Crowde team

This article is published as a part of a partnership with Future Food Asia. Crowde is one of the 11 finalists of the US$ 100,000 Future Food Asia (FFA) 2020 Award to be hosted from September 21-25.

In Indonesia, roughly a third of the land is used for agricultural purposes and the sector contributes significantly to the country’s economy. Independent smallholders dominate Indonesia’s agricultural commodities production, managing 85 per cent of Indonesia’s rubber plantations, 90 per cent of its coffee plantations, and 95 per cent of its cocoa plantations.

For oil palm, Indonesia’s most valuable agricultural export, the proportion of plantations managed by independent smallholders is smaller – about 30 per cent – but still significant. Hence, the vast majority of companies operating in Indonesia’s agricultural supply chains are either directly or indirectly impacted by the activities of independent smallholders.

Approximately 40 per cent of Indonesia’s population is dependent on the agriculture sector, though it contributes only around 13 per cent to the GDP.

Agriculture, like any other business, requires financing to grow. Accessing finance for these farmers is a major hurdle, only two out of 10 smallholder farmers are eligible for bank loans. While the vast majority remain unbaked lacking credit profiles, they tend to fall prey to loan sharks charging prohibitive interest rates.

This is where Crowde steps in. An agri-focused fintech company, Crowde dreams to revolutionise the agriculture industry by giving access to capital and technology innovation; making it possible for micro and small agripreneurs to grow businesses on their own feet.

Farmers for Farmers

Co-founder Yohanes had his first tryst with the painful realities of the Indonesian agriculture sector while carrying out a community development project during his time at university. He realised there was an opportunity to conduct business differently in the sector and began a farm himself.

Mingling with other farmers he learned that a critical issue that plagued the sector’s productivity stemmed from the access to financing as well as the lack of price transparency due to lack of access to a market. He, along with Co-founder Risyad, started Crowde with a mission to leverage technology to solve these issues of access.

They started their journey with high ambition – trying to target farmers across the island nation of Indonesia. The founders were quick to fall and even faster to get up. They adjusted their strategy to be more focused on two regions, go through multiple crop cycles, and showcase how their platform is adding value.

Also Read: Top-funded agritech startups in Indonesia

Today Crowde is ready to grow beyond Java and Sumatra and as a Future Food Asia 2020 finalist they will benefit from the launchpad it offers to startups.

Solving the problem of access

When a smallholder farmer needs to grow their business, most of them are aware that financing hinders their growth. But after years of working with farmers and helping them scale, Crowde realised that farmers need a lot more. Access to (new) markets, agronomic information about past plantations, projecting and planning for risks, and understanding the supply and demand data. Their platform offers a full suite of assistance services to increase the odds of success of the farmers on its platform.

After understanding the value of the platform farmers are onboarded to Crowde, where they learn how to budget their farming activities and plan their growing cycle with lower project risk. The platform then helps farmers get a loan from lending companies and to avoid any potential misuse of the funds, rather than giving the money directly to the farmer, he is provided with inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides of the same value based on the growth plan that was decided.

Throughout the growing cycle, farmers can leverage the Crowde platform for information and advice. At the time of harvest, Crowde helps the farmer find a buyer for its products at the right price.

This supply and demand information becomes critical in improving growing decisions for the subsequent growing cycle. This is how Crowde creates a closed-loop platform that is helping Indonesian farmers access a brighter future.

Input, output, and everything in the middle

Lower productivity and dropping quality have been characteristics of Indonesian farm output. Using better quality inputs which are more expensive and hence deem the need for financing can have a direct impact on the final produce farmers take to the market.

In addition to that, providing farmers with well-timed agronomy advice during growing cycles and a more robust supply chain can help improve the chances of these farmers to succeed.

Also Read: These are the 5 game-changers in Indonesia’s agritech sector

Today 61 per cent of Indonesian farmers are above the age of 45 and by 2050 with the expected boom in population Indonesia, the country may lack a young enough talent pool to feed this growth. Moreover, the Agri supply chain, technology, and farmer education also need to rapidly change.

While Crowde has been on this mission for three years now and manages to increase a farmer’s income from 15 to 50 per cent in each growing cycle. But it is not enough. The Jakarta-based startup calls to the agri ecosystem as a whole to continuously assist in this revamp of the country’s most important sector.

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Image credit: Future Food Asia

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