Flipkart, FPOs tie up to facilitate market access for farming communities

Through these pact, Flipkart has been sourcing and bringing pulses, staples and whole spices onto its platform, impacting thousands of livelihoods of the farmer community

E-commerce firm Flipkart has extended its partnerships with Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs)  to enable market access and growth for farming communities and boost access to staples on the marketplace platform.

Through these partnerships, Flipkart has been able to source pulses, staples and whole spices, by bringing them onto its platform, in turn impacting thousands of livelihoods of the farmer community. These newer avenues, made possible through e-commerce and technology, have been able to generate increased incomes for farmers and support these communities in their business growth.

“Over the past year, we have intensified our focus on partnering with Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and helping these farming communities to scale their offerings and benefit from the power of e-commerce and technology today,” said Smrithi Ravichandran, Vice President - Grocery, Flipkart.

Flipkart is working with entities such as Aranyak Agri Producer Company Ltd. in Purnia, Bihar and Anchetty FPCL,  Nisarga Farmers Producer Company Ltd in Gulbarga and Satya Sai Farmer Federation in Anantpur. Flipkart has also partnered with social sector organizations such as Andhra Pradesh Mahila Abhivruddhi Society (APMAS), Dvara, Foundation of Development of Rural Value Chains (FDRVC), Sahaja Aharam Producer Company (SAPCO), Sammunati, and Vrutti, to facilitate engagements with FPOs in their networks.

“Our dedicated initiatives are solving for access to high-quality staples, pulses and spices on our marketplace platform while bringing greater market opportunities to farmer communities across the country,” said Ravichandran. “We want to continue building these deeper engagements that positively impact the livelihoods of millions of farmers and under-served communities across the country and increase their income.”

In order to maintain high-quality standards on its marketplace platform, Flipkart has been arranging FPO visits to its packing and processing facilities (Regional Packaging Centers) across different regions to make them understand customer expectations in terms of product quality and food safety. The quality team maintains dedicated visits to these FPOs, arranging sessions with their representatives on food safety norms and training them on Flipkart's product quality standards.

Alok De, CEO Foundation for Development of Rural Value Chains (FDRVC) said as a joint initiative of the Ministry of Rural Development and Tata Trusts  - FDRVC aims to empower women farmers to create efficient market linkages for their agricultural and non-farm products.

“In this endeavour, we are looking forward to a strong partnership with Flipkart to support income generation for farmers while ensuring assurance of quality, timely delivery of goods and remunerative pricing that will help enhance customer satisfaction,” said Alok De.

Recently, under this initiative, Hadoti Mahila Kisan Producer Company Limited (HMKPCL) located in Baran, Rajasthan did their first transaction of ‘whole coriander’ on Flipkart. “This has instilled a lot of confidence in this community and we hope to bring more such farmer producer organizations under this initiative,” said Alok De.

Flipkart said it strives to build partnerships that are sustainable and facilitate seamless transactions between Flipkart and farmers through these FPOs at a scale. In the coming months, Flipkart is preparing to onboard FPOs linked with Vrutti, a non-profit organization in Karnataka that cater to the lives and livelihoods of over a million marginalised individuals and households, to bring pulse commodities such as Gulbarga - Toor, on its platform. Further, it will tap the upcoming paddy season to procure paddy or Rice from Koppal, Karnataka. Flipkart is working extensively to strengthen its supply chain and help build deeper engagements with such agencies and farmer communities.