HARA is pleased to announce a new partnership with the Public-Private-Partnership-Project for the improvement of the agriculture product marketing and distribution system. The project’s short name is “IJHOP4” as shown in the logo, meaning the Indonesia and Japan Horticulture Public-Private-Partnerships Project.

IJHOP4 is a technical cooperation project assisted by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA). JICA is the Japanese governmental agency that coordinates the country’s official development assistance. It offers aid for developing countries in the form of technical cooperation, grant aid, and financial and investment assistance.

IJHOP4 has been working on improving farmers’ access to agricultural loans with the help of the Indonesian private bank BTPN. However, the process has been slow due to the limited number of available BTPN field staff to help facilitate the process. This caused farmers to not be able to prepare their land on time, as they did not know when to expect the loan disbursement.

“HARA’s technology can facilitate the farmers’ data collection process, which will help farmers get better access to agriculture loan. HARA’s system will simplify the data collection process for BTPN, whereby BTPN will be able to disburse the loan without delay,” — Akiko Yoneyama, consultant at JICA.

IJHOP4 and HARA share the ultimate goal of empowering farmers. The collaboration between the two parties will give farmers more power to manage their activities through facilitating the access to loans, data analysis toolkits, and networking with stakeholders within the supply chain.

“Not only will HARA’s data allow farmers to access finance, it has the potential to help farmers better manage their agriculture activities and connect with new markets. We believe that, in the near future, farmers will be able to analyze their own data on HARA’s applications, and make informed choices based on the analysis.”

HARA is happy with the endorsement of the Indonesia and Japan Horticulture Public-Private-Partnerships Project. We look forward to working together to create a real social impact for the many smallholder farmers in Indonesia.