London: Prince Charles has unveiled a new Digital Green App for Indian farmers to help them sell their crops online as part of his charity initiatives directed at India.
The 68-year-old heir to Britain's throne gave details of the app, which is part of the Rural Livelihoods Fund created by the British Asian Trust (BAT) last year, at the Trust's annual dinner in London last night.
He also said that the Trust is in the process of setting up a new "Development Impact Bond" aimed at children's education in Gujarat and Rajasthan.
"Another programme with great potential which my Trust launched recently is the Rural Livelihoods Fund? Through this initiative we will be able to support locally-led solutions such as the Digital Green App, which as I have seen allows farmers to sell their crops and arrange the transport for the crop all online and in a totally transparent way," said the Prince of Wales, who is the founder and president of BAT, which works towards empowering lives in South Asia by harnessing the strengths of the South Asian diaspora in the UK.
"I was particularly heartened to hear recently that the Indian government and the likes of Rabo Bank will be supporting this innovative idea," he added.
According to BAT, India has 25 per cent of the world's small farms, around 118 million in total, and more than 50 per cent of Indians rely on agriculture for their livelihoods.
"Sadly, many of these smallholders are living in extreme poverty and struggle to achieve a fair market price for their produce. I was determined to do something practical to help smallholder farmers in India.
Happily, I was not alone! A small group of government, private sector, NGO and agricultural thought leaders gathered at Clarence House to discuss the issue and with very generous support from the Anthony Pratt Foundation the Rural Livelihoods Fund was born," said Prince Charles, in reference to the India-focussed fund he had officially launched last year.
