Patent Application
20230064592
This U.S. patent application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to: Indian Patent Application No. 202121039875, filed on Sep. 2, 2021. The entire contents of the aforementioned application are incorporated herein by reference.
The disclosure herein generally relates to the field of analyzing credibility of a farmer, and, more particularly, to a system and a method for assessing credit worthiness of farmers and risks associated with a farm.
Agriculture is a dominant sector for economies of several nations and credit plays an important role in increasing agriculture production. Availability and access to adequate, timely and low-cost credit from institutional sources is of great importance especially to small and marginal farmers. The lending institutions need to ensure that the farmer to which they providing the loans are credit worthy enough to repay the loan amount.
The agricultural lending decision making process is complex due to contractual and ownership arrangement issues, locational issues, and management quality and risk management issues. Credit risk is the largest risk faced by banks and financial institutions in agricultural loan, most of the financial institutions relied on subjective analysis or the so-called banker expert system to assess the credit risk of borrowers, however this method may be inconsistent in risk assessment and determination of credit worthiness. The degree of competition in agricultural lending will influence quantity and quality of loans made by the lending institutions.
Various methods have been used in the past to assess the credit worthiness of the farmer. Traditional cum banker's expert models may be inconsistent is assessing credit worthiness of farm, farmer in agricultural lending agency. No robust method in place to assess the farm credit risk associated with farm and farmer entrepreneurial quality on real time basis. Banker expert models relying on physical datasets, with manual intervention is not scalable and fail due to low reliability and accuracy. Another approach is the calculation of farm credit risk score, which is indicative of the credit worthiness of the farmer and risk associated with the farm, but even this approach has not been explored much.
Embodiments of the present disclosure present technological improvements as solutions to one or more of the above-mentioned technical problems recognized by the inventors in conventional systems. For example, in one embodiment, a system for assessing credit worthiness of a farmer and risks associated with a farm is provided. The system comprises one or more satellites, an input/output interface, one or more hardware processors and a memory. The one or more satellites receives a remote satellite data sensed over a predefined period over the farm. The memory in communication with the one or more hardware processors, wherein the one or more first hardware processors are configured to execute programmed instructions stored in the one or more first memories, to: generate a farm resource map using the remote satellite data; obtain an agro-climatic (AC) zone data respective to the farm from a data repository; calculate a Know Your Customer Farm (KYCF) score using the farm resource map and the AC zone data, wherein the KYCF is indicative of quality of the farm; receive a set of socioeconomic parameters and a set of socio-personal parameters of the farmer via a questionnaire, wherein the questionnaire is filled up by the farmer; calculate a Know Your Farmer (KYF) score for the farmer using the set of socioeconomic parameters and the set of socio-personal parameters, wherein the KYF score indicative of the financial worthiness of the farmer; collect a first set of parameters from a plurality of sources, wherein the first set of parameters comprises cropping pattern of the farming over a predefined time period, social participation of the farmer, experience of farming, experience in banking, information seeking behaviour of the farmer, marketing behaviour of the farmer and a farming knowledge of the farmer based on a number of trainings attended by the farmer; calculate a Farmer entrepreneurship Quality (FEQ) score using the first set of parameters, wherein the FEQ score is indicative of the ability of the farmer to repay the loan; calculate a farm credit risk score in real time using the KYCF score, the KYF score and the FEQ score; and compare the calculated farm credit risk score with a predefined criterion to classify the credit worthiness of the farmer and risk associated with the farm as one of a high risk, a moderate risk or a low risk.
