Case study
KrishiSetu
Bridging farmers and market.
Connecting farmers directly with wholesale buyers through trusted produce, transparent pricing, and AI-powered communication.
Problem
Selling produce directly to wholesale buyers is hard to set up. A farmer cannot easily see what a buyer will pay, a buyer cannot easily judge whether the produce can be trusted, and the two may not share a language.
This is my own working view of direct trade. I have not run farmer or buyer interviews yet, so each point still needs to be validated.
Farmers and wholesale buyers need a direct, trusted way to trade produce, with prices both sides can see and a conversation both can follow in their own language.
Who it is for
The app has two sides, and a Buyer and Seller switch on the home screen moves between them.
| Farmer (seller) | Wholesale buyer | |
|---|---|---|
| What they need | Reach buyers directly and see the price a buyer is aiming for | Find produce they can trust at a clear price |
| Home screen | Find buyers: buyer cards with a target price per kg and a delivery date | Find crops: categories and crop cards with grade, quantity and price per kg |
| Main action | Post availability | Place order |
Design decisions
Each decision supports one part of the idea: trusted produce, transparent pricing and AI-powered communication.
Trusted produce
- A Verified Farmer badge and a farmer snapshot show experience, land area, years on KrishiSetu and a rating.
- Every crop card states the grade and the quantity available.
- Orders include an inspection step, and its status stays visible until the result is in.
Transparent pricing
- The price per kg is on every crop card, and buyers’ target prices are shown to farmers.
- The order review splits the estimate into crop, transport, inspection and tax: ₹4,800 + ₹800 + ₹200 + ₹180 = ₹5,980.
- Payment by UPI is shown after the final quote is approved, so the sequence is clear before anyone confirms.
AI-powered communication
- A translation chat between English and Marathi lets a farmer and a buyer talk in their own languages.
- Each message is labelled Machine translated, so people know when to double-check the key terms.
- Quick replies such as Best price? and Supply 200 kg? cover the most common questions.
- A Confirm terms card turns the agreed crop, quantity and price into an order.
In the farmer’s language
- The farmer home is available in Marathi with the same layout as the English version, so nothing moves when the language changes.
Final screens
Find crops
The buyer side: browse crops, check the details and see who is selling.
Find buyers, in two languages
The farmer side, in English and in Marathi.
Talk and agree
A translation chat that ends in confirmed terms.
Order and track
From a clear estimate to a tracked delivery.
Constraints and tradeoffs
- Sample data is labelled. The farmer rating, reviews and profile stats are marked as sample data, so the prototype does not claim results it has not earned.
- The barcode is decorative. The order confirmation says so on the screen.
- Translation is machine-made. Labelling it keeps people alert to mistakes, at the cost of a little extra text in the chat.
- Inspection adds a step. The order tracker shows it clearly, because trust in the produce matters more than a faster order.
Testing and next steps
No usability testing has been done yet, so there are no results to report. The next steps are:
- Test the Marathi copy with Marathi speakers.
- Test whether wholesale buyers understand the price breakdown without help.
- Test the translation chat with farmers and buyers who speak different languages.
- Extend the crop list beyond tomatoes and onions.