Ninjacart launches initiative to help farmers sell produce digitally

Fresh produce supply chain company Ninjacart on Wednesday said it has launched 'Harvest The Farms', an initiative that will allow farmers to sell their produce digitally to consumers.

The initiative will be launched in partnership with local grocery stores and will be available on Zomato, Swiggy and Dunzo in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Pune.

"Customers can simply head to the Zomato Market, Swiggy Grocery section or Dunzo Fruits and Vegetable section, search for the nearest Ninjacart-powered stores, select the fresh vegetables and fruits on offer and place their order," a statement said.

To enable this, Ninjacart has partnered with local grocery stores to bring the benefit to consumers, it added.

The Walmart and Flipkart-backed company noted that this initiative will help farmers find ready customers for their produce, while customers will get farm fresh products at lower rates.

"During these uncertain times, while we are dealing with supply chain disruption, we cannot overlook the farmer's plight and let the harvest get wasted. With India's largest fresh produce supply chain and extensive distribution network in cities, we believe we can leverage our capabilities to help farmers harvest the produce and let customers buy directly," Ninjacart co-founder and CEO Thirukumaran Nagarajan said.

He added that this will prevent food wastage and reduce losses to farmers.

Under this initiative, Ninjacart will identify vegetables that are in excess supply, as well as those that are going unharvested within their farmer networks. They will offer to buy these vegetables from the farmers to help them recover their investments, the statement said.

"These products will then be offered to customers at a lower rate, so as to increase the demand. Some of the products available under Harvest The Farms initiative are tomato, capsicum, cauliflower, cabbage, banana, watermelon and muskmelon among others," it added.