E-commerce marketplace Flipkart and the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) have forged a partnership to enable market access and growth for farmer producers organisations (FPOs) and self-help groups (SHGs) in Telangana.
The partnership, for which an MoU was signed in the presence of Panchayat Raj, Rural Development and Rural Water Supply Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao here on Saturday, aims to empower local farming communities and SHGs by providing pan-India market access to more than 400 million customers on its platform, Flipkart said.
As part of the collaboration, Flipkart will directly source premium quality pulses, millets, staples and spices from the farmers. It will engage with these communities through virtual and on-ground training and capacity-building initiatives to provide an understanding of quality, pricing, and licenses required to be a part of the FPO ecosystem. SERP will extend support with infrastructure and necessary approvals to take this partnership forward. Panchayat Raj and Rural Development secretary Sandeep Kumar Sultania and vice-president and head of Grocery of Flipkart Smrithi Ravichandran exchanged the MoU documents, the firm said in a release. COO of SERP-Telangana Rajitha Nardella was present.
The Minister said it is the first-of-its-kind MoU in the country, and will help SHGs and women in Telangana 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 [totalling] ₹500 crore this year,” Mr. Dayakar Rao said.
