CM would launch the e-Rythu platform at his residence at 4 pm today

Mastercard joins AP Govt to help farmers

Vijayawada: The multinational financial service giant Mastercard has joined hands with the State government to help the farmers to market their produce at reasonable price with the introduction of e-Rythu, a mobile platform, that digitises farm market places, payment and also provides farmers an easy and secure way to sell their produce and receive payments.

Addressing newsmen Rajeev Kumar, South India head of the Mastercard said here on Wednesday that the Mastercard invested Rs 6,500 crore in India to provide state-of-the-art technology for the Indian farmers to enable them to market their produce at remunerative price.

Elaborating the modus operandi of Mastercard, he said that MasterCard in association with the farmer produce organisations (FPOs) bring the buyer closer to the farmers to buy the produce directly from them and pay the farmers once the transaction concludes.

In essence, the Mastercard acts as service provider both for the buyer and seller of farm produce with its latest technology.

Chiranjiv  Choudhary, Commissioner of Horticulture, said that the partnership with the Mastercard in introducing e-Rythu would make horticulture markets more transparent for sellers as well as buyers. He recalled that the State has been the leading in the country in implementing information technology.

He said that the target has been set to reach one million horticulture farmers in the pilot project which would eventually reach the six million horticulture farmers in the State.

Salah Goss, Mastercard head in Nairobi where the similar farmer card was successfully implemented stated that the e-Rythu would certainly help the farmer to get remunerative price for his produce. “It is transparent and helps the buyers to find quality produce through FPOs,” she added.

Lathika, MsterCard regional head, also spoke.