In another aspect, a method for assessing credit worthiness of the farmer and risks associated with a farm is provided. Initially, a remote satellite data sensed from one or more satellites over a predefined period over the farm is received. Further, a farm resource map is generated using the remote satellite data. In the next step, an agro-climatic (AC) zone data respective to the farm is obtained from a data repository. Further, a Know Your Customer Farm (KYCF) score is calculated using the farm resource map and the AC zone data, wherein the KYCF is indicative of quality of the farm. Later a set of socioeconomic parameters and a set of socio-personal parameters of the farmer are received via a questionnaire, wherein the questionnaire is filled up by the farmer. In the next step, a Know Your Farmer (KYF) score is calculated for the farmer using the set of socioeconomic parameters and the set of socio-personal parameters, wherein the KYF score indicative of the financial worthiness of the farmer. Further, a first set of parameters are collected from a plurality of sources, wherein the first set of parameters comprises cropping pattern of the farming over a predefined time period, social participation of the farmer, experience of farming, experience in banking, information seeking behaviour of the farmer, marketing behaviour of the farmer and a farming knowledge of the farmer based on a number of trainings attended by the farmer. In the next step, a Farmer entrepreneurship Quality (FEQ) score is calculated using the first set of parameters, wherein the FEQ score is indicative of the ability of the farmer to repay the loan. A farm credit risk score is then calculated in real time using the KYCF score, the KYF score and the FEQ score. And finally, the calculated farm credit risk score is compared with a predefined criterion to classify the credit worthiness of the farmer and risk associated with the farm as one of a high risk, a medium risk or a low risk.
In yet another aspect, one or more non-transitory machine-readable information storage mediums comprising one or more instructions which when executed by one or more hardware processors cause assessing credit worthiness of the farmer and risk associated with a farm is provided. Initially, a remote satellite data sensed from one or more satellites over a predefined period over the farm is received. Further, a farm resource map is generated using the remote satellite data. In the next step, an agro-climatic (AC) zone data respective to the farm is obtained from a data repository. Further, a Know Your Customer Farm (KYCF) score is calculated using the farm resource map and the AC zone data, wherein the KYCF is indicative of quality of the farm. Later a set of socioeconomic parameters and a set of socio-personal parameters of the farmer are received via a questionnaire, wherein the questionnaire is filled up by the farmer. In the next step, a Know Your Farmer (KYF) score is calculated for the farmer using the set of socioeconomic parameters and the set of socio-personal parameters, wherein the KYF score indicative of the financial worthiness of the farmer. Further, a first set of parameters are collected from a plurality of sources, wherein the first set of parameters comprises cropping pattern of the farming over a predefined time period, social participation of the farmer, experience of farming, experience in banking, information seeking behaviour of the farmer, marketing behaviour of the farmer and a farming knowledge of the farmer based on a number of trainings attended by the farmer. In the next step, a Farmer entrepreneurship Quality (FEQ) score is calculated using the first set of parameters, wherein the FEQ score is indicative of the ability of the farmer to repay the loan. A farm credit risk score is then calculated in real time using the KYCF score, the KYF score and the FEQ score. And finally, the calculated farm credit risk score is compared with a predefined criterion to classify the credit worthiness of the farmer and risk associated with the farm as one of a high risk, a medium risk or a low risk.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate exemplary embodiments and, together with the description, serve to explain the disclosed principles:
Exemplary embodiments are described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. Wherever convenient, the same reference numbers are used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts. While examples and features of disclosed principles are described herein, modifications, adaptations, and other implementations are possible without departing from the scope of the disclosed embodiments.
The agricultural lending decision making process is complex due to contractual and ownership arrangement issues, locational issues, and management quality and risk management issues. Credit risk is the largest risk faced by banks and financial institutions in agricultural loan, most of the financial institutions relied on subjective analysis to assess the credit risk of borrowers, however this method may be inconsistent in risk assessment and determination of credit worthiness.
Most of the existing prior art focuses on farmer personal, socioeconomic characteristics, land attributes and remote sensing data approach for assessing credit worthiness of farmer and no work has been carried out in assessing credit worthiness using deep insights like farm health, farmer economics and entrepreneurship characteristics of a farmer. These methods are not taking into account of key farm health parameters, farmer entrepreneurial traits to determine credit worthiness. The existing work does not consider use of farm health, farmer economic ability and farmer entrepreneurial characteristics for assessing credit worthiness.
The present disclosure provides a method and a system for assessing credit worthiness of the farmer and risks associated with a farm. The credit worthiness of the farmer and risks associated with farm is assessed by aggregating data which significantly influence the farmer credit repayment ability and intension. The system and method are configured to calculate farm credit risk score based on the farm capability, farmer socio economic traits and their entrepreneurial quality which helps to assess credit worthiness of a farmer accurately. The farmer credit worthiness is analyzed using satellite data, field data from the farm and risk associated with them. The farm credit risk score is calculated in real time basis to every farm loan sanctioned by the lending institutions to safeguard their loan loss and non-performing loans.
Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to
According to an embodiment of the disclosure,
It may be understood that the system 100 comprises one or more computing devices 102, such as a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a notebook, a workstation, a cloud-based computing environment and the like. It will be understood that the system 100 may be accessed through one or more input/output interfaces 104, collectively referred to as I/O interface 104 or user interface 104. Examples of the I/O interface 104 may include, but are not limited to, a user interface, a portable computer, a personal digital assistant, a handheld device, a smartphone, a tablet computer, a workstation and the like. The I/O interface 104 are communicatively coupled to the system 100 through a network 106.
In an embodiment, the network 106 may be a wireless or a wired network, or a combination thereof. In an example, the network 106 can be implemented as a computer network, as one of the different types of networks, such as virtual private network (VPN), intranet, local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), the internet, and such. The network 106 may either be a dedicated network or a shared network, which represents an association of the different types of networks that use a variety of protocols, for example, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), to communicate with each other. Further, the network 106 may include a variety of network devices, including routers, bridges, servers, computing devices, storage devices. The network devices within the network 106 may interact with the system 100 through communication links.
The system 100 may be implemented in a workstation, a mainframe computer, a server, and a network server. In an embodiment, the computing device 102 further comprises one or more hardware processors 108, one or more memory 110, hereinafter referred as a memory 110 and a data repository 112, for example, a repository 112. The memory 110 is in communication with the one or more hardware processors 108, wherein the one or more hardware processors 108 are configured to execute programmed instructions stored in the memory 110, to perform various functions as explained in the later part of the disclosure. The repository 112 may store data processed, received, and generated by the system 100.
The system 100 supports various connectivity options such as BLUETOOTH®, USB, ZigBee and other cellular services. The network environment enables connection of various components of the system 100 using any communication link including Internet, WAN, MAN, and so on. In an exemplary embodiment, the system 100 is implemented to operate as a stand-alone device. In another embodiment, the system 100 may be implemented to work as a loosely coupled device to a smart computing environment. The components and functionalities of the system 100 are described further in detail.
A functional block diagram of the system 100 for assessing credit worthiness of the farmer and the risk associated with the farm is shown in
According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the system 100 takes satellite data as an input data from one or more satellites 114. The satellite data can be used to get the information about the quality of the farms. The satellites used may include but not limited to Sentinel 1, Sentinel 2 and Landsat 8 etc. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the one or more processors 108 are configured to identify a type of the one or more crops cultivated on a specific land based on the one or more satellite images. For instance, the system 100 may employ and execute one or more machine learning (ML) algorithms (e.g., as known in the art ML algorithms) for crop detection. For instance, type of crop may comprise, but are not limited to rice, wheat, sugarcane, grapes, and the like.
The satellite data received from various satellites is used to prepare a land resource map. For any region, the satellite data is used to detect the type of crop grown on the field for past consecutive years. In addition to this, for each season, the farm credit risk score is estimated and its capability for crop production during the forthcoming season. Different risk category obtained to classify a farmer based on their farm, farmer capability such as KYF and FEQ while availing the loan. If any farmer wants to avail more than proposed loan amount the farmer may have to provide a security or deviation matrix could be applied to disburse loan. In an example the farm credit risk score is a function of the KYCF score, the KYF score and the FEQ score in the proportion of 50:20:30 as shown in equation (1):
Farm credit score(FCR)=f(KYCF(50%),KYF(20%),FEQ(30%)) (1)
According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the system 100 is also configured to create a set of risk categories based on farm quality, farmer characters and entrepreneurial quality for availing loan from the banks. The farm credit risk score for each farm has been generated based on the satellite data analysis and given to credit managers of the banks to underwrite loan accurately and efficiently. The farm credit risk score (FCRS) is calculated based on the range of the score generated by combining the KYCF score, the KYF score and the FEQ score. In an example the FCRS can be calculated between 0 and 1000. So, if the FCRS is more than 850 then it is no risk and loan can be disbursed without any risk. If the FCRS is between 750 and 850 then it is moderately risk, if the FCRS is between 500 and 750 then it is low risk and if the score is less than 500 then it is highly risky to disburse the loan.
