Anil Lade, a 27 year old engineer  has a strong agricultural background which  helped him come up with a technological solution for one of the most pressing issues of the sector — dealing with the middlemen. Lade felt that even after tremendous hardwork, farmers have no control over the price of their produce as middlemen rule the market.

His education in engineering and management helped him come up with an app called ' Marketyard' which he hopes will eliminate the middlemen and benefit the farmers. 

Marketyard, as the name suggests, is an online market for buyers and sellers, but exclusively for the agricultural sector. The app is free and farmers can list the quantity and quality of their produce so that prospective buyers can go through them. Location of the buyer is also listed so that sellers can browse through the list and contact the buyer directly.

As he hailed from a family of pomegranate farmers in Sangola taluka of Solapur district, he knew how farmers were fleeced at markets. Market access was limited to the farmers and they had very little say in matters regarding price of their products.

To tackle these problems, Lade developed this app which due to the universal reach of technology, allows a wider market access to the farmers. The app was launched four months ago and it has been downloaded more than 10,000 times. Other than fruits and vegetables, the app also allows for listing of agricultural equipment and farm machinery — both on rent and purchase. Lade added that the app also allows listing of farm animals for sale.