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The builder's path

Five steps from a problem to its solution.

For: Paddy farmers in Punjab can't see how close their mandi is to its new procurement target before they bring their crop in.

“The true creator is necessity, which is the mother of our invention.”
Plato · Republic II, 369c (tr. B. Jowett)

Routes to a solution

Six ways to take this forward

Each route is a different kind of journey, with real people and organisations to contact at each step, starting with those in Punjab.

  1. Step 1

    Join an impact incubator

    Shape a model that pays for itself without excluding the people who need it.

    • Villgro ↗

      Incubator for social enterprises in health, agriculture and livelihoods.

    • Social Alpha ↗

      Lab-to-market platform for science and technology aimed at social problems.

    • Acumen ↗

      Patient capital and fellowships for enterprises serving low-income communities.

    • Startup India ↗

      The national startup programme: recognition, schemes and a directory of incubators.

  2. Step 2

    Raise patient capital

    Impact funds and fellowships for enterprises serving low-income communities.

    • Villgro ↗

      Incubator for social enterprises in health, agriculture and livelihoods.

    • Social Alpha ↗

      Lab-to-market platform for science and technology aimed at social problems.

    • CIIE.CO (IIM Ahmedabad)

      Incubator and investor at IIM Ahmedabad, with impact programmes.

    • Acumen ↗

      Patient capital and fellowships for enterprises serving low-income communities.

What this problem needs

Ideas, sources and tools for this problem, from first interviews to funding.

  • Open data
  • Maps
  • Alerts
  • Mobile

Ideas to explore

  • Idea 1Mandi headroom mapMap every purchase centre with its target and arrivals to date, coloured by how much room is left, so a farmer can pick a nearby mandi with space.
  • Idea 2Near-limit SMSLet farmers subscribe to two or three nearby mandis and get a Punjabi SMS when any of them passes 90% of its target.

Specific to this problem

Talk to first

  • Punjab Arhtiya Association

    Its president questioned the rationale for mandi-wise limits on an MSP-supported crop.

  • Punjab Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs

    Directed districts to calculate and communicate the mandi targets.

  • Punjab Mandi Board

    Runs the purchase centres and receives the targets.

Starter prompt

Built from this problem's brief. Paste it into Claude or any AI assistant.

Help me design and build a first working prototype for this problem in Sangrur, Punjab, India.

Problem: Paddy farmers in Punjab can't see how close their mandi is to its new procurement target before they bring their crop in.
Who it hurts: Farmers growing non-Basmati paddy in Punjab, and the arhtiyas (commission agents) who handle their sales at each purchase centre.
The moment it hurts: A tractor-trolley of harvested paddy is ready, and the farmer has to choose a mandi without knowing whether it has already reached the quantity it was assigned.
What people do today: Farmers rely on arhtiyas and word of mouth; the mandi-wise targets were sent to agencies and officials through a proforma, not published for farmers.
Why it is still unsolved: Targets are based on each centre's three-year average, but this year's crop is bigger, and nobody shows farmers live arrivals against the target, so the risk shows up only once they are already at the gate.
What solved looks like: A public board, by mandi, showing the assigned target, arrivals and purchases so far and the share remaining, updated daily, with alerts when a centre nears its limit and a list of nearby centres with room.
Where: Sangrur, Punjab, India

First, list what you would need to learn from the people affected before building, as interview questions.
Then propose the simplest version that would help, the screens or messages it needs, and the data it would use.
Keep it cheap to run, accessible, and respectful of people's privacy. Flag anything you are unsure about instead of guessing.
  1. Understand it

    Talk to the people who live it before you build.

    “Truth is one; the wise speak of it in many ways.”

    एकं सद्विप्रा बहुधा वदन्ति

    ekaṃ sad viprā bahudhā vadanti

    Ṛgveda · 1.164.46
  2. Prototype with AI

    Get a working version in front of people fast.

    Using AI is not cheating. Every tool carries the work of the people who made it, and using it well is how knowledge has always moved forward. The thinking, the care for the people who live the problem, and the judgement are still yours.

    “The Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard-loom weaves flowers and leaves.”
    Ada Lovelace · Notes on Menabrea's Sketch of the Analytical Engine, Note A (1843)
  3. Find the data

    Open data that fits this problem.

    “You cannot step twice into the same river.”
    Heraclitus · Fragment B91, via Plato's Cratylus
  4. Build it

    Tools matched to what this problem needs.

    “Act, keeping in view the welfare of the world.”

    लोकसंग्रहमेवापि सम्पश्यन्कर्तुमर्हसि

    lokasaṅgraham evāpi sampaśyan kartum arhasi

    Bhagavad Gītā · 3.20
  5. Launch and get support

    Ship it responsibly, and find help and funding.

    “Give me a place to stand, and I will move the earth.”

    δός μοι πᾶ στῶ καὶ τὰν γᾶν κινάσω

    Archimedes · as reported by Pappus of Alexandria

Kit written for this problem from its brief; every link was checked. Links go to each provider's own site. Zetema is not paid for any listing.