Our Data Story
- Vikas Birhma
- Jul 20
- 4 min read
We were building the foundation of a data cooperative, one step at a time. Bolbhav was launched on April 10, 2023, in the beta phase with a single use-case of crop sale price data. Since its inception, we had been testing two hypotheses: first, would farmers contribute data; and second, would farmers pay to access aggregated data? The numbers shown here are as of July 2025.
Concept Video
(Dated: December 2023)
Four Main Data Pipelines We Were Tracking:
How many users contributed their data to earn rewards?
How many users actively sought aggregated data to make better decisions?
How many users paid to access aggregated data?
How many farmers stuck around and brought other users?
A Note Before You Dive Into Our Data Story
As you explore the data from our journey, some numbers might feel disjointed or inconclusive. That’s because Gramhal was a space of constant experimentation. We were not just building a product, but discovering the right model. We frequently changed features, tested different user incentives, and pivoted based on what we were learning on the ground. So while some data points may not tell a clean, linear story, they were critical markers in our process of figuring things out. We’re sharing them not as polished metrics, but as honest reflections of what it took to build something new—especially when building for complexity, uncertainty, and farmer ownership.
Farmers Contributed Their Crop Sale Data and Earned Rewards
Total Data Units Contributed to Date = 245,836
Each data unit in Bolbhav represented the price at which a crop was sold, captured through the submission of a mandi-issued sales receipt. These receipts included key details such as market name, crop name, variety, quantity, sale price, and trader name. Once submitted, the data was validated by other users in the system, reinforcing transparency and trust.
In the initial phase, we focused on proving the hypothesis: would users pay for access to real-time, crowd-sourced pricing information? Hence, to simulate this model at scale, we began with an employee-based data collection in a single mandi between April to September 2023. Then, from October to December 2023, we expanded to ten mandis. From January to April 2024, we transitioned to a gig worker-based model, offering monetary incentives to encourage regular contributions.
Since May 5, 2024, we had completely phased out monetary incentives. From that point, contributors were not paid in cash but were rewarded with access—by submitting five receipts, for instance, a user unlocked one year of price data for a selected mandi. The chart below shows that when monetary incentives were removed, the count of receipts fell drastically.
Farmers Actively Sought Aggregated Data to Make Better Decisions
Users could access aggregated datasets by selecting their preferred crop and market. They were presented with aggregated statistics alongside images of sales receipts for that specific mandi-crop-date combination. This engagement was entirely voluntary, as the product never had push notifications. Users proactively opened the app to view crop prices, indicating a strong, self-motivated interest in the data provided.
We utilized phone numbers as unique identifiers for our users. Each new phone number registered with the application received a five-day trial period to explore the product. The total number of application installs was nearly half this figure, suggesting that individuals might have been using multiple phone numbers on the same device to access several trial periods. This trend indicated that farmers were actively seeking ways to continue using the product without incurring costs.
Farmers Paid to Access Aggregated Data
Farmers could access the aggregated dataset either by redeeming tokens earned through their contributions or by purchasing a usage-based subscription. The platform was intentionally designed to nudge users toward earning tokens by engaging in various activities, with subscription purchases positioned as a fallback option. Importantly, all subscriptions purchased to date had been entirely organic.
Between April 2023 and April 2024, our focus was on testing both farmers’ willingness to pay and the overall market potential. In our pilot geography, over 2360 unique users voluntarily purchased a subscription—despite no active sales or marketing efforts. This uptake indicated that farmers saw value in accessing reliable, aggregated data.
Amount | Subscription type | Times subscription purchased |
|---|---|---|
9 | Daily | 83 |
20 | Weekly | 2138 |
50 | Monthly | 612 |
100 | Quarterly | 597 |
250 | Annually | 533 |
Paid Users Stuck Around
Defying the stereotype that farmers avoid paying for information, our resubscription data reflected a willingness to invest in actionable insights. Out of 2,365 unique subscribers, over 766 resubscribed—around a 32% rate, especially considering the season-bound nature of crop price needs. Since demand for this information peaked around harvest, many users returned only when it aligned with their farming cycle.
Furthermore, the subscription service was active for just one year—from April 10, 2023, to May 5, 2024—meaning most annual subscribers didn’t even have the opportunity to renew. Despite these constraints, the re-subscription numbers suggested clear farmer demand and readiness to pay when the value was evident.
This was our data story—not one of viral growth or mass adoption, but of steady learning, ground-up experimentation, and moments of deep insight. We’re sharing it as a record of what was built, what was tried, and how farmers responded. While the outcomes did not lead us to long-term sustainability, the journey revealed important signals about what farmers value, how they engage with technology, and what it means to build with—not just for—them. We carry forward the lessons with gratitude, knowing that even in its limitations, this work added a small but sincere chapter to the broader efforts of farmer-centered innovation.