On September 25, 2020 In order to provide enhanced and comprehensive financial solutions to smallholder farmers and rural farming communities, Axis Bank Ltd, India’s third largest private sector bank, partnered with Bayer’s Better Life Farming(BLF) initiative in India. This partnership will offer a variety of end-to-end financial solutions and services like loans, deposits, withdrawals, payments etc., at affordable prices.
- Bayer’s Best Livelihood Agricultural Centers will provide the solution, which are owned and operated by a Farmer Producer Organization(FPO), Federation, agri-graduate or a local farmer / entrepreneur.
Note– Digital financial solutions and doorstep delivery of these services to ensure convenient and easy transactions.
Gist about Better Life Farming(BLF):
General Info
- The global, multi-stakeholder alliance was launched in April 2018 worldwide.
- It is a long-term partnership of Bayer AG, IFC (International Finance Corporation), Netafim and Swiss Re Corporate Solutions.
- It works with partners across the agri-value chain to support smallholder farmers in emerging economies to increase crop yields and farm incomes.
Partners
- In India, the BLF alliance is working with additional local partners like Yara Fertilisers, DeHaat, AgriBazaar, Big Basket and Tata Trusts
BLF center
- To offer farming advisory to the communities, BLF has established small centers across villages.
- Each BLF center has a team of 500 farmers from five to six nearby villages.
BLF initiative in India
i.BLF initiative in India has benefited participant farmers including doubling of crop yields and tripling of farm incomes.
ii.Presently there are more than 150 BLF centers that are operational in India in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar.
iii.There are plans to expand it to West Bengal, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
Additional Info
BLF initiative aims to empower 2.5 million smallholder farmers in India by 2025, in the way by providing them access to modern agri-inputs and improving their standard of living.
Recent Related News:
On June 4, 2020 Axis Bank Ltd, Mastercard India & Worldline India partnered to launch a digital point-of-sale(POS) solution ‘Soft POS’, the 1st financial payments service in India to transform everyday smartphones into merchant POS terminals. It helps offline merchants and Kirana stores accept payments using their smartphones. Through this app merchants who traditionally accept cash payments will now have a simpler and more secure way to manage transactions.
About Bayer AG:
Chairman of the Board of Management (CEO)– Werner Baumann
Headquarters– Leverkusen, Germany
About Axis Bank Ltd:
Headquarters– Mumbai, Maharashtra
Managing Director(MD) and Chief Executive Officer(CEO) – Amitabh Chaudhry
