urvara Impact Solutions has developed an app designed to help smallholder farmers manage their finances and farming practices efficiently. The team has completed the development of the app and carried out a small Proof of Concept (POC) on the ground to test its feasibility.

To ensure the successful launch of their product, Urvara Impact Solutions has employed ground staff to meet and interact with farmers. This team is collecting relevant data to be used for the launch of the product. By employing local staff, Urvara is ensuring that they are engaging with the community and gathering data that is relevant and accurate.

The focus on ground-level interaction is vital for the success of Urvara Impact Solutions. By engaging with farmers directly, the team can gather valuable insights into the issues and challenges faced by smallholder farmers. The team can also build trust and establish relationships with the local community, which is essential in the agricultural sector.

Once the product is launched, Urvara Impact Solutions aims to help smallholder farmers unlock their full potential by using technology-enabled good farm practices and creating predictive cash flows. Additionally, the app will also offer consultancy from agronomists and provide the best inputs from the market.

The app's financial profiling feature is especially crucial in providing farmers with access to loans and financial institutions for their harvest-based needs. By generating a financial report, the farmers can also get access to financial products that secure their future needs.

Urvara Impact Solutions has made significant progress towards achieving their vision of creating a world where farmers have access to the latest tools, technology, and financial support needed to grow their businesses. With the successful completion of the prototype development phase, the team is now poised to launch their product commercially and make a positive impact on the lives of smallholder farmers in Bihar and beyond.

The Urvara Impact Solutions Agtech prototype has undergone extensive field testing with over 100 farmers. However, the platform has not yet been commercially launched for end-users. The team is currently fine-tuning the technology and incorporating feedback from the farmers to ensure that the platform is optimized for their needs.

During the testing phase, the Urvara team worked closely with the farmers to understand their pain points and challenges. They then developed solutions to address these issues, including financial inclusion and better farming practices. The team also provided consultancy services to the farmers to help them optimize their yield and improve their financial health.

The prototype has shown promising results, with farmers reporting better crop yields and improved financial stability. The platform has also been praised for its ease of use and accessibility, even for those with limited technological experience.

Urvara Impact Solutions is now working towards the official launch of the platform for commercial use. They plan to continue working closely with smallholder farmers to ensure that the platform is tailored to their specific needs and that they are able to fully unlock their potential. By providing access to financial products and resources, Urvara aims to help farmers build sustainable businesses and improve their livelihoods.

Running a startup is never an easy feat and requires a certain level of expertise to overcome the challenges that come with it. Our team's intention to work with Solve is to connect with social entrepreneurs, learn valuable skills to solve global issues and address some of the pressing problems facing the world today. By networking and engaging with other entrepreneurs, we hope to acquire the knowledge necessary to run impactful social initiatives.

Through our participation in Solve, we believe we can gain insights and expertise on how to scale our ag-tech startup and make a meaningful difference in the lives of smallholder farmers. We're excited to learn from other entrepreneurs, collaborate with them and benefit from their experiences to refine our business model and develop new strategies.

At the same time, we hope to contribute to the Solve community by sharing our own experiences and knowledge in the field of ag-tech and financial inclusion. We believe that by working together, we can create more impactful solutions to the world's most pressing challenges.

We're grateful for the opportunity to work with Solve and look forward to collaborating with other social entrepreneurs to make a positive impact in the world.

Our service, specially designed for small-holder farmers is designed on a "phygital" model where a technology platform forms the core of service  delivery to the end farmers through a network of micro-entrepreneur connects on the ground. "Urvara" means fertile soil in Hindi language, it is the aggregator technology platform that integrates agri-services like hyperlocal data collection of farmer and farmland, advisory, organic farming, access to finance and good agricultural practices through a revenue sharing model with the local micro-entrepreneurs. The key differentiator, which makes us highly innovative as well as effective is our ability to create rich datasets of farmer personas using on-ground precise technology tools thus creating valuable actionable insights. It also helps us in rapidly scale and catalyze transformation by providing farmers with customized and  personalized action plans as well as work on the value chain to provide the resources as well as guide them through the journey towards sustainable farming practices. The innovation also comes in the way we are marrying sustainable farm practices to the income of the farmers through innovative financial solutions that are best suited and customized for them by seeing things from the demand side, putting the farmer at the center of our design and work. 

Over the next 5 years, we plan to reach out to half a million small-holder farmers, have a robust technology, services and communication stack.

• We have set plans to reach out to half a million smallholder farmers in the span of the next 5 years. They would be guided on good agricultural and financial practices', have access to our technology and market solutions and be trained by the experts from our partner agriculture Universities. 
• Our work will impact at least 50% of these farmers to uptake sustainable organic farming.
• We expect a 30% increase in output yield for these farmer groups.
• This would also result in at least 20% increase in income of the farmers.
• At an eco-system level, this journey would help create jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities for nearly 10,000 local youths. 

As we go about doing this, we envisage impacting the lives of the smallholder farmers, their households and the community around them such that they are able fight hunger, come out of poverty and contribute towards sustainable farm practices.

Our impact story is yet to start however we have put in place key quantitative and qualitative indicators that would provide us with the guiding North Star as we move ahead in our scaleup plan. We plan to impact half a million small-holder farmers over the next 5 years in terms of increasing their income by 20%, we plan to improve their farm yield efficiency by 30% and uptake of organic farming practices by 50% from  the present levels. At an indirect level we this this impacting 2.5 million people and offset a lot of carbon emissions.  

We are developing our technology stack based mobile Applications and API integrations with various services providers. An important component would be GIS/Spatial data for precision agricultural practices and AI for providing deep actionable insights for our farmer personas and services

The Urvara technology platform integrates various products from OEM manufacturers like organic seeds, bio-boosters, soil enzymes, farm equipment suppliers and financial products like banking insurance and access to finance. All these services have a commission structure through which Urvara impact Solutions pvt Ltd gets a take rate commission. Urvara provides all these services to the small-holder farmers through this technology by providing awareness, uptake of these services, farm demonstrations and regular engagements.