Indian Agri-tech startup, Arya Collateral showcases its expertise at 16th Philippine National Corn Congress

Indian Agri-tech startup in the post-harvest solutions domain, Arya Collateral participated in Philippine’s 16th edition of National Corn Congress (PNCC) today. Organized by Philippines Maize Federation Inc. (PhilMaize) and the National Corn Board, the event marks the joint celebration of their National Farmers Day.  

Prasanna Rao, Managing Director, Arya Collateral participated as a resource speaker and showcased India’s work in the field of Agri production. He also spoke in-depth on the topic of ‘Commodity Collateral Financing.’ The 16th PNCC was organised virtually this year with more than 3000 participants and 20 eminent speakers from the agriculture industry. Prasanna has been among the few Indians to have been invited to the event to date.  

The theme of the event was “Maunlad na Magmamais; Kaakibat sa Pagbangon ng Ating Ekonomiya” translating to “Prosperous Corn Farmers, Key Partner to our Economic Recovery” highlighting the inclusive role of the local corn industry in contributing to the national economic recovery given the challenges of the on-going global pandemic.                        

On the occasion, Prasanna Rao, Managing Director, Arya Collateral said, “Arya has evolved to being the largest agri-warehousing service provider in India while servicing mostly the smaller primary and secondary agricultural markets.” 

He further added, “It also extends its market linkages and financial linkages services in more than 20 states in India. We feel that corn is an extremely important value chain for a country like India where the dependence on commodities like wheat and rice has traditionally been very high. Post-harvest losses can be reduced manifold using innovative farm gate level storage and embedded commodities collateral financing. We believe that more accessible credit and storage can contribute to food security. Such financing is an important component of a holistic approach to making agricultural credit and professional storage more accessible and we are striving for that through all our initiatives.” 

Arya also highlighted its efforts in India to tackle the challenges that arrived due to the pandemic and also suggested how the Philippines can opt for them and implement them at the local level. Their recent initiative, A2ZGodaam enables farmers and other value chain stakeholders to easily find agri-warehouses, access credit and other post-harvest solutions across the country.  

Presently, about 3,000 warehouses (located in 300 districts) are listed on the platform. They have an aggregated area of about 45 million square feet with a storage capacity of 7.0 million tonnes. Besides, there are 76 service providers from insurance to local transportation that could be accessed through the platform. 

Roger Navarro, President Philmaize at the event expressed his desire to replicate the Arya experience of Commodity Collaterised finance in the Philippines. He also suggested that it is the way forward for Philippines’s corn farmer and can help stabilise prices and supplies and offer the best price and cost for farmers and consumers.