collegela

Harvest Cash: A Collaborative Fintech Solution for Agricultural Growth

Fuyad Hasan Bhoyan

Supervised By:

Lecturer, Department of CSE ULAB

Developed By:

It’s featured by use on Engineering project ideas with Collegela.

Abstract

The “HarvestCash” project represents a groundbreaking fintech agricultural solution designed to revolutionize investment in agricultural projects. By creating a dynamic platform where farmers create projects and investors invest, fostering mutual benefit, the project seeks to optimize the agricultural sector. The application company, serving as an intermediary, receives a percentage after the successful completion of each project, ensuring sustained growth. The project’s multifaceted approach includes incorporating short-term and long-term projects, a defined number of shares, and a comprehensive survey methodology. Through targeted surveys, separate questions were presented to investors and farmers, creating valuable insights that shaped the project’s trajectory.

Leveraging the survey results, various diagrams were carefully created, providing a visual roadmap for development. The Android application, developed in Java, is a key technology, that provides a secure environment for farmers and investors. This innovative solution streamlines the investment process and enhances security measures, ensuring the confidentiality and integrity of user data. In summary, the “HarvestCash” project embodies a perfect approach, with survey findings, diagrammatic representations, and robust technological implementation. This fintech agricultural solution stands to positively work for farmers, investors, and the agricultural landscape at large, ensuring a new era of collaborative prosperity. 

Introduction

Project Background

In the ever-evolving landscape of agriculture, the “HarvestCash” project emerges as a pivotal fintech solution, designed to bridge the gap between farmers and investors. This endeavor stems from the recognition of a crucial need within the agricultural sector — a collaborative platform that not only empowers farmers to showcase their projects but also provides investors with a streamlined avenue to contribute to agricultural initiatives.

As technology continues to reshape industries, the agricultural sector has encountered challenges in securing sustainable investments and fostering collaborative ventures. The “HarvestCash” project positions itself as a response to this challenge, leveraging fintech innovations to create a harmonious ecosystem where farmers can present their projects, investors can make informed decisions, and both parties can reap the benefits of a shared endeavor.

Objectives

The primary objective of the “HarvestCash” project is to establish a robust and user-friendly platform that facilitates seamless collaboration between farmers and investors. By providing a space for farmers to present their projects and investors to invest in them, the project aims to catalyze growth in the agricultural sector. Furthermore, the project seeks to optimize the investment process by introducing short-term and long-term projects, each associated with a specified number of shares, thereby enhancing transparency and flexibility.

Scope and Limitations

Scope

The project’s scope encompasses the development of a Java-based Android application that serves as the interface for farmers and investors. This application will facilitate project posting, investment transactions, and secure communication between stakeholders. The inclusion of short-term and long-term projects, coupled with a defined number of shares, broadens the scope to cater to diverse investment preferences.

Limitations

While ambitious in its goals, the “HarvestCash” project acknowledges certain limitations. Regulatory constraints, user adoption challenges, and potential variations in agricultural project success pose inherent limitations. Additionally, the success of the project is contingent on the active engagement of farmers and investors, emphasizing the need for continuous outreach and education. As we embark on this transformative journey, it is imperative to navigate these limitations thoughtfully, seeking innovative solutions and maintaining a dynamic approach to overcome challenges. Through collaborative efforts, the “HarvestCash” project aspires to contribute significantly to the symbiotic growth of agriculture and financial technology.

Literature Review

The convergence of technology (fintech) and agriculture has experienced a transformation, in recent times with mobile applications playing a crucial role in connecting farmers with potential investors. This review delves into the existing body of knowledge on both the nontechnical aspects involved in developing an Android app for a fintech agricultural platform. Such a platform allows farmers to create projects while investors can invest in them.

Ensuring Security and Privacy in Fintech Apps:

The literature emphasizes the importance of security when it comes to fintech applications that handle sensitive financial data. Strategies such as encryption, secure authentication, and compliance with data protection regulations like GDPR are frequently mentioned( H Bitar, B Jakobsson – 2017 – diva-portal.org). Implementing security measures is vital for building trust among users and safeguarding the integrity of transactions within the app.

Scalability and Performance Considerations:

To achieve success fintech apps must possess the ability to scale efficiently to accommodate growing user bases and increasing volumes of data. Research conducted by T Dapp, L Slomka, DB AG, R Hoffmann – Deutsche Bank Research, 2014 – finextra.com highlights the significance of incorporating architecture utilizing cloud services effectively and optimizing databases to ensure performance even during periods with high usage.

