SBI links YONO Krishi with govt portal for delivery of horticulture seeds at farmers' doorsteps

The country's largest lender SBI on Friday said it has integrated YONO Krishi platform with the government's first online horticulture seed portal to facilitate the delivery of high quality seeds at farmers' doorsteps.

YONO Krishi integrates with ICAR IIHR seed portal to reach out to 2.7 crore customers registered on YONO, SBI said in a release.

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The Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) has been bringing new innovations in agriculture through research and development since last 91 years.

Indian Institute of Horticulture Research (IIHR) team has brought out a digital portal for farmers to purchase seeds of high yielding and disease resistant varieties, it said.

Farmers across the country can shop for IIHR variety of seeds suitable for different climatic zones and geographical areas, SBI said.

It will empower farmer customers to purchase the high yield, high quality seeds being sold by the research institute.

The integration was launched by Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar in the presence of SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar earlier on Wednesday (August 26), the lender said.

"Wherever technology has been used, it has helped the rural areas significantly, in which banks have made significant contribution over the years. State Bank of India, being the largest bank, has played a pivotal role all along," Tomar said.

With this integration of ICAR-IIHR with YONO Krishi, farmers will be able to purchase seeds certified by the research institute, the minister said.

He said the entire amount of government schemes is reaching directly to beneficiaries due to transparency and SBI has contributed in implementation of government initiatives like PM-Kisan, Prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojana as well as transparent payments to the identified beneficiaries of the subsidies.

"This is another step towards fulfilling the dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of doubling farmer's income by 2022. With a digital-first approach, it is part of our continuous endeavour to provide innovative digital banking solutions to all our customers across the country," the SBI chairman said.

SBI's one-stop YONO (you only need one) digital platform which was launched about two-and-a-half years ago has seen more than 56 million downloads with over 27 million registered users.

YONO has partnered with over 80 ecommerce players in more than 20 categories and has also forayed into global markets such as the UK and Mauritius.