Dehaat platform has handled over 20,000 tonnes of agricultural output while connecting farmers with institutional buyers

Information

https://m.khaleejtimes.com/technology/indian-agritech-firm-plans-to-tie-up-with-uae-farmers

Indian startup *DeHaat* can help UAE farmers under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) programme to provide agricultural input and buy back the local food produce for various markets. DeHaat, with its technology-based platform, can offer end-to-end agricultural services to farmers, including distribution of high quality agri inputs, customised farm advisory, access to financial services and market linkages for selling their produce, says Javed Farooqui, CEO, *Direct Information Technology* and Dubai-based angel investor.
https://youtu.be/aPRPlI-R4zg

https://yourstory.com/2019/03/dehaat-iit-delhi-agritech-startup-djiiufpw

This agritech startup founded by IIT Delhi alumnus is serving over 55,000 farmers in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Odisha

DeHaat claims to have clocked a revenue of Rs 45 crore so far. It closed the last fiscal with a revenue of Rs 21 crore and was positive on the earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) level.

This agritech startup founded by IIT Delhi alumnus is serving over 55,000 farmers in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Odisha

Patna-based online platform DeHaat, which connects farmers with agri input suppliers and buyers for their produce, has raised pre-Series A funding of $4 million led by Omnivore and AgFunder.

Sindhu Kashyap

18th Mar 2019

Close to half of India’s population is dependent on agriculture for its livelihood. Add to that, with 157.35 million hectares under cultivation – the second highest in the world – there is enough scope for technology to not only make farmers’ lives easier, but also increase yield and output. 

DeHaat, founded by IIT Delhi alumnus Shashank Kumar and IIT Kharagpur alumnus Manish Kumar in 2012, aims to do just that. 

“Hailing from a farming community in Bihar, I had exposure to the difficulties faced by farmers on a day-to-day basis, even though I didn’t have direct experience in farming,” says Shashank. Having earlier worked as a consultant, he used his experience for DeHaat to create a sustainable business model. Manish, however exited the company in 2015.

What does the platform do? 

Patna-based DeHaat is an online platform that connects small farmers with a network of micro entrepreneurs – suppliers of various farm input and equipment – who procure various inputs such as seeds, fertilisers, and even equipment, as well as offer crop advisory and market linkages.

DeHaat on Thursday, announced it had raised pre-Series A funding of $4 million led by Omnivore and AgFunder. Pankaj Chaddah, co-founder of Zomato, and another Indian family office also invested in the funding round. Manish exited the startup in 2015. 

Today, DeHaat claims to have over 150 micro entrepreneurs who serve more than 55,000 farmers in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha. The platform has over 520 different agricultural inputs listed, and has partnered with the likes of UPL Ltd, IDBI Bank, IFFCO, DuPont, Pepsico, Bayer Ag and Yara International.There are also more than 100 institutional buyers associated with DeHaat to facilitate procurement of agricultural produce directly from farmers. 

DeHaat claims to have clocked a revenue of Rs 45 crore so far. It closed the last fiscal with a revenue of Rs 21 crore and was positive on the earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) level.

Shashank says,

“With the current round of funding, DeHaat is targeting growth of 3-4X over the next 18-24 months. The funding will help us deepen out network in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Odisha to reach 250,000 farmers, supported by 550 DeHaat micro entrepreneurs by March 2020. We are also a launching farm credit and crop insurance services in the coming year." 

Also read: Fintech platform Jai Kisan raises $1.5 million funding led by Blume Ventures

How does it work? 

Currently, DeHaat focuses on three major services – agricultural input, crop advisory and market linkage for farm produce. Farmers can place orders through the DeHaat helpline, the mobile app, or a physical centre. Orders are then sent forward to DeHaat’s micro entrepreneurs, and fulfilled the same day. Each DeHaat micro-entrepreneur caters to 600-800 farmers in a radius of 3-5 km. 

Shashank says,

“These micro-entrepreneurs use our ‘DeHaat for Business’ application to enroll farmers, to aggregate demand, visit farms, capture crop-based queries, and aggregate the farm produce."

The startup also takes in queries from farmers and sends them to experts who address them in real time. It also houses an exhaustive crop-pest database, which has been developed in house for current crops.

Working around the challenges 

“The primary challenge is access to the right data in remote areas. While there are several reports and journals, the information is basic and doesn’t capture farm-level data. This meant we had to collate the data on our own,” says Shashank. 

DeHaat, an online platform, had to work extensively to bring farmers and micro entrepreneurs on board. Shashank says that getting the right people on board, especially in rural areas, is a game of trial and error.

The core founding team includes IIT Kharagpur and IIM Ahmedabad alumnus Shyam, who has worked with Reliance Industries for over two years. Adarsh Srivastava, Abhishek Dokania and Amrendra Singh form the rest of the team. 

