Now, farmers, SHGs of State will have customers across country

Hyderabad: The farm produce from Telangana and items manufactured by Self Help Groups will be now sold across India thanks to the agreement between the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) and ecommerce giant Flipkart on Saturday.

The Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) of the Department of Rural Development and ecommerce giant Flipkart inked a memorandum of understanding which will hugely benefit farmer-producer organisations (FPOs) and SHGs in the State. The MoU was exchanged between Sandeep Kumar Sultania, Secretary, Panchayat Raj & Rural Development and Smrithi Ravichandran, vice president and head of grocery, Flipkart in Hyderabad on Saturday.

Panchayat Raj, Rural Development and Rural Water Supply Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao was the chief guest of the event. He said, "This is the first of its kind MoU signed in the country with a credible e-commerce giant such as Flipkart is another milestone contributing to the progress of Telangana. SHGs and women from Telangana will now be able to sell their products to a pan India consumer base for an improved livelihood and gaining more visibility."

"There are 4.36 lakh SHGs consisting of 46 lakh members in the State. We wish to support all of them, especially women, for whom we have a target to provide loans of 500 crore this year. We believe that the SHGs will work hard and use these initiatives to accelerate their development and to grow their businesses," the Minister added.

"Flipkart aims to empower local farming communities and SHGs across India by providing pan-India market access to more than 400 million customers on the platform. Telangana is the first State to partner with us in this initiative. We have built capacity to train for more than 10,000 farmers. We would enhance the capacity further," Smrithi Ravichandran told The Hans India.

"Through this partnership, Flipkart will train about one lakh farmers in Telangana by next year. This initiative will help the farmers to improve their access to national markets and fuel their growth. SERP will extend support with infrastructure and necessary approvals to take this partnership forward," she informed.

As part of this collaboration, Flipkart will directly source premium quality pulses, millets, staples, and spices from the local farmers, contributing to improved income and business growth. It will further engage with these communities through virtual and on-ground training and capacity-building initiatives to provide them with an understanding of the quality, pricing, and licenses required being a part of the FPO ecosystem. Flipkart is currently working with multiple FPOs, small and marginal farmers across the country to build sustainable and scalable partnerships. It has already trained over 10,000 farmers across the country on product quality and food safety to enable market access and empower and prosper the farmer community in the country.