Amazon to source directly from farmers

New Delhi: Amazon is running a pilot project in Pune where the US e-commerce company is for the first time sourcing fresh produce directly from the farmers as part its farm-to-fork initiatives.

Amazon Retail India Pvt Ltd (ARIPL), the wholly-owned food retailing venture of the US giant, is currently working with dozens of farmers in the region and the company has created a cold chain hub in the vicinity to supply fresh produce to sell online through its Amazon Fresh and Amazon Pantry, two sources familiar with the development, said.

Amazon plans to expand this program to other parts once the project is successful, one of them said. Currently Amazon purchases fruits and vegetables from aggregators in various mandis.