How this agritech startup is changing lives of rural women

Initially, some of them experienced resistance from their family members who thought it could be fraud, they wouldn't receive payment, or their efforts would go in vain since such incidents were prevalent in their villages. The first payment they received was proof of the genuineness of the role, the company, and the WiA programme. After the first payment, their families gained confidence and supported them more in working as Krishi Mitras

Nurture.farm, an agritech open digital platform, brings what every farmer needs to thrive, together in one place - technology, solutions, finance. The app, launched in April 2020, has over 1.5 million farmers onboard. The nurture.retail solution, a B2B e-commerce marketplace for agri-inputs, has also scaled significantly in over 13 states and has 50,000 registered agri-input retailers from across India. Dhruv Sawhney, Business Head & COO, nurture.farm, in an exclusive interview with Bizz Buzz talks about how the company is transforming lives of rural women in India

How do you impart training? Where are the training centres located? Number of women trained so far?

Nurture.farm imparts training to its gig-ecomomy workforce through its academy team. The academy is currently active in eight states - Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. To date, over 900 women have been trained by the academy.

These trainings consist of both online and offline classes. The offline sessions are conducted in hotels or government-sponsored conference centres. The recruits are trained on:

Product: Agricultural inputs (fertilisers, for example) and the functionalities of the nurture.farm app

Service: Spraying, harvesting, seed treatment, soil testing, advisory, data collection, program enrollment, and more

Process: Machine management and running, cash collection and communication protocol

Behaviour: Soft skills and customer-focused behaviours

What drives these women to work for you?

We asked the team what drives them to get out there on the field every day, and this is what we learned.

Opportunity to work: Opportunities to work for women are pretty limited in the villages. Working through an app on the phone is acceptable to their families. Also, association with a known company like nurture.farm, which is a part of the UPL group, reduces familial resistance.

Financial independence: Earning their own money motivates them to work harder. They can fulfil their aspirations themselves without asking the family members for money or permission.

Respect that they earn as a working woman: As per an internal survey conducted, 70 per cent of the women responded that the respect that they earn as a working woman is the primary motivator for them to work. Additionally, 80 per cent of the women responded that now that they are earning, they get a seat at the family decision making table. They are respected more by their families, their peers and they act as a role model to other women in the village. This gives them a lot of pride in what they do.

Confidence: Now that they have stepped out and started working for us, they have built the confidence that they can compete and perform well at other jobs too.

How did they come to know about nurture.farm?

Most of them heard about it from a friend working as a Krishi Mitra or a family member working as a service operator.

How often do they go to the field or visit farmers?

Almost daily. Based on a convenient time, they do a field visit or go to different villages to find more farmers to onboard. They also talk to the operators or stores from where farmers buy crop related products to get leads. They also go door to door to pitch about the nurture.farm app and convince the farmers to sign-up.

How did their family perceive and support them to work as a Krishi Mitras?

Initially, some of them experienced resistance from their family members who thought it could be fraud, they wouldn't receive payment, or their efforts would go in vain since such incidents were prevalent in their villages. The first payment they received was proof of the genuineness of the role, the company, and the WiA programme.

After the first payment, their families gained confidence and supported them more in working as Krishi Mitras. Now that it is an established model in several villages, more and more women are willing to join the workforce. As per an internal survey conducted 87 per cent voted that their families are extremely supportive of them working for nurture.farm.