Challenges Surrounding User Adoption, in Rural Areas:

One recurring theme found throughout the literature is the challenge faced when attempting to encourage user adoption in certain areas. According to research conducted by T Greenhalgh, J Wherton, C Papoutsi, J Lynch… – Journal of Medical…, 2017 – jmir.org it is important to focus on educating users and creating interfaces to address the resistance, towards technology among farmers. This objective aligns with our project’s aim of ensuring that the app is easily accessible and user-friendly for people, with levels of knowledge.

Regulatory Compliance and Ethical Practices:

When it comes to fintech apps, in the domain its crucial to navigate through the regulatory landscapes. According to a study by ST Omarova – Journal of Financial Regulation, 2020 – academic.oup.com  it’s essential to stay informed about regulations and establish guidelines for fair evaluation of projects and distribution of funds.

Market Risk Management:

The inherent volatility of markets has been studied extensively focusing on the significance of providing users with risk management tools (SS Groth, J Muntermann – Decision support systems, 2011). This research suggests that successful fintech agricultural apps should educate users about market trends and provide real-time updates to help them make informed investment decisions.

Customer Support and Education:

In the literature robust customer support systems and educational resources are emphasized as components of fintech apps (CM Barbu, DL Florea, DC Dabija… – Journal of Theoretical and …, 2021 – mdpi.com). Updated guides, tutorials, and responsive support contribute to a user experience and can boost overall app success.

This review of existing literature highlights the nature of developing a fintech app emphasizing the importance of taking a comprehensive approach that addresses both technical and non-technical challenges. By incorporating insights from research our project seeks to contribute to the expanding knowledge in this field while creating a platform that encourages collaboration, between farmers and investors in the agricultural sector.

Methodology

Project Planning

Overview

The project planning phases create the foundation for the successful implementation of our “HarvestCash” initiatives. This section outlines the systemic approach to ensure clarity, effectiveness, and proper resource utilization throughout the full project lifecycle.

Key Steps:

  1. Project Initiation:
    1. Definition of project objectives, scope, and deliverables.
    1. Assigning the roles and responsibilities of project works in our team of 7 members.
  2. Stakeholder Identification:
    1. Identification of our key stakeholders, including farmers, investors, administrators, and the development team.
    1. Communicating with stakeholders
  3. Risk Assessment
    1. Identification and analysis of potential risks, both internal and external.
    1. Development of risk mitigation strategies to proactively address challenges.
  4. Resource Allocation
    1. Determination of necessary resources, technologies, and financial sides.
    1. Development of a proper resource management plan for perfect utilization.
  5. Timeline Establishment
    1. Creating proper timelines and milestones for completing the project within time. As we have only 3 months to complete this project. So, we divided it into different tasks.

Budget and Timeline

Frontend:

  1. Number of Activities built on XML = 45-50.
  2. Used 80% of default views
  3. Per activity price = 5$
  4. Using custom views can increase the price of the overall front end.
  5. Total price for front end = 225-250 $
  6. Time needed for this (15-20) days

Database Management System:

  1. Use SQLLITE for temporary data management.
  2. Google Cloud SQL server pricing according to (Delhi- Asia-south2) region
  1. If we need to set up plans for the first year with 1 vCPU and 10 GB of memory from the 1-year commitment the total price for the year will be (27.15*12) +(4.599*10*12) = 877.68$
  1. Pricing for SQL Query = 1000$
  2. Time for Database 30 days

Backend Code:

  1. Since there are 40-45 Java classes as per the activity and custom logic building back end also holds a good number of prices.
  2. Approx 1000-1200$ is needed for the backend as per Bangladesh market pricing.
  3. Timing for Backend code 30 days.

So, The total budget for the application is (225-250) +877.75+1000+(1000-1200) $

= (3100 – 3327) $

The total timing for the application is (15-20+30+30) = 75-80 days.

Continuous Monitoring and Adaptation:

Continuous monitoring of the project progress, regular team meetings, and ongoing risk assessments ensure a dynamic response to evolving project dynamics. With this proper project planning, we started the full work.

Stakeholder Engagement

Effective engagement is a key point for the success of our project “HarvestCash”. This part defines the strategies employed to identify, communicate with, and involve stakeholders throughout the project work progress.

Stakeholder Identification

Objective:

To comprehensively identify primary stakeholders.

  1. Actions: Conducting a thorough analysis to identify primary stakeholders including farmers, investors, administrators, and a development team, and categorizing them based on their level of influence and interest in the project.
  2. Initial Stakeholder Meetings
    1. Objective: To establish clear lines of communication and align expectations.
  3. Communicating Stakeholders
    1. Our team members contacted them in person and also online to arrange the stakeholder meetings.
  4. Feedback Mechanism
    1. Gathering continuous feedback for iterative improvements
  5. Actions: Creating early stakeholder meetings to introduce the project, its objectives, and the anticipated benefits. Collecting their initial feedback and addressing any concerns or expectations.

