BMGF initiatives in farming

Agricultural Development is one of the largest initiatives of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. To date, they have committed more than US$2 billion to agricultural development efforts, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Their approach is based on the following principles:

Listening to farmers and addressing their specific needs
They talk to farmers about the crops which farmers want to grow and eat, as well as the unique challenges farmers face. They partner with organizations that understand and are equipped to address these challenges, and they invest in research to identify relevant and affordable solutions that farmers want and will use.

Increasing farm productivity
They support a comprehensive approach to helping smallholder farmers prosper that includes access to heartier seeds, more effective tools and farm management practices, locally relevant knowledge, emerging digital technologies, and reliable markets. They also advocate for agricultural policies that support farmers in their efforts to better feed themselves and their communities.

Fostering sustainable agricultural practices.
In an era of increasingly scarce resources and growing impact of climate change, we encourage farmers to embrace and adopt sustainable practices that help them grow more with less land, water, fertilizer, and other costly inputs while preserving natural resources for future generations.
Achieving greater impact with partners. They are committed to communicating our strategy more effectively and sharing what we’ve learned with grantees and other partners, including governments, nongovernmental organizations, traditional and emerging donors, and the private sector. Our resources, while significant, represent only a fraction of what is needed. Collaborating effectively with others maximizes our collective impact in helping farming families.

They invest in the following strategic areas that they believe will help address the challenges and local realities faced by farming families in the developing world.

Research and Development
Agricultural Policies
Livestock
Access and Market Systems
Strategic Partnerships and Advocacy
Research and Development


Researchers are seeking ways to combat crop disease such as those infecting the cassava plants on this Tanzania farm.
They support research to develop more productive and nutritious varieties of the staple crops grown and consumed by farming families. These include varieties adapted to local conditions that deliver specific benefits farmers seek, such as increased yields, better nutrition, and tolerance to drought, flood, and pests. They fund research to discover ways to better manage soil and water resources and reduce crop loss due to spoilage, weeds, pests, disease, and other threats.
Agricultural Policies

Timely, relevant, and accurate information is crucial to farmers. Policymakers in developing countries also need good data to inform their decision making. They support data collection, research, and policy analysis to help evaluate the impact of various approaches, get accurate information to farmers, and assess the effects of national and international agricultural policies. Their research also includes measuring the progress of our grants to ensure that they are delivering the anticipated benefits to farming families.
Livestock

Livestock is a key part of farming in developing countries and is crucial to the livelihoods of more than 900 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. They support efforts to improve the health and productivity of livestock—particularly chickens, goats, and cows—by improving animal genetics and veterinary care. To ensure that farmers can benefit from animal health and genetics technologies, they test models for providing farmers with the knowledge and tools they need to increase their on-farm production and connect to stable markets.

e Farmer :2

Agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy. According to a report from FICCI, about 65 percent of the Indian population depends directly on agriculture and it accounts for around 22 percent of India’s GDP. But farmers, on the other hand, face unprecedented challenges like unpredictable weather, non-availability of good quality seeds and fertilizers and un-reliable avenues to sell their crops after the harvest. There is a large scope to implement modern technology to solve these inherent problems.
While e-commerce has revolutionised the way buyers and sellers connect, it is yet to become mainstream in many niche markets, one of which is agriculture. BigHaat, an agri-commerce startup claims to have helped and impacted the lives of about 50,000 farmers through their platform over the past one year. Their goal is to help farmers reap the benefits of e-commerce and save time and money in the process.As an online marketplace for agriculture products, BigHaat lets customers shop across categories like seeds, crop protection nutrients and solutions and agro instruments.The platform works on a hybrid model. It accepts online orders and also from their ‘feet on the street’ model, where sales people directly interact with farmers to help them place orders for products they need. BigHaat’s main customers other than farmers include nurseries, poly-houses, and contract farming communities.On the whole, BigHaat aims to connect farmers to verified suppliers directly and reduce travel periods required to procure their desired products.

Agriculture, along with fisheries and forestry, is one of the largest contributors to India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).IBEF noted that India is the largest producer, consumer and exporter of spices and spice products and is also the second largest fruit producer in the world. But the sector faces multiple issues and there is lot of scope for improvement and optimisation.
The agricultural sector has strong forward and backward linkages and its performance affects every sector of the country. Several players have invested in the agricultural sector in India, mainly driven by the government’s initiatives and schemes. In August 2015, m-commerce platform Agrostar had raised a $4-million round from IDG Ventures along with existing investor Aavishkaar.
Implementing effective e-commerce solutions for the farming sector is of extreme importance as it has the potential to make the lives of farmers easier and also make farming more sustainable and profitable in the long run.

eFarmer :1

Today, India ranks second worldwide in farm output. Agriculture and allied sectors like forestry and fisheries accounted for 13.7% of the GDP (gross domestic product) in 2013,about 50% of the workforce. The economic contribution of agriculture to India's GDP is steadily declining with the country's broad-based economic growth. Still, agriculture is demographically the broadest economic sector and plays a significant role in the overall socio-economic fabric of India.


World Bank reported "With a population of just over 1.2 billion, India is the world's largest democracy. In the past decade, the country has witnessed accelerated economic growth, emerged as a global player with the world's fourth largest economy in purchasing power parity terms, and made progress towards achieving most of the Millennium Development Goals. India's integration into the global economy has been accompanied by impressive economic growth that has brought significant economic and social benefits to the country. Nevertheless, disparities in income and human development are on the rise. Preliminary estimates suggest that in 2009-10 the combined all India poverty rate was 32 % compared to 37 % in 2004-05. Going forward, it will be essential for India to build a productive, competitive, and diversified agricultural sector and facilitate rural, non-farm entrepreneurship and employment. Encouraging policies that promote competition in agricultural marketing will ensure that farmers receive better prices."

"The Indian farmer receives just 10% to 23% of the price the Indian consumer pays for exactly the same produce, the difference going to losses, inefficiencies and middlemen. Farmers in developed economies of Europe and the United States receive 64% to 81%."

The main purpose of writing this blog is to change the economic conditions of Indian farmer by using digital technology .I want to bring change in Profit receiving percentage of Indian farmers. I think that they should also get same profit percentage as of developed countries farmers. There should be some app similar to OLX or Quikr where farmers can sell their products directly to big traders or needy person without interruption of greedy brokers.There should be revolution in this field so that our farmers can get what they deserve. I request all my readers to take initiative in this field and save our poor farmers . I will discuss more about new techniques and findings of Indian Farming in my upcoming blog .