AgroConnect: A Digital Platform for Direct Farmer-Consumer Connectivity

Abstract

Agriculture plays a crucial role in the Indian economy, yet farmers often face challenges in selling their produce due to the presence of intermediaries and lack of direct market access. These intermediaries reduce farmer profits while increasing prices for consumers. AgroConnect is a web-based digital platform designed to bridge this gap by directly connecting farmers and consumers through a transparent and user-friendly marketplace. The platform enables farmers to list agricultural products, manage orders, and communicate with buyers, while consumers can browse fresh produce, place orders, and track deliveries. The system focuses on simplicity, transparency, and accessibility, making it suitable for users with basic digital knowledge. AgroConnect has been implemented as a functional web application and demonstrates improved efficiency in agricultural trade, reduced dependency on middlemen, and enhanced trust between farmers and consumers. The solution supports digital agriculture initiatives and provides a scalable model for modern agricultural marketplaces.

Introduction

Agriculture is a vital sector of the Indian economy, yet farmers often face challenges in accessing fair markets due to traditional supply chains dominated by intermediaries who control pricing and payments. This reduces farmers’ incomes while increasing costs for consumers. With expanding internet access and digital technologies, online platforms offer an opportunity to transform agricultural marketing by improving transparency, reducing middlemen, and enabling direct communication.

AgroConnect is a digital platform designed to directly link farmers with consumers, allowing farmers to sell produce independently and consumers to buy fresh products at fair prices. The platform addresses key problems such as lack of direct market access for farmers, price manipulation by middlemen, limited consumer information, complexity of existing e-commerce platforms, and low digital awareness in rural areas.

The system was developed using a structured methodology involving requirement analysis, system design, application development, testing, and deployment. It follows a client–server architecture with role-based modules for farmers, consumers, and administrators. The frontend was built with React.js, the backend with Node.js and Express.js, and MongoDB was used for data storage.

Implementation results showed improved efficiency and transparency in agricultural trade. Farmers could directly list products and receive orders, set their own prices, and manage orders easily, while consumers gained clear product and pricing information. The platform’s simple interface and reliable backend ensured usability even for users with basic digital skills.

The root cause of inefficiency in traditional markets was identified as the lack of a direct digital connection between farmers and consumers, compounded by low digital adoption and unsuitable platforms. Key lessons learned emphasize the importance of simple, user-friendly digital solutions, direct interaction to build trust, and secure data management to support sustainable agricultural development.

Conclusion

AgroConnect successfully demonstrates how a digital platform can improve agricultural marketing by directly connecting farmers and consumers. The system reduces dependency on intermediaries, ensures fair pricing, and enhances transparency in agricultural trade. By leveraging modern web technologies, AgroConnect supports the digital transformation of agriculture and contributes to sustainable farmer income growth. The platform is scalable, cost-effective, and can be adapted for wider deployment across different agricultural regions.

References

[1] A. Kumar and S. Sharma, “Digital transformation in Indian agriculture,” International Journal of Agricultural Science, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 45–52, 2020. [2] M. Patel and R. Shah, “Web-based platforms for farmer-to-consumer agricultural trade,” Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies, 2019. [3] Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, “E-agriculture and digital innovation,” 2020. Available: www.fao.org/e-agriculture [4] J. Laudon and C. Traver, E-Commerce: Business, Technology, Society, 15th ed., Pearson Education, 2021. [5] MongoDB Inc., “MongoDB Documentation,” 2023. Available: www.mongodb.com/docs

Copyright

Copyright © 2025 Manjiree Chandrakant Huse, Pradnya Bharat Mane, Adnya Bharat Mane, Asif Javed shaikh, Gayatri Ranba Khandare. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.