Farmpal takes a step towards empowerment of farmers, launches the fourth collection center in Maharashtra

Pune, March 25th, 2020 : Farmpal opened the fourth collection center at Kopargaon, near Shirdi in Ahmednagar district on 9 March. This area is the heart of onion cultivation and supplies onion all over India and outside India as well. With this collection center, Farmpal intends to make the market available for marginal onion farmers at their doorstep. The event witnessed the presence of over 150 farmers attended this event – who were very excited about working in this new model, where the market has come to them – with better pricing than the local mandis, no commissions, reduced transportation and most importantly payment directly into their bank accounts within 2-3 days.

The center is operational now with farmers selling their produce to FarmPal. They are delivering onions primarily, along with other local produce in smaller quantities. In near future, FarmPal intends to advise and inform farmers on upcoming demand and what else they can grow and sell. This will help them diversify their crops and improve their earning potential.

The center was inaugurated by Mr. Ashok Rohmare, a trustee of K.J Somaiya College in Kopargaon, and a major landholder who produces fruits and vegetables on his 100+ acre farmland.

Farmpal is an innovative tech-driven farm-to-market company. The company has established a connection with 1000+ farmers, of which 400 farmers actively supply their crop to them. They provide a sale price that is at a 15-30% premium over what the farmers receive in mandis, where they sell to middlemen according to the prevailing market price. The farmers are paid via online bank transfers, or in a few special cases, in cash on delivery.

The company is powered by two committed individuals, Karan Hon and Puneet Sethi. Karan has 20+ years of global experience with IT giants, having worked with Accenture India, SAP Australia and Tech Mahindra Denmark. The high mobile penetration in India inspired Karan to use technology to create a sustainable farm-to-market platform for them. Sethi leverages his two-decade-long experience in sales, marketing and business development—including 11+ years in the US, working with government and in agriculture, and 6+ years in a startup delivering technology solutions in Pune—to create an effective sales and marketing network for Farmpal.