In a land where roughly 70% of the population resides in rural areas and half of the nation’s population farms for a living, the importance of India’s agricultural sector cannot be overstated. Despite these massive numbers, the country’s agricultural output has been unable to keep pace with growing demands and global competition. According to the World Bank, [...]

Agriculture suffers in India in spite of the fact that a vast majority of Indians depend on it. Government interventions in terms of minimum support prices, farmers’ markets as well as technology interventions like mobile-based update on weather and soil quality have resulted only in piecemeal success, if any, in improving the farmer’s income. When [...]

Start Up Story covers a social enterprise, Matchbox Solutions, that addresses technology and process improvements for critical business segments.  One of these solutions focuses on the agribusiness supply chain through eFarm: eFarm is a Farm-to-Home supply chain Platform for procuring and delivering farm based produce in a transparent, economical and efficient manner. eFarm ties in [...]

Editor’s note: In addition to being informative, this post also outlines what IFMR Trust is looking for in potential hires. If you would like to see that immediately, go after the jump. Before Thanksgiving break I had the pleasure of sitting down at an informal roundtable with Dave Wallack, Senior Vice President of People to learn [...]

The government of Punjab has been in the news this week, unveiling cutting-edge efforts to boost the local economy and build knowledge capital in the state The government announced a partnership with Bharati Wal-Mart, a national retail chain to set-up skill training center for youth [via PR Newswire]: The Punjab government has tied up with [...]

An Ahmedabad-based business, Moralfibre, is short listed for the Ethical Business award given by the Ethical Fashion Forum. Promoting khadi and making it fashionable for the modern taste, the business offers a new twist on an old practice. The CEO, Shalini Sheth Amin, recognized a market for khadi in the growing zero carbon footprint and [...]

While reading an article called “Water Footprints Make a Splash,” I was immediately intrigued by the concept of a water footprint. What exactly is a water footprint? Author Ben Block uses coffee to illustrate: If the full water requirements of a morning roast are calculated – farm irrigation, bean transportation, and the serving of the [...]

A few months ago, I discussed the idea of social intrapreneurs based on a SustainAbility case study that featured Hindustan Unilever’s Project Shakti. This month, the World Bank Institute’s publication titled Development Outreach focuses on business and poverty, with an article written by those involved with the same project. The authors describe the project not [...]

Rural Supply Chain MokshaYug Access Gets $2 Million Funding from Unitus A rural supply chain firm MokshaYug Access (MYA) has received funding of Rs 8.35 crore ($2 million) from Unitus Equity Fund L P (UEF), an Unitus supported organisation to fund microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Asia and Latin America. The amount will go towards building [...]

 From Watblog.com The solution, basically a supply chain management system (SCM), streamlines the supply of primarily fruits and vegetables from the farmers to the retailers, known in India as Mandis. The application takes care of a lot of aspects ranging from profiling of farmer clusters, scheduling, tracking, and traceability.