DIGITAL REVOLUTION IN THE RICE BOWL

Paddy farmers of Koppal harness tech tools to market their produce directly, and edge out exploitative middlemen

- RAGHOTTAM KOPPAR @Koppal

OR the paddy farmers of Koppal, social media has arrived as the great leveller. It has also opened up many windows of opportunity, helping them break out of the iron grip of middlemen.

The farmers are now using search engines, social media and digital platforms to bypass middlemen and reach out to wholesalers.

Many farmers, leading a rather cloistered life in Koppal, had no idea of pricing in various markets and were dependent on agents and middlemen, who took advantage of their ignorance and made their little bags of profit. The price of paddy had been hit for the past few years, but they would somehow manage.

Gradually, they began observing that paddy prices were low but the price of rice was high. A few months ago, this price variation in different markets became a hot topic of discussion, and farmers decided to use the power of the internet and social media to market their crop.

With the help of friends in tech fields, they learnt to check market prices online and reached out to wholesalers in Bengaluru and neighbouring states.