Crowde Offers Farmers’ Capital Loans with Harvest Deposit Provisions

Since its inception, CROWDE has the goal of wanting to improve the welfare of farmers in Indonesia. CROWDE is a technology startup in agriculture that empowers farmers throughout Indonesia by providing access to capital and technology.

The financial technology startup company (fintech lending) Crowde offers a capital loan for farmers with a crop deposit scheme. The loan program is called the People’s Farmers Movement (GARAP).

Crowde Farmers Consultant Ismail Hasvi explained, the commodities targeted for the harvest deposit payment scheme included rice, corn, and chili. The amount of deposit varies, depending on the agricultural commodity.

“Farmers who have partnered will get a working capital credit with a return scheme in the form of harvesting of yields,” Ismail said in a press release on Thursday (30/7).

After being given working capital, the farmer will slowly repay the loan with the harvest adjusting the commodity planted. For example, for chili commodities cultivated on land with a minimum area of ​​2,500 square meters (m2), farmers must deposit a yield of 1.75 tons.

Applied in 6 Districts of Sukabumi Regency

Meanwhile, for rice commodities, the yield that must be deposited is 5.7 tons in a minimum land area of ​​10,000 m2. If the farmer’s yield exceeds the benchmark, it will be the farmer’s right. The harvest yield deposit scheme has only been applied to farmer groups in the Pajampangan or Region 6 area of ​​Sukabumi Regency, West Java.

Ismail said the loan will be an option for farmers to look for business capital. Because so far access to capital is still an obstacle for farmers. This is indicated by the distribution of farm business loans (KUT) and people’s business loans (KUR), which according to him have not been maximized.

In addition, the realization of loans to farmers is still below the 7% figure. As a result, farmers must seek venture capital from other sources, and not infrequently it makes farmers suffer losses, because the scheme implemented is burdensome.

The GARAP Program Has Advantages that Benefit Farmers

He said, through the GARAP program, Crowde not only offered working capital loans but also production facilities, direct assistance by experts, and market access.

In 2018, Crowde channeled funding of IDR 51 billion to 10,000 agricultural businesses such as farmers, ranchers, fishermen, and farmers in Indonesia. Funding was obtained from about 23,000 investors, through 1,591 capital projects on the Crowde platform.

Another advantage of the GARAP program is that farmers can get quality production facilities, direct assistance by experts, and obtain market access at the best price.

Coordinator of the Ministry of Trade of Sukabumi Regency, Nanang Ardiansyah also stressed that this program must benefit both parties. That is why CROWDE applies a minimum purchase price system to ensure that farmers continue to receive a reasonable profit.

For example, the determination of the purchase price of cayenne pepper is a minimum of Rp10 thousand / kg. If the price of cayenne pepper falls to the level of IDR 6 thousand / kg, CROWDE will still buy it from farmers at the minimum price. However, if the market price is rising, CROWDE will also increase the purchase price from farmers.

About CROWDE

CROWDE is a trusted agricultural fintech that has been registered with OJK. In addition to being registered with the OJK, CROWDE is also part of the Indonesian Joint Funding Fintech Association (AFPI) which is an organization that houses the Fintech Peer to Peer (P2P) Business Online Lending or Fintech Funding Association in Indonesia.

The company provides a financing platform to raise funds from the community as working capital for farmers. With crowd-lending and P2P lending methods, CROWDE connects investors with farmers who seek capital, create jobs, and support local communities.