Tighten Collaboration with Portfolio, BRI Agro Now Becomes Lender for TaniHub Institutions

Startups agritech TaniHub Group announced a business collaboration with BRI Agro to improve the welfare of farmers by providing access to funding, production facilities, to guarantee the sale of agricultural products.

In an official statement, as the first step of this collaboration, TaniHub's subsidiary move in p2p loans TaniFund will have access to financing and provision of distribution facilities to farmers by channeling credit from BRI Agro. This also marks BRI Agro as one of the ranks Actioncalendar institutions that join TaniFund.

Therefore, the farmers assisted by TaniFund can buy seeds, fertilizers, and other production facilities, which in turn can improve the quality of their products. The big hope is that, through a digital approach, farmers can buy various subsidized production needs through the application or the TaniHub website.

Previously, BRI Agro also collaborated with People's Capital (a company under the auspices of Fazz Financial). As is known, both TaniGroup and Fazz Financial are portfolios of BRI Ventures.

TaniHub Group CEO Ivan Arie Sustiawan said the partnership between the two companies could play a major role in improving the welfare of Indonesian farmers through access to finance. “Farmers no longer need to worry about one of their biggest problems, namely access to capital. Even with the TaniHub Group ecosystem, farmers also get market guarantees," he said, Wednesday (6/1).

President Director of BRI Agro Ebeneser Girsang added, "We see TaniHub Group as a businesses right for us to see their innovation and experience as a company agritech which has been established since 2016.”

The agricultural sector, according to a report from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), experienced positive growth in the third quarter of 2020, growing 2,15% YOY. In the previous quarter also rose 2,19% YOY. This increase indicates that this sector has a major role in Indonesia's economic defense.

In a previous postSo far, the majority of TaniFund still relies on retail lenders in distributing financing to its fostered farmers. Though the need for financing is slowly growing. The new company is backed by two banks, without revealing their identities.

Director of TaniFund Edison Tobing said that the average bank still adheres to the conventional concept because they always ask what the guarantee is. “In the end, all we did was strengthen their belief, inviting them to meet directly with the farmers we foster. To ensure that the funds are returned to the lenders, we will pay them directly to the bank, not the farmers because we ourselves take the goods from the farmers.”

Quoting from the TaniFund website, until now the company has disbursed loans of more than Rp. 178 billion with a success rate of 90 (TKB90) of 100%.