April 1, 2009

ICT Initiative Named Finalist in 2008 NASSCOM Innovation Competition

NASSCOM Innovation Awards, one of the most prestigious awards within the IT industry, has named an IT platform developed by Infosys Technologies Ltd. under ACDI/VOCA’s Implementation Grant Proposal (IGP) a runner-up finalist for the 2008 Business Innovation Award. NASSCOM promotes innovation within the Indian IT community and recognizes the best innovators in the Indian industry each year. Six runner-up finalists from 2008 received recognitions in the competition.

The platform, freshConnect, is an information communication technology (ICT)-based information dissemination technology solution for horticulture supply chain management. ACDI/VOCA partnered with Indian IT giant Infosys to develop the application in order to connect all aspects of the Indian fresh produce supply chain and boost incomes of smallholder farmers.

India is one of the world’s biggest producers of horticultural products, growing nearly 11 percent of the world’s vegetables and 15 percent of all fruit. However, the individual Indian farmer receives less than a fifth of the end price for the fresh fruits and vegetables he or she produces. The lion’s share of profits goes to the extensive value chain of middlemen, transporters, wholesalers and retailers who take the produce from farm to market. ACDI/VOCA, through its Growth-Oriented Microenterprise Development Project (GMED), has been working to empower smallholder farmers by helping them obtain better returns on their harvest sales. ACDI/VOCA received a separate grant from the USAID-funded IGP program to develop a platform for an ICT dissemination system for farmers. FreshConnect allows smallholder horticulture producers, extension agents, bulk buyers and others involved in the supply chain to use mobile phones to get real-time information on crop planning, market information and weather forecasts.

R K Foodlands, a major horticulture commercial buyer, is already using the application to plan and procure commodities from its farmer bases, and other major retailers are interested in purchasing the software program. As demand from new retailers continues to grow, freshConnect’s approach of linking farmers to markets has created a sea change in how smallholder farmers sell their products. Shipard Vishnu Joshi, one of the ACDI/VOCA’s beneficiary farmers, says, "Now I do not find buyers. I do not work with commission agents. They find me!"

To find out more about ACDI/VOCA’s work in India, click here.