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This project uncovers
the “why” behind user behavior, that reshaped how the organization thinks, builds, and grows.
Farmer
BharatAgri
Dealer
To set the context, there are 3 key characters in this story.
Farmer grows crop not just to sustain himself, but to maximize crop yield and earn a better return from his harvest
BharatAgri
Maximising
Crop Yield
BharatAgri offers a personalised
crop calendar with daily farm activities.
How personalised crop calendar helps?
Think of a tomato crop — throughout its lifecycle, it needs the right nutrients, fertilizers, growth boosters at every stage. When a pest or disease appears, the farmer must act quickly with the right preventive or curative steps.
The crop calendar simplifies all of this, guiding the farmer with clear, stage-wise activities to perform on the farm.
Research Brief
Year
2022
Duration
7 Days
Discipline
User Research
This research focused on understanding the user base — exploring how farmers operate, their culture, digital literacy, and daily routines.
We began the field research in Solapur(Maharashtra), engaging directly with farmers who were paid subscribers of the application.
These users had purchased a premium plan that included a personalized crop calendar, outlining weekly farm activities.
Name : Babasaheb Panbude
Age : 45 Years
Education : 10th Pass
Occupation : Agri Input Dealer
Interests : Politics & Comedy
Location : Tembhurni (MH)
Panbude owns an agri-input shop along the highway in Tembhurni, Solapur. A fearless and confident entrepreneur, he’s open to experimenting and taking risks to grow his business.
He spends most of his day at the shop, where in his free time he actively consumes agricultural content on YouTube, Facebook, and WhatsApp groups, he even bought a phone stand to make it easier to watch videos.
He understands the value of expert consultancy and strongly believes in the importance of reliable, quality information.
Pattern & Behaviours
Scanning than reading
Scrolling page till bottom
Using existing patterns of Youtube and Whatsapp
Favourite Apps
Youtube
Google Photos
Phone Pe
Digital Affordance
Speaks Marathi, Read Marathi & Hindi Types in Hinglish
Likes consuming Videos
🎤︎︎ Audio search
Zooms every image
Click on every info he reads
Scrolling over selecting
Major focus is on the middle of the screen
Directly looks for the solution of a problem
Lazy at typing
Farm Details
Crop : Sugarcane
Area : 6 Acre
Frustation/Challanges
No clarity about paid and unpaid farm
Feature discovery is not easy
App Usage
Opens app once a week
In Activity card detail, directly scrolls to product
Ignored bottom nav
Wants/Needs
Good quality information in consumable form (audio/video)
E-com product details
Name : Sachine Madhekar
Age : 40 Years
Education : MBBS
Occupation : Doctor
Interests : Entertainment, Agri
Location : Kurduvadi (MH)
Sachine is a well-educated doctor with a deep passion for farming. Though he practices medicine full-time, he manages a sugarcane farm as a source of side income and personal fulfillment.
He relies on his assistant to handle day-to-day activities while he supervises remotely. He uses satellite imagery feature, which allows him to monitor his fields right from his clinic. He frequently accesses the app to read advisories, then guides his helper accordingly.
Pattern & Behaviours
Scrolling page till bottom
Using existing patterns of Youtube and Whatsapp
Reads, Understand then clicks on something
Favourite Apps
Youtube
Phone Pe
Digital Affordance
Speaks Marathi & Hindi
Read and Types in Marathi, Hinglish, English
Zooms every image
F pattern scanning
Scrolling over selecting
Major focus is on the middle of the screen
Directly looks for the solution of a problem
Lazy at typing
Farm Details
Crop : Sugarcane
Area : 8 Acre
Owns : 3 Farms
Frustation/Challanges
No indication on which activities are done
having trouble in understanding CTA Text
App Usage
Uses satellite imagery feature the most (4days/week)
Ignored bottom nav
Uses crop calendar almost daily
Wants/Needs
Option to purchase products via App
Repurchase option in order history
Recording of webinars
Latest Govt news & schemes for farmers
Name : Samadhan Dhulghude
Age : 38 Years
Education : 4th Pass
Occupation : *Farmer
Interests : *Agriculture
Location : Upale (MH)
Dhulghude is a hardworking farmer who spends most of his day working under the sun in his fields. He understands the importance of timely and accurate agricultural advisory, but he struggles with using digital devices and navigating apps. Despite limited formal education, He is eager to learn more about his farm’s health and improve his yields.
To overcome his digital limitations, he relies on audio typing and photo sharing features to communicate and seek help.
Pattern & Behaviours
Don't understand much
Using existing patterns of Phone Gallery/Whatsapp/Contacts
Favourite Apps
Digital Affordance
Reads Marathi (Trouble while reading)
Can not type (Voice to text)
Click photo/record audio to give input
Uses audio to type
Doesn't understand icons
Slow scanning of info
Gesture dominent
Using phone in bright sunlight increases cognitive load
Farm Details
Crop : Tomato, Marigold
Area : 1.5 Acre
Frustation/Challanges
Uploading images at chat to get feedback but getting autogenerated replies only
App Usage
using Satellite imagery
uploading images at chat to get feedbacks
Wants/Needs
Voice to text functionality
Pre-typed text in chat
Quick Insights
The research paid off
As we refined the user experience, fresh product ideas naturally surfaced from the insights we discovered.
But it also left us with a crucial question!
Should we step into agri e-commerce?
The advisory does its job well, but it leaves a gap — farmers still have to visit local shops to get the agri products
Then what should we do?
PIVOT
How are users buying agri products ?
THE DEALER
I sell agri products and ???
Recognizing our limited understanding of this entity, we ran more user studies to uncover deeper insights.
Research Brief
Year
2022
Duration
2 Days
Discipline
User Research, Business Strategy
As we planned to expand our platform to enable agri product sales, it became essential to understand the offline agricultural ecosystem — particularly how dealers operate and how farmers make purchase decisions in traditional settings.
To uncover these insights, we conducted field research across Karnataka and Rajasthan, interacting directly with local agri-input dealers (shopkeepers) to observe their daily operations, farmer interactions, and the underlying dynamics of the offline buying process.
Agri Shop
Dealer Behaviour
He maintained a friendly and trusting relationship with farmers, often built over years.
Product recommendations were largely experience-based rather than scientific — dealers typically assured farmers that “it works” instead of explaining the technical details.
Purchase quantities were often decided by the dealer, not the farmer.
Upselling was common, with dealers suggesting additional or higher-value products during transactions.
If a product was unavailable, dealers actively sourced it from nearby shops or distributors to meet farmer demand.
What was happening inside the shop?
Farmers share a strong relationship of trust with their dealers, often relying on them for purchase decisions.
They follow dealer recommendations without questioning or seeking alternative opinions.
Most farmers are unaware of formal advisory systems and lack access to reliable physical or digital advisory sources.
Farmers are confident in application methods and already know how to use most agri products.
They typically purchase inputs in advance for upcoming activities or the next planned nutrient dose (PND).
Using insights from the above research
E-commerce was introduced in the application
DAU increased
Engagement doubled
Purchases tripled
Revenue grew exponentially
2022-23
2023-24
2024-25
and this is how BharatAgri
EVOLVED
But how did BharatAgri managed to replace the dealer?
END of Part 1
Part 2 coming soon
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