What is eFarmDirect ?	Farmer	Buyer	Agro Supplier	Others
An introduction to what, why, how this portal works and benefits the agri industry .	If you are a farmer or aggregator of farm produce we can assist in  marketing , reaching more buyers and fetching better prices .	If you are a  bulk buyer of farm based products , eFarmDirect can provide wider choice of sources , plan your procurement in advance and reduce costs .	If you are provider of inputs or services to the agro industry and want to reach out to the farrmer community , eFarmDirect can help in identifying your potential clients .	Are you an institution working for farmers welfare and want to partner with us? Are you interested to become an efarm franchisee and become a local liasion ?
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What is efarmdirect ?

• It is a web and mobile based information exchange platform for connecting farmers and buyers of agri produce .
• It is a B2B (Business to business model) , and connects all stake holders in the agri supply chain - farmers, buyers and also their end suppliers , transporters and labour , into one information portal
•  Access to the information is just a mobile call away - through a call centre, and hence can be used even by less educated . Advanced users can use the web and mobile sms interfaces for interactive features.
• eFarmDirect is constantly adding to our directory of farmers, buyers across India . We collect several details about the supply and demand and provide simple search tools for buyers-sellers to find each other.
• It is a cross between 'Yellow pages business directory' and 'Matrimony portal' for agri industry - providing more efficient match making between farmers and buyers

Why do we need this ?

• Biggest problem for farmers is marketing – as they are not able to sell their produce in timely manner
• There is no accurate data available with even government on what is farmer growing in fields as it changes often with season.
•  So we get to know about availability only AFTER farmer harvests and gets it to a mandi (auction place or wholesale market)
• Farmers deal mostly through agents and middlemen. They are not aware of other bulk buyers like hotels, caterers, exporters, food processors, retail supermarkets etc.,
•  When a farmer registers in eFarmdirect , we capture all his produce details, harvest periods, expected yield and also his expected price.
•  Buyers can get all details and contact farmer directly through mobile phone.

How does one use this ?

• Some typical queries which one can get answers from the portal:
• For farmer : Who are the buyers of a particular produce or variety . Narrow down by geography, location, price , demand , rating etc., 
• For a buyer Who are the farmers growing a particular produce or variety . Narrow down by geography, location, price , availability , yield and various advanced parameters
• Others : Agro suppliers and Institutions can perform detailed searches to locate information for their sales /  marketing data.
  

How to register in the portal ? What are the fees ?

• Please see our registration  page for details

Who is efarm ?

• A private firm engaged in fresh produce distribution for over 3 years ( www.efarm.in)
• Key goal : to enable farmers reach markets : hence the name - e- f- a- r- m
• Focussed on solving agri supply chain issues
• Have tie ups with major producers  , agri institutions, grass root organisations and buyers in metros
• Supply over 250 items every day to wide market segments – from neighbourhood shops, to star hotels, to airlines to Indian army, and procure from over 2500 farmers in TN.
• Have built expertise of wide ranging products , different customers and daily data for over 3 years
•  eFarmDirect is the Online Platform , through which we connect to ALL farmers ACROSS India and enable them to reach markets much faster using technology enabled solutions

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Farmers

How will this benefit farmer ?

• Farmers have more choice of buyers , who are now buying in bulk from mandi . can deal directly as volumes will be higher and rates also better than mandi rates
• Reduce ‘last minute’ rush sale, and negotiating well ahead
• Get to know average demand, peak/low demand season, in-season and off-season needs by querying the data and can plan their farms
• Get to know more precise demand data and rare items , and can grow them to get higher prices.
• In short – More buyers , Higher prices, Less wastage , Move to higher value items

Can a person use it if they don’t know computers ?

• Yes, we have call centre and farmers can call and get all details and update information 
•       We are also establishing contact centres at every district where the staff would assist in interfacing with the system and support them in their marketing needs.

What all produces can we list in the portal ?

• The portal currently has over 5000 possible prpduces and varieties which is typicaly grown by an Indian farmer.
• The produces range across various categories - vegetables, fruits, cereals, pulses, flowers, plantation crops.
• We have also included other farm based products like milk/dairy products , honey, eggs , meat etc., and animal husbandry such as cows, goats etc.,
• We are adding new products every day . Do check with our registration team for details.

Will you directly buy/sell the produce ?

• eFarmDirect  provides information about various buyers and service providers and does not directly buy or sell any items.
• We are not agents or brokers for any company 
• Our focus is to provide a standard, neutral and transparent platform for conducting agri business across all parties 

Who fixes the rate ?

