HARA joins up with HEXA Agro to help smallholder farmers get access to microcredit HARA Follow Sep 17, 2018 · 2 min read

HARA is pleased to announce a partnership with HEXA Agro, a wholesaler of agricultural products. HEXA Agro functions as the off-taker in a closed loop farming ecosystem that they themselves established in the Tojo Una-Una Regency, Central Sulawesi. The ecosystem ensures a fair price for the farmers’ yield, while helping them get access to the microcredit Kredit Usaha Rakyat (KUR) to support their business.

“In this ecosystem, HARA will take the role to connect the dots of data from and to each stakeholder engaged. HEXA will have transparency of the data, traceability of the information, and security of the data in its ecosystem, so they can ensure and manage the ecosystem, minimize fraud, and improve the efficiency of the work from and to each stakeholder,” — Candra Alam, Data Management Specialist at HARA.

Getting access to microcredit can help the smallholder farmers increase their farm output immensely, as they will be able to invest in better seeds. In the current situation, farmers reuse old seeds and see the quantity of their yield dwindle with each farm cycle. When farmers are able to buy new seeds, their yields could increase by over 10 times than they are currently producing.

In order for banks to extend the KUR microcredit, data is required about both the farmers and their farms. In the collaboration between HARA and HEXA Agro, HARA got farmers and field data to help Bank BNI, which is also part of the HEXA ecosystem, to disburse the KUR microcredit to local farmers.

Over 10 farmers have already gotten credit through the fresh cooperation. The initial focus was on around 3 villages per district, in 6 separate districts. A total of 18 villages around Tojo Una-Una were reached.

Furthermore, HEXA as an off-taker will be able to see the potential of the yield in the upcoming season using HARA. HARA will also help HEXA to supervise its farmers based on the data that HARA collects from them.

HARA is looking forward to continue the cooperation with HEXA Agro. Together, we will be able to create a real positive impact for thousands smallholder farmers in a remote area of Indonesia.