Our Stakeholders were mainly some Agricultural Organizations, farmers who are interested in collaborating on the projects, and investors who want to invest in some agricultural projects. We surveyed Google Forms also to get proper information and opinions on some factors from our stakeholders. The statistics obtained from the survey are shown below.

Farmer

Investor

From these statistical results, we understood about stakeholder’s requirements and expectations which has helped us to complete the project properly.

Requirements Analysis  

Introduction

Purpose

The purpose of the HarvestCash application is to facilitate investments in agricultural investment projects created by farmers. The platform aims to connect farmers and investors, allowing them to collaborate on agricultural initiatives.

Scope

The scope of the project includes the development of a Java-based Android application. The application will support registration, login, project creation, investment tracking, and financial transactions for both farmers and investors. It will also include features for administration, ensuring project approval, and overall system management.

Definitions, Acronyms, and Abbreviations

Overall Description

Product Perspective

HarvestCash is an Android application that is interfaced with the backend of a proper database. The application will be developed in Java, XML, and SQLite, ensuring compatibility with Android devices.

Product Features
User Registration and Login
Project Management
User Dashboard
Financial Transactions
Government Scheme Information
System Security
User Classes and Characteristics
Operating Environment

The application will be designed for Android devices running version 5.0 (Lollipop) and above.

Types of Requirements

Functional Requirements
  1. Registration and Login:
    1. Users can register and log in.
    1. Admins have a separate login.
  2. Project Management:
    1. Farmers can create projects with details.
    1. Admin approval is required for project visibility to investors.
  3. User Dashboards:
    1. Farmers can view their projects.
    1. Investors can view all projects and their investments.
  4. Financial Transactions:
    1. Users can add balance (cash in) and withdraw funds.
  5. Government Scheme Information:
    1. Farmers can access information on government schemes.
  6. Security:
    1. Form validation for user inputs.
Non-Functional Requirements
  1. Usability:
    1. The application should have an intuitive and user-friendly interface.
  2. Security:
    1. Data encryption for sensitive information.
    1. Secure user authentication.
  3. Scalability:
    1. The system should be able to handle a growing number of users.
  4. Performance:
    1. Response time for transactions should be within acceptable limits.

System Features

Feature 1: User Registration and Login

Feature 2: Project Management

Feature 3: User Dashboards

Feature 4: Financial Transactions

Feature 5: Government Scheme Information

Feature 6: Security

Conflict Identification and Resolution

Engineering and Stakeholder Conflicts and Resolution
Technical
  1. Conflict on app quality and apk size : Users want easily usable interface along with lower apk(if we want to ensure high-quality user-friendly interface then we have to compromise on overall apk size and if we want to minimize apk size we have to compromise interface efficiency)

Solution: we can build 2 versions of the application in the future main app and a light version of the application. Users can choose which version to download according to their  priority.

Solution:  Google SQL server.

Solution:  deal with the hosting server provider on a monthly basis, so, when we need more server space can upgrade.

 
Non-Technical
  1. User Adoption Challenges such as: Resistance from farmers and investors to adopt the new platform.

Solution: Conduct user training sessions, provide clear documentation, and gather user feedback for continuous improvement. Implement a user-friendly interface for better adoption.

Solution: Stay informed about relevant regulations, involve legal experts in the development process, and implement features that ensure compliance with data protection and financial laws.


Solution: Establish clear communication channels, conduct regular meetings with stakeholders, and document requirements thoroughly. Adjust project goals based on feedback to ensure alignment.

Tools Used

Modern Tools:

1. Android Studio: Android Studio is its own product on Android and the recommend this to developers. Easy to use. Widely used in the mobile app development industry.

2. Java: There are two languages available in the development of native Android apps, Java and Kotlin. Java is more resource-friendly in this case.

3. XML:  XML stands for extensible Markup Language, which is a way of describing data using a text-based document. Because XML is extensible and very flexible, it’s used for many different things, including defining the UI layout of Android apps.

4. SQL Lite:  Android SQLite is a very lightweight database that comes with Android OS. Android SQLite combines a clean SQL interface with a very small memory footprint and decent speed. For Android, SQLite is “baked into” the Android runtime, so every Android application can create its own SQLite databases.

