New Delhi (PTI): IT major Infosys Technologies on Tuesday said it has entered into a partnership with ACDI/VOCA, a non-profit organisation, for providing an application to improve efficiency of the country's agro supply chain.

The information and communication technology-enabled application minimises inventory requirement, reduces waste and facilitate better integration between retailers and farmers, Infosys said in a statement.

The application manages the supply chain from the level of profiling of farmer clusters, crop planning, scheduling, tracking and forecasting.

It also enables farmers to access technical information like data and images, access to region-specific weather updates and market informations such as daily sales volumes and average prices.

Currently, 1,700 small farmers are integrated into organised retail supply chains through this application and over the next 5-8 years, the usage is expected to increase to a million farmers, it added.

"This solution gives the organised retail sector access to a reliable small holder production base," Infosys Technologies Senior VP and Head (India Business Unit) Binod H R said, adding that it decreases farm-to-market losses, currently estimated at 30- 40 per cent on certain products.

ACDI/VOCA is an international development organisation that promotes broad-based economic growth. This application falls under its growth-oriented 6.3-million-dollar Microenterprise Development Programme, a USAID-funded initiative.