'Farmer-To-Farmer 'Rent-An-Equipment' – A Boon For Farmers After The Pandemic

By Mr.Ravindra K Agrawal, Promoter Managing Director, KisanKraft

Agriculture remains one of the biggest employers and sources of livelihood across the country, especially in rural India. It has been the dedication of our farmers and government which helped India in becoming self-reliant in food following the successful green revolution.

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 governments 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. Smallholder 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. Rental income can help supplement farmer incomes significantly.  Many farmers have found their income from renting their equipment lucrative and it has become an important source of income for them.  Many farmers have developed farm equipment rental as a side business, with some even 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, and to 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 & 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 is committed to to bringing affordable, appropriate, and accessible technologies to help better farmer’s livelihoods.

About KisanKraft app

KisanKraft is supporting government’s digital agriculture mission and has developed the KisanKraft app to provide agronomy and other important information on productivity improvement, disease & pest identification and management, appropriate fertilizer usage, soil management, weather forecasts, mandi prices, agricultural news, and best agricultural practices for around 90 crops. The app is also the first-of-its-kind for farmer-to-farmer equipment rental helping farmers supplement their incomes. This is a free platform available in 11 Indian languages for farmers.

About KisanKraft

KisanKraft was founded in 2005 with a vision to improve the livelihoods and quality-of-life of small & marginal farmers by serving their needs in every facet of agriculture. As a company to serving the entire seed-to-harvest cycle of small farmers, it assists them in most aspects of cultivation, from soil preparation, planting, crop management, harvesting and post harvesting operations. KisanKraft has served more than 50 lakh small farmers through mechanization adoption, to increase farmer earnings, crop productivity and cultivated area. The company has grown organically, beginning from a small garage and three people in 2005, to a pan-India organization serving lakhs of farmers across India through its’ 14 regional offices, 500+ employees and a large network of 5,000+ dealers.