5. IntelliJ Idea: IntelliJ Idea has a built-in diagram generator of Java classes that is very useful.

Design

In this section, there are the designs of diagrams and graphical visualizations in our project.

Class Diagram

Figure-1: Class Diagram (Generated using IntelliJ Idea)

User Case Diagram

Figure-2: Use Case Diagram

Entity Relationship Diagram

Figure-3: ERD Diagram

Activity Diagram

Figure-4: Activity Diagram

Implementation

Interfaces and Functionalities

User Interfaces

Figure 5.1: Login Panel. Users (Farmers, Investors, Admin) can log in and navigate to the Registration panel and the Forget Password Panel from here.

Here, a warning message will be displayed if the user inputs any wrong phone number or password.

Figure 5.2: Registration Panel. Farmers and Investor can fill their information and register as a user of HarvestCash.

Here, the Phone number must be at least 11 digits and not more than 11 digits and the password must be a minimum of 8 digits, otherwise, a warning message will be displayed and registration will not be successful.

Figure 5.3: Password Recovery Panel

Here, users input their phone number and NID and navigate to the next panel to see their recovered password.

Figure 5.4: Old password display panel

Here, user can see their recovered password and can also reset the password or navigate to the login panel

Figure 5.5: Password resetting panel

Here, users can reset their password.

Figure 5.6: Farmer Panel.

Here, farmers can see the number of total projects they created, the amount of total received and total dues, and their account balance. Farmers can navigate to the project creator panel, my projects panel, Govt. scheme panel, add money and withdraw money panel. They can also log out to return to the Login panel.

Figure 5.6.1: Project Creator Panel. Farmers can create their projects here.

Here, all the data must be filled and the minimum project budget should be 60000, and the minimum No of shares is 1. Farmers can choose whether the project will be long-term (360 days) or short-term (180 days).

Figure 5.6.2: My Projects Panel.

Here, Farmers can see their created projects. They can see the investor’s name and the number of shares he/she bought. Also see the projects’ status, project closing date, finishing date, no. of days passed since the closing date, and other additional information about their projects. Farmers can delete the projects when the project status is ‘Project Failed and Returned’ and also when there are no investors in that project. Return Button will be visible when the project status is finished.

Figure 5.6.3: Government Scheme Panel.

Here, both farmers and investors can see the information about various schemes provided for the farmers by different banks and governments.

Figure 5.6.4: Add Money and Withdraw money panel.

Here, farmers and Investors can add or withdraw money from their accounts. The input field can not be empty, otherwise it will display a warning message. Admin can also access to withdraw money panel to withdraw the company’s profit.

Figure 5.7.1: Investor Panel

Here, investors can see the necessary details about their investments. They can navigate to the projects browser panel, invested projects panel, add money, and withdraw money panel. They can also see the government schemes for the farmers. Using the log-out button they can return to the Login panel.

Figure 5.7.2: Projects Browser Panel.

Here, Investors can browse the projects that are open and the projects that have shares left. They can invest in those projects if they have sufficient balance in their account. They can select the number of shares they want to invest.

Figure 5.7.3: Invested Projects Panel.

Here, the investors can see the invested projects. They can see the necessary information about the projects.

Figure 5.8.1: Admin Panel

Here, Admin can see the company’s balance, the total number of investors and farmers, and information about projects and navigate to see the farmers’ list, investors’ list, projects’ list, and update govt. scheme panel.

Figure 5.8.2: Projects’ List Panel

Here, the Admin can see the created projects’, and approve or decline the projects.

Figure 5.8.3: Farmers’ List Panel and Investors’ List Panel.

Here, the Admin can delete the suspicious farmers and investors.

Figure 5.8.4: Update Govt. Scheme Panel

Here, Admin can update the government schemes for the farmers.

System Functionalities

Conclusion

Discussion:

The development and implementation of the “Harvest Cash” Android application have shown promising strides in facilitating investment opportunities for farmers and investors. The app’s core functionalities enable farmers to create projects, attract investments, and provide returns with profits within stipulated timelines. However, several key findings, limitations, unexpected challenges, and future upgrade plans have emerged through the operational phase

Key Findings:

Limitations:

Unexpected Challenges:

Future Upgradation Plans:

To further improve “Harvest Cash” and address existing limitations and challenges, the following upgrades and enhancements are proposed:

In summary, the “Harvest Cash” application has significantly advanced the connection between farmers and investors. but future developments will require an understanding of the app’s present shortcomings and difficulties. By resolving these problems and putting the suggested improvements into practice, it will strengthen its standing as a dependable and effective platform for agricultural investments.

References:

Stay with Collegela for more Engineering project ideas.

Exit mobile version