According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the system 100 is also configured for the assessment of inherited credit risk associated with the farmer based on farmer's socio-economic characteristics like cash flow, agriculture and allied activities, experience in farming, educational qualification, family size and their primary, secondary occupation to repayment of the loan.
Operations of the flowchart, and combinations of operations in the flowchart, may be implemented by various means, such as hardware, firmware, processor, circuitry and/or other device associated with execution of software including one or more computer program instructions. For example, one or more of the procedures described in various embodiments may be embodied by computer program instructions. In an example embodiment, the computer program instructions, which embody the procedures, described in various embodiments may be stored by at least one memory device of a system and executed by at least one processor in the system. Any such computer program instructions may be loaded onto a computer or other programmable system (for example, hardware) to produce a machine, such that the resulting computer or other programmable system embody means for implementing the operations specified in the flowchart. It will be noted herein that the operations of the method 300 are described with help of system 100. However, the operations of the method 300 can be described and/or practiced by using any other system.
Initially at step 302 of the method 300, a remote satellite data sensed from one or more satellites over a predefined period over the farm is received. At step 304, a farm resource map is generated using the remote satellite data. The farm resource map is a digital map of farm critical resources like soil & water to understand crop production potentiality of the farm. The farm resource map comprises: a) Soil type and land suitable for farming and b) Water source and type of irrigation & method of irrigation, for example, canal irrigation, drip method of irrigation etc.(c) Cattle shed, Farm pond, Compost pit etc.
At step 306 of the method 300, an agro-climatic (AC) zone data respective to the farm is obtained from the data repository 112. Food and agriculture organization (FAO) has defined the agro-climatic zone as a land unit represented accurately or precisely in terms of major climate and growing period, which is climatically suitable for certain range of crops and cultivars. In other words, it is an extension of the climate classification keeping in view the suitability to agriculture.
Further at step 308 of the method 300, the Know Your Customer Farm (KYCF) score is calculated using the farm resource map and the AC zone data. The KYCF is indicative of quality of the farm. The KYCF score is dependent of various other factors. There are index points associated with each of the factors. These factors comprise:
In the next step 310 of the method 300, a set of socioeconomic parameters and a set of socio-personal parameters of the farmer are received via a questionnaire. The questionnaire is filled up by the farmer before taking the loan.
The set of socioeconomic parameters and the set of socio-personal parameters provides socio economic characteristics of the farmers. The set of socioeconomic parameters comprises family income, non-farming related income, machinery possession, micro-irrigation or cultivable area etc. The set of socio-personal parameters comprise personal parameters like family size (less than 5 or more than 5), family type (nuclear/joint), primary occupation of the farmer, secondary occupation, mobile phone model, educational qualification of the farmer and economic parameters like cash flow, annual income from agriculture, allied activities, type of loan availed, loan due amount and loan default amount. A separate index points are assigned to the set of socioeconomic parameters and the set of socio-personal parameters.
Further at step 312 of the method 300, the Know Your Farmer (KYF) score is calculated for the farmer using the set of socioeconomic parameters and the set of socio-personal parameters. The KYF score is indicative of the financial worthiness of the farmer.
At step 314 of the method 300, a first set of parameters is collected from a plurality of sources. The first set of parameters comprises cropping pattern of the farming over a predefined time period, social participation of the farmer, experience of farming, experience in banking, information seeking behaviour of the farmer, marketing behaviour of the farmer and a farming knowledge of the farmer based on a number of trainings attended by the farmer. The trainings may comprise one or more of training on commercial crop, training on food crops, training on entrepreneurship or training on IPM.
According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the first set of parameters is also collected from crowdsourcing. The crowdsourcing data comprises:
Based on the above information obtained from the crowdsourcing index points are assigned to various index mentioned above.
At step 316 of the method 300, the Farmer entrepreneurship Quality (FEQ) score is calculated using the first set of parameters, wherein the FEQ score is indicative of the ability of the farmer to repay the loan.
