Introduction
The agriculture sector is one that globally suffers from shortage of funding and other finance related challenges. This is especially the case with small scale farmers that often lack sufficient access to finance products to held them fund an entire farming season, grow crops and make profit from sales. The traditional finance sector mainly banks always fall short of supporting farmers well. This is where fintech platforms like ProducePay come in, enabling farmers not just access to finance, but other services that enhances farm output at the end of the season.
There are a number of fintechs that claim to focus on the agro sector, but ProducePay has been outstanding among all. In this review, we will look at the unique products and services that farmers from major locations of the world could access through ProducePay. First of all, lets get a background of the platform.
ProducePay - Funding, agro-insights and marketplace
ProducePay is a fintech that plugs the missing pieces of the puzzle for farmers of all scales. This fintech creates a global market for farmers and buyers of agro products, enabling growers to sell their produce and buyers to find the goods. This is a kind of escrow for global farmers, creating the kind of capacity that enables farmers to grow their financial portfolio.
Besides linking growers to buyers, ProducePay also provides quick funding to growers when they need it. The platform removes all the bureaucratic bottlenecks that prevent farmers from getting funds at critical moments of each farming season. Besides funding and a marketplace, ProducePay also provides agro sector intelligence that farmers could use when analyzing performances and making important decisions. Also, it provides solid reports on how various produces and markets are performing, important intelligence that farmers depend on to grow and expand their business.
ProducePay products/services.
Growers and buyers in the agro sector would likely appreciate some of the services that ProducePay is making available to its users. Now lets take a look at some of them below:
- Pre-season financing: This is a core feature of ProducePay through which they produce funding to farmers that meet the application requirements. Pre-season financing is geared at providing all the funds that a farmer needs at each specific moment in the farming season when such funds are needed. The grower and ProducePay representatives sit and iron out the details of the funding including when the funds are needed, when they will be repaid and how. Pre-season financing is flexible and custom-made to suit all farmers and farming projects.
A poultry farmer for example might not need all the funds to complete a poultry season at once. The initial funds required might be for purchasing of birds, feed and medicine. Then as the birds grow and pass stages, various types of feeds and medicine are needed until they mature and ready to be sold. Pre-season financing will ensure that the farmer accesses the funds as at when due. Each period when a purchase needs to be made, they can access that amount needed. It continues that way until the final product is ready to hit the market.
One interesting thing about ProducePay loans is that repayment is designed based on time of maturity and nature of farm produce. For example, if the poultry farmer would have the mature birds ready for sale at 8 weeks, then the loan repayment under this pre-season financing would not be scheduled earlier than 8 weeks. This flexibility means that the farmer is not put under any undue pressure to service the loans when the farming ROI is not ready yet.
- Reports, News and Analysis: ProducePay also provides intelligence for all its members, ensuring that they make important business decisions based on knowledge. The comprehensive analysis and reports are designed to grow the farmers knowledge on specific produce. Having an indept knowledge would prepare the farmer to only venture into produces that have high market demand and potential for profits.
Some of the items that ProducePay have made reports and analysis on includes Mango, Onion, Garlic, Lettuce, etc. Such comprehensive data on farm produce would be crucial to how the grower runs the business. If you are interested and wants to take a look at some of the reports, check them here.
ProducePay is brings industry reports to its users, giving them insight into trends and developments in the sector. Keeping abreast of current developments in farming methods, tools and technologies, and other trends in the sector gives them some edge over competitors. This competitive advantage is crucial for every business to measure growth and consolidate on progress already made.
- MarketPlace: ProducePay creates a marketplace where growers can quickly find buyers, sell their goods and make profits. The industry suffers from massive lose of farm produce as a result of delays in finding buyers. Farm produce are always perishable. If there are no willing buyers, decay can set in and the farmer records losses. Here is some insight about this issue as presented by ProducePay:
Fresh produce is the most volatile industry in the world. A single shipment of produce will typically travel 1,600 miles, and will be handled by four to eight intermediaries. Along the way, factors such as unpredictable weather, fluctuating markets, crop disease and pests create a constant state of instability that wreaks havoc across the supply chain. This volatility and unpredictability, coupled with the fragmented, speculative nature of the supply chain, result in enormous inefficiencies and wasteful practices. source
The above insight helps to appreciate the value that this platform brings by integrating a marketplace structure into its offerings. ProducePay tries to ensure that for every output ready to be sold, there are willing and profitable buyers. The end goal is to make profit for the farmer and reduce waste in which is a fundamental issue for farmers in the industry.
Finally
If you are a farmer and wishes to expand your network, output and finances, then its time to take a look at agro fintechs like ProducePay. They surely provide some useful value for its subscribers. Its nice to start if you wish to do so, by learning more about this fintech.