Fasal Intuit is a free SMS-based service that connects rural farmers in Gujarat, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh with buyers; provides them with real-time price information to make better market decisions and earn profit.
Source: Intuit Fasal
The majority of farmers in India have access to two or more mandis where they can go and sell their produce. Unfortunately, these farmers do not have easy access to agriculture related information. Most of the time they do not know prevailing whole sale market prices in their area because of which they often end up going to a market with lower price or sell at the village level at lower price.
To help farmers address this challenge, the Global Business Division team at Intuit conceived a simple yet sophisticated solution in 2008 known as Fasal. Fasal is a free SMS-based service that connects rural farmers with buyers and provides them with real-time price information. This service uses SMS technology available on simple mobile phones to provide real time market price information to farmers as well as connect rural farmers (producers) with buyers in their area/Mandi to sell their produce at best possible price. Farmers can subscribe to this service by calling the Fasal call center 1800 102 8767.
Intuit Fasal can be termed as an innovative practice because it provides personalised, real-time information to farmers for commodities and markets in local language; allows farmers to make informed decisions about marketing their produce and helps them make, on average, 15% to 20% more money for their crops and finally uses widely available SMS technology to deliver relevant information when farmers need it.
Currently, approximately 800,000 farmers across three states use the service.
This case study was published in March 2012.
