Lawrencedale Agro Processing (LEAF), India’s premier full-stack agriculture technology services major, is enabling the much-needed organised financial services to marginalised farmers.

The access to organised and structured financial services is among the key gaps which the Indian agriculture sector is facing. As a result of dependence on unorganised and prohibitively high cost of finance, the Indian farmers are regularly in a debt trap for majority of their lives.

It is enabling and driving this positive social impact through innovative and affordable financial services and is introducing a slew of structured, customised financial products and services to the marginalised farmers.

Palat Vijayaraghavan, founder and CEO, LEAF, said, “There is pain for the marginalised farmer in each and every step. Right from soil preparation to choosing the various inputs for better cultivation of the crops and till the last mile of liquidating the harvest, the farmer’s lifecycle is under strain. Given the fact there is no authenticated trail of transactions, the process of securing organised financial offerings is tough. We are driving transparency through our tech-enabled platform LEAF Farmer Network (LFN) which brings in the complete visibility and make the farmers creditworthy for organized financial services. Our intervention in these financial services enables us to open new doors for farmers and empower them to lead their lives with dignity.”

It will dovetail organised financial access along with significant new flavours of scientific advisories for farming, empowering the marginalised farmers with just the right amount farm inputs followed by stepby-step support in striving to grow the best harvest possible.

To handhold the farmers and for efficient use of organised and cost-effective financial support, it has structured a model through which the agricultural inputs – such as seeds, crop nutrition and protection products, are provided to marginalised farmers through a controlled dispensing process.

“We are bringing about a fundamental structural change in how marginalised farmers approach financial services. We are enabling farmers to understand the value of transacting through the banking system, reach them the value of legitimate banking system and we handhold them to make it happen,” concluded Vijayaraghavan.