• The farmer will set their own price and can negotiate directly with end buyers
• Current mandi price fixing we find is not encouraging to the progressive farmers . You dont give same grade to all students in a class who write exams - there are good students who study hard and get BETTER marks. if all students are giving same marks, then even the good students will stop studying, which is what is happening in agriculture today.
• Similarly we would like to see good farmers be rewarded with better prices based on THEIR effort and NOT by some third party.
• As buyers are now no longer just mandi agents, and represent professionals, they can provide higher rates for better quality .
• We encourage farmers to work with buyers who are geographically close to them in location so that they can meet and conduct these negotiations
• We recommend that these negotiations be made well ahead of harvest to benefit from pre-planning and assured prices .

How will money from buyer be transferred ?

• The farmer or his representative will deal directly with the buyer 
• We encourage farmers to take DDs , bank transfers, money orders so that they too utilise the safety features of banking systems rather than cash which is risky

What if buyer refuses to pay or cancels transation without notice ?

• Farmer and Buyer are directly responsible for their decisions and efarm will NOT take responsibility for bad deals.
• We would try and assist farmer in discussing with buyer to resolve any disputes through a ombudsman .
• If dispute is unresolved , we are introducing a rating system, where each buyer and seller can provide a 'rating' to the other party whether good or bad, so that over time other users will get to know and avoid such buyers
• As system is now transparent across hte internet and calling centre , any bad rating will now adversely affect the person across furture transactions also and hence would be under obligation to resolve issues more promptly

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Buyers

Who will fit in a buyer category ? Can a house wife buy online through your portal ? 

• The portal is targetted at B2B , bulk buyers only. Primary buyer segment who would benefit are : Hotels and caterers, Retail supermarkets , Local neighbourhood traders, Food processors, Exporters
• This portal may not benfit retail home users as the volume of transaction may not be viable to justify transaport costs . But they can recommend their local retail store or supermarket to use this portal to benefot from direct farm sourcing and lower costs.

What are the key problems from  buyers side which the portal would address ? 

• Mostly comes from mandi or wholesale market
• High price fluctuation, poor quality control, no value addition
• High wastage as items come in bags straight from farmer with no standardisation in weights or grading
• Buyers demand is fairly standard – for e.g. hotels know their daily average volume, menu and requirements in  advance . Some hotels even plan for whole year ahead.
• Only variable is material prices which affects them , so they may shift to cheaper items if markets go up.

How will this benefit buyer ?

• Can search and locate farmers and aggregators easily using internet/mobile or call centre support
• Plan procurement well in advance as harvest information is available for future
• Direct dealing and visiting farms prior to purchase enables better backward integration and quality·        
• Mix and match local aggregator for smaller items, and direct from farm for bulk items to cut costs
• Sharing demand information online provides more choice of suppliers and even  get rare items grown-on-demand
• Buyers can also indicate their preferred price range of procurement which gives idea to farmer about the viability . Similarly, buyer can search and filter farmers based on sale price/cost of production indicated.

Are the products organic ?

• While collecting information from farmers , we do ask the to indicate if their produce is organic.
• The farmers can also upload any certification details to their profile
• The search feature allows you to filter the search results by 'organic only' and drill down to the details

Who will ensure the quality of the produce and that the goods are transported on time ?

• Currently the portal provides only information about the farmers and sources and does not directly involve in the transaction
• We are working to establish a network of contact centres and franchisees , who , for additioanl fee, would be able to perform these roles at local point
• Currently, we expect buyer to perform proper due diligence prior to closing any transaction
• In case of defaults, we do have a ombudsman service to help resolve disputes between parties . The rating system will further provide means for both parties to register feedback/reviews about the transactions.

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Agro Supplier

How will this benefit an agro supplier ?

• Agro suppliers such as input providers ( seed, fertilisers , manure , irrigation, tools & machineroes etc) often find it difficult to reach out to target farmers
• As farmers are wide spread and remotely located , and requires lot of trust building , sales events are expensive and often not productive 
• As efarmDirect is the first farmer centric portal , any queries coming from farmers for suppliers can be directed to companies and vice versa. 
• As farmers generate more income through better marketing, they will become more proactive and  'pulling' for new information of suppliers .

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Others

I am interested to partner with eFarm and open a local centre in my location . How can i sign up ?

• We conduct training sessions for agri entreprenreurs (both handson in class sessions as well as online/virtual sessions)
• These sessions would provide overview of Business oppurtunities in Agri sector , eFarm's operations and efarmDirect  portal features. 
• We will also provide details on how you can partner with efarm in your ventures and options to become a franchisee of our activities in your area. 
• Please see our training site for details : www.efarm.in/training

I belong to a agri related institution / NGO / CSR team . How will this benefit my work ?

• Besides produce information of farmers , we also collect information about the soil/water conditions, and ancillary dataduring our registration
• The data is kept up-to date using sms/mobile/call interfaces
• Accessa to accurate data is always crucial to any planning . We have institutional memberships to the portal , with advanced search/report tools which will aid in the planning activities

(c) MVS eFarm Private Limited , Chennai , India . Efarm and efarmDirect are registered trademarks. The efarm model and efarmdirect portal are protected under Indian IP and patent laws.