More than 100 million smallholder farming households face significant challenges due to information, knowledge, and network asymmetry when trying to derive maximum benefit from their farm activities. They need actionable and real-time insights to make informed decisions. However, they do not have the digital tools or literacy to access the right information at the right time. Currently, most farmers rely on word-of-mouth from neighbours and immediate family members. At worst, they may only get information from village-level traders and agricultural input shops, who have conflicting incentives to provide accurate information. The existing market solutions target only the top 10 per cent of farming communities, excluding marginalised populations like non-literates, non-smartphone owners and women farmers.

Gramhal makes it easy for farmers to access hyperlocal data and enable them to make better decisions. They have developed an AI-based chatbot that provides information on crop prices, weather-based crop advisory, and sustainable land management practices. In addition, they crowdsource information and knowledge from the community and combine it with generative AI to serve farmers personalised responses to hyperlocal queries.

Working with the government and communities, the organisation makes data available, accessible, and understandable for all farmers. They do this by breaking it down into byte sizes, using colloquial language, and creating a feedback loop that enables farmers to echo their data needs.

In a non-controlled study with 830 users, 25 per cent of the farmers changed their sale location based on the market price information. 58 per cent used price trends to decide the date to sell their crops. The 163 farmers who chose to sell at farmgate benefitted the most. They used crop price information and quality knowledge to negotiate better and earned 81 percent higher income on average - in absolute value, $184 more in one crop season.