Mentor: Dr. Anind Dey

Client:  NIRMAN, India and KONAM Foundation, India

Description: 
NIRMAN works with small-scale and marginal farmers in the Rayagada and Nayagarh districts of the eastern Indian state of Odisha. Majority of the small-scale and marginal farmers do not have access to tools that can do a cost-benefit analysis to make informed decisions, consequently leading to very high investments and low returns, thereby trapping them in a vicious cycle of indebtedness and poverty. The vicious cycle of high input costs, low yields, low net returns, and increase in indebtedness, had been pushing farmers further into the clutches of perpetual poverty; in the worst case scenario, leading to farmers suicides in many parts of India.

Deliverables:
Work with NIRMAN and KONAM Foundation to create a data-driven risk-prediction tool that integrates information about weather, edaphic factors, investment costs, and future market prices to determine if the investment costs are justified, which would help farmers in making guided decisions.