Bayer CropScience Ltd has partnered with BigHaat, an agri-input e-commerce platform, to enable last-mile delivery of Bayer’s seeds and crop protection products directly to farmers’ doorsteps.
The tie-up will support farmers in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala and focus on paddy, cotton, corn, chilli and horticulture crops. Besides having access to the entire range of Bayer’s agri-solutions, farmers can also avail crop-specific agronomic advisory through BigHaat’s Agristore digital platform, said a Bayer statement.
BigHaat provides a wide range of inputs including seeds, pesticides, fertilizers, nutrients, farm implements and crop advisory to over 30 lakh Indian farmers. BigHaat, through its cognitive intelligence-based technology offers real time, image-based disease & pest diagnosis and crop stage-wise advisory to farmers for over 80 crops and enables them to choose the right agri-inputs and the technical know-how for safe and effective application.
Farmers without smartphones can give a missed call on 180030002434 to receive a call back from the customer call centre and receive advisory on the phone or schedule a field visit from crop agronomists.
“Rising digitalisation has paved the way for dynamic shifts such as the use of e-commerce platforms for purchase of agri-solutions. Bayer’s partnership with BigHaat is a strategic collaboration to provide farmers diverse choices beyond the traditional services they usually rely on,” said Simon Wiebusch, Chief Operating Officer for Bayer India’s Crop Science Division.
“Bayer is continuously looking at partnerships across the agri value chain to enhance customer centricity. We want to create a hybrid ecosystem where traditional and digital marketplaces co-exist with the common aim of providing farmers with greater choice,” Wiebusch said.
“We are very excited about this strategic partnership with Bayer, which is a giant step forward in enhancing India’s agri ecosystem and improving the profitability for farmers,” said Sateesh Nukala, CEO and Co-Founder of BigHaat.