The system and method also assess farmer entrepreneurship quality of a farmer by collecting data from farmers using mobile app social participation, crop and variety selection, method of cultivation, major pest. major disease, history of calamity, cosmopolitans, source of credit, information seeking behavior, machinery possession, knowledge on farming, type of insurance, govt policy and scheme, marketability and infrastructure.to study their ability to repayment of loan be calculated on the rating infrastructure.to study their ability to repayment of loan be calculated on the rating scale method to arrive FEQ score card maximum points up to 300.ethod to arrive FEQ score card maximum points up to 300.
Further step 318 of the method 300, a farm credit risk score is calculated in real-time using the KYCF score, the KYF score and the FEQ score. And finally, at step 320 of the method 300, the calculated farm credit risk score is compared with a predefined criterion to classify the credit worthiness of the farmer and risk associated with the farm as one of a high risk, a moderate risk or a low risk. In an example, criteria can be chosen as follows: The farm credit risk score (FCRS) is <500-high risk, FCRS is 500-600-moderate risk, FCRS is 600-750-low risk, FCRS>750— very low risk.
According to an embodiment of the disclosure, a risk mitigation strategy can also be recommended in terms of a personalized crop protocol. If the farmer risk category is high and is recommended to issue loan with caution and recommended to follow the Personalized crop protocol recommended by the system mandatorily. whereas the moderate & low risk category farmer will also be recommended to follow the personalized crop protocol mandatorily, Low risky farmers are optional to follow up the crop protocol to mitigate the risk.
The written description describes the subject matter herein to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the embodiments. The scope of the subject matter embodiments is defined by the claims and may include other modifications that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other modifications are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have similar elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims or if they include equivalent elements with insubstantial differences from the literal language of the claims.
The embodiments of present disclosure herein address unresolved problem of assessing the risk associated with the farmer before lending a loan. The embodiment thus provides a method and system for assessing credit worthiness of the farmer and risk associated with the farm.
It is to be understood that the scope of the protection is extended to such a program and in addition to a computer-readable means having a message therein; such computer-readable storage means contain program-code means for implementation of one or more steps of the method, when the program runs on a server or mobile device or any suitable programmable device. The hardware device can be any kind of device which can be programmed including e.g. any kind of computer like a server or a personal computer, or the like, or any combination thereof. The device may also include means which could be e.g. hardware means like e.g. an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or a combination of hardware and software means, e.g. an ASIC and an FPGA, or at least one microprocessor and at least one memory with software processing components located therein. Thus, the means can include both hardware means and software means. The method embodiments described herein could be implemented in hardware and software. The device may also include software means. Alternatively, the embodiments may be implemented on different hardware devices, e.g. using a plurality of CPUs.
The embodiments herein can comprise hardware and software elements. The embodiments that are implemented in software include but are not limited to, firmware, resident software, microcode, etc. The functions performed by various components described herein may be implemented in other components or combinations of other components. For the purposes of this description, a computer-usable or computer readable medium can be any apparatus that can comprise, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
The illustrated steps are set out to explain the exemplary embodiments shown, and it should be anticipated that ongoing technological development will change the manner in which particular functions are performed. These examples are presented herein for purposes of illustration, and not limitation. Further, the boundaries of the functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenience of the description. Alternative boundaries can be defined so long as the specified functions and relationships thereof are appropriately performed. Alternatives (including equivalents, extensions, variations, deviations, etc., of those described herein) will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s) based on the teachings contained herein. Such alternatives fall within the scope of the disclosed embodiments. Also, the words “comprising,” “having,” “containing,” and “including,” and other similar forms are intended to be equivalent in meaning and be open ended in that an item or items following any one of these words is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of such item or items, or meant to be limited to only the listed item or items. It must also be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.
Furthermore, one or more computer-readable storage media may be utilized in implementing embodiments consistent with the present disclosure. A computer-readable storage medium refers to any type of physical memory on which information or data readable by a processor may be stored. Thus, a computer-readable storage medium may store instructions for execution by one or more processors, including instructions for causing the processor(s) to perform steps or stages consistent with the embodiments described herein. The term “computer-readable medium” should be understood to include tangible items and exclude carrier waves and transient signals, i.e., be non-transitory. Examples include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), volatile memory, nonvolatile memory, hard drives, CD ROMs, DVDs, flash drives, disks, and any other known physical storage media.
It is intended that the disclosure and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope of disclosed embodiments being indicated by the following claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202121039875 | Sep 2021 | IN | national |