“Our revenue comes from sales of farm produce to institutions and sales of agricultural inputs to farmers. We don’t charge farmers for crop advisory. Close to 72 percent of the overall revenue comes from the market linkage of farm produce and the rest from agri inputs,” says Shashank.  

Over the last seven months, the platform has handled over 20,000 tonnes of agricultural output like corn, wheat, chilli, litchi and vegetables, while connecting farmers with institutional buyers, says Shashank. “At the same time, DeHaat has delivered more than 26,000 orders related to agri inputs, and 86,000 advisory inputs to farmers over three months,” he adds. 

Squirrel Inspirational - Every task should be given importance, however small it may be.

The story of a Squirrel from the Great Ramayana.

Lord Rama with a squirrel. ( A moment from the Great Ramayana.)

Squirrel : “Tiny, I am, Lord, and so I carried only pebbles.”
Lord Rama : “Tiny, you are, and yet you did the giant’s work.”

📖 Story Explained below 🚩 “ The Squirrel was blessed and because of its good virtue, could attain moksha by Lord Rama’s touch. ” Lord Rama and his army of monkeys were preparing for war with Ravana. Rama asked his army to build a bridge over the sea, to reach Lanka ( to get his wife Sita, who was abducted by Ravana and was held captive in his Kingdom). « Work began at once to lay a stone bridge. The monkeys pulled out rocks and heavy stones from the mountains and carried them to the sea. The stones were cut into desired shape and they began the bridge construction. • Thousands of monkeys worked day and night, as it was not an easy task to build a bridge on the sea.

Vanaras writing the name of Lord Rama on stones, to float them on water.

« One day, Rama saw a small Brown Squirrel. He was going up and down the seashore with little pebbles in his mouth. The little squirrel could carry only little pebbles at a time , as he was a very small creature. He carried the pebbles from the seashore and dropped them into the sea. A big monkey was carrying a heavy stone on his back , and the Squirrel came in the monkey's way. The monkey was about to step his foot on the Squirrel , and steps back and shouts at the Squirrel “ you are such a small creature, what are you doing here “?? The little squirrel looked at the giant monkey and says , “ I'm sorry, that you were about to fall, because of me, brother. I'm helping my lord Rama build the bridge , and I'm working hard for him”. Hearing this , all the monkeys burst out in laughter. All the monkeys start to make fun of the Squirrel , teasing that , they have never heard such a funny story. Then the Squirrel explains, “ I can't carry mountains or rocks. God gave me only a little strength , I can carry only pebbles. I will do my level best for my Rama “. « Then the monkeys say," dont be foolish, do you think we can build a bridge with pebbles “? The Squirrel least bothered about the monkeys remarks , start to do his work of carrying the pebbles. The monkeys become angry, and one of the monkey picks up the squirrel by his tail and throws him away. « The Squirrel, crying out the name of Rama, falls into his hands ! « Then Rama holds the squirrel close to him.

The touch of Lord Rama.

He says to the monkeys, “ we should never make fun of the weak and the small. What matters is the love , with which we accomplish any task, and it doesn't depend upon the strength or what work we do ! o LORD Rama further says “you are laying the bridge with huge stones, but did you realise that, the huge stones are binded together only because of the small gaps between them, being filled by the tiny grains of sand, got by the squirrel? “And due to this, the huge stones on the structure, have become strong “. And yet you are scolding this small creature!”. « Hearing this , all the Vanaras become shamed and bow down their heads. « Rama then turned to the Squirrel and thanked him for the help, and saying this he gently stroked the back of the Squirrel with his fingers , and thus three lines were formed, where the Lord Rama's fingers had touched the Squirrel. ☝️ What we learn from this story : 1. Every task should be given importance,however small it may be. 2. Have confidence in yourself. 3. Never give up in life. 4. Don't care for what people say, do your work with dedication. 5. Trust yourself and God.

Banyan Tree Learning Motivational Information

                        

You must have all seen a banyan tree. Have you ever seen a seed of a banyan tree? The size of the seed of a banyan tree is very small even smaller than a mustard seed. It is one of the great big trees in the world. 

Initially when it is just planted and born it does not have the many leafs or the branches but With time when it starts growing the many leaves and many branches and has to pick up the increasing weight of them. These branches start reaching the ground and provide support to the banyan tree. 

This is a very important teaching lesson of life. Without any self interest keep doing the good deeds tasks, help other people around in the community. Slowly with time those that you have provided support help will become your supporters and make your roots and base stronger, give it the big shape and increase the lifespan. Lifelong the selfless work and support to others will help you stay alive forever, remembered even when your gone. 

In the Gujarati language, banya means “grocer or merchant”, not “tree”. The Portuguese picked up the word to refer specifically to Hindu merchants, and passed it along to the English as early as 1599 with the same meaning. By 1634, English writers began to tell of the banyan tree, a tree under which Hindu merchants conducted their business. The tree provided a shaded place for a village meeting or for merchants to sell their goods. Eventually, “banyan” became the name of the tree itself.