FarmersFZ is an online ‘farmers fresh’ store based in Kerala. It’s an Agri-Tech start-up concentrated around the major cities of Kerala from where customers can purchase organic vegetables and fruits. FarmersFZ has achieved 5-fold growth in the 2020-21 fiscal. Their customer base is largely composed of urban consumers wanting to get their hands on fresh, safe, leafy greens.
How has FarmersFZ become a bridge between rural farmers and urban customers?
Their customers can place orders for organic produce by directly connecting with farmers. The start-up is essentially bringing urban consumers and rural farmers on the same page in a way that consumers can know the farmers they’re purchasing from up-close. For instance, FarmersFZ provides a feature called ‘Know your Farmer’ whereby the customer can be aware of the quality of produce that he/she is paying for.
Coming under the purview of the ‘Kerala Start-up Mission’, FarmersFZ allows consumers to identify where their branded vegetables have been sourced from. They will know who has grown, what they’re eating, and how. This feature is called FarmersFZ’s ‘Unit Traceability feature’.
The company is sourcing fresh and pure produce, and materialising doorstep delivery for customers.
FarmersFZ caters to the Direct-to-Customer (D2C) sector. They crossed $1M in revenue in a financial year through a unique cluster approach which helps them to deliver fresh Fruits & Vegetables (F&V) from the farm gate directly to customers’ homes in less than 15 hours from harvest.
Farmers can login into the FarmersFZ online marketplace and directly list their veggies, fruits, spices, etc. for purchase by end consumers. Through e-commerce, FarmersFZ could work on marketing their products and services which in turn has helped them bridge the gap between farmers and end consumers.
The company also undertakes ‘demand prediction’ wherein they analyse the demand patterns coming from consumers and collaborate with farmers to cultivate crops in accordance with the demand.
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The start-up is essentially bringing urban consumers and rural farmers on the same page in a way that consumers can know the farmers they’re purchasing from up-close.
What’s in it for me?
The agriculture sector is still very fragmented and disorganised and Agri-tech start-ups which can bring in disruption have a high chance of scaling up quickly.
Customers want to know what they are consuming
The main challenge in the Agriculture sector is that end consumers are curious about whether the green leafy vegetables they’re consuming are non-toxic and pesticide-free or not. Agri-tech start-ups have a good opportunity for facilitating and offering up this knowledge to consumers.
Let’s make clean greens available for all consumer segments
The agriculture sector has a huge gap between the farm gate and the food plate. All urban consumers cannot afford high-priced, fresh, organic produce because it’s most often seen as a luxury. By allowing access to pesticide-free produce devoid of contamination from middlemen and storage, consumers will be able to acquire them at controlled costs. So, all consumers, not just affluent consumers, will be able to enjoy the health benefits of clean greens. Agri-tech start-ups need to come up with solutions that will make this idea a reality.
Responding to the demand for doorstep delivery
Doorstep delivery is a need of the hour since customers can no longer risk stepping out of their homes one too many times due to safety concerns. E-commerce is thus a profitable avenue for Agri-tech start-ups since there is ample demand for doorstep delivery.
Last but not the least, helping farmers of the nation to optimize their agricultural practises, making them productive and optimizing resource utilisation is a great initiative for Agri-tech start-ups. Also, helping to increase the income of farmers is the need of the hour since the plight of farmers is already very highlighted. If you are disrupting the Agri-tech sector by helping farmers, then you can attract investor interest. Unique technology-based solutions that leverage data collection will help you solve the problems of the agriculture sector.
