How KisanKraft's agri-equipment rental app helping farmers earn extra money

Agriculture remains one of the biggest employers and source of livelihood across the country, especially in rural India. It has been the dedication of our farmers and government which helped India become self-reliant in food production.

Income level of majority of farmers is very low, because of small plot sizes and scarcity of farm labour. Mechanization, especially for small farmers has remained very low, despite government's continuous intervention.

Additionally, our farmers face many challenges because of the changing climate conditions, scarcity of water, increasingly unpredictable instances of floods and drought. To top this, the overall input costs are rising, especially seeds and fertilizers. Small farmers are the backbone of the agricultural sector and food value chain in India. However, these small and marginal farmers are the ones who have suffered the most because of the above conditions in recent times.

KisanKraft, has created a one-of-a-kind app, with a special service to facilitate farmer-to farmer farm equipment rentals. Such equipment rental income help supplement farmer incomes significantly. Many farmers have found their income from renting their equipment lucrative and it has become an important source of revenue for them. In fact, many farmers have even developed farm equipment rental as a side business, with some purchasing multiple farm equipment exclusively for purposes of renting.

The KisanKraft app is a service to help both the equipment owner and farmers without equipment, to help bridge the gap with a unique digital application through their mobile phones. As Covid aggravated farm-labour shortage, the KisanKraft rent-a-equipment facility has come as a boon to farmers.

The KisanKraft app is available in 11 languages, and within a few months of launch it has been downloaded by lakhs of farmers. KisanKraft is a seed-to-harvest company with a vision to improve livelihood and quality-of-life of small and marginal farmers and serve their needs in every facet of agriculture. The company's equipment assists farmers in most aspects of cultivation, from soil preparation, planting, crop management, harvesting and post harvesting operations.

The farm labour shortage has been a continuing problem for years, causing under-utilization of farms, only to be further compounded due to the pandemic. KisanKraft has been committed to bringing affordable, appropriate, and accessible technologies to help better farmer's livelihoods, and the KisanKraft app is a big step in this direction.

(The author is Managing Director at KisanKraft Limited)