Impact of a Digital Platform on Farm Finances – DIA Evidence and Impact

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DIA Evidence and Impact

Illuminating Research

Impact of a Digital Platform on Farm Finances

Understanding the impact of digital record-keeping on farm finances, production choices, and profitability in agriculture.

Digital Finance, Financial Inclusion & Digital Transformation

Project Introduction

Financial record-keeping is a cornerstone of effective business management, yet it remains largely underutilized among smallholder farmers in India. This study assesses the impact of digital record-keeping on farm-level financial outcomes — expenses, revenue, production choices, and profits — in collaboration with People’s Action for National Integration (PANI), embedded within its four-year programme promoting climate-resilient agriculture in eastern Uttar Pradesh. The intervention uses a mobile app that lets farmers track expenses and income for each crop, simplifying data entry and delivering customized summaries of input costs, yield, revenue, and returns through intuitive visual formats.

Partners

(1) more partners

Faculty of Business and Law, Birkbeck, University of London

Researchers

Project Methodology

Using a randomized controlled trial across Gram Panchayats in Gonda district, the intervention includes two arms: a financial-app group that receives the record-keeping tool, and a benchmarking group that additionally receives comparative data against top-performing peers, allowing evaluation of both the direct effects of financial management and the added value of peer comparison. Data is being collected over four agricultural seasons through baseline, midline, and endline surveys. The baseline instrument, pre-tested for clarity and contextual appropriateness, captured household demographics, crop-specific input costs, financial literacy, and farmers’ expectations.

Impact

The project is currently in its intervention rollout phase, with the digital financial management tool being implemented across Gram Panchayats in Gonda district, Uttar Pradesh. Over 4,000 farmers have been onboarded to date, with early indications pointing to strong engagement and positive feedback from both farmers and field facilitators. A meticulously managed baseline survey has laid a robust foundation for evaluating the intervention’s long-term impact on farmer decision-making, input costs, and profits as the study progresses through its remaining seasons.

Documentation

This project is currently in progress, and will be updated with findings as results arise.

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