Amazon India announces the launch of 'Kisan Store'

By Bhavya Kaushal

Amazon India has announced the launch of Kisan Store - an online platform that will enable farmers across India to get access to more than 8,000 agriculture inputs such as seeds, farm tools and accessories, plant protection, nutrition, and more. Listed by small and medium businesses (SMBs) these products will be available at competitive prices on Amazon India, with the added convenience of delivery at the doorstep of the farmers.

The store was launched by Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on Thursday. Commenting on this development, he said,"I hope this initiative proves to be beneficial for the farmers and the people associated with the farming community to engage the Indian farmers in the modern era of digital economy, increase the productivity of agricultural produce, and provide services like logistics industry."

The online store will be present in languages such as Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, and Malayalam and the farmers can buy the items using digital payments.

Amazon has also opened up its network of 5,000 plus Amazon Easy stores for farmers to shop with the help of the store owners who will help them browse through it, identify a product they like, create their Amazon accounts, place orders, and checkout to buy. These stores have thousands of products listed from over 20 brands.

Amit Agarwal, Global Senior VP and country head of Amazon India further added that the online kisan stores will empower the farmer community. He said,"The launch of Kisan Store marks our first step to create an ecosystem for farmers that will enable them to seamlessly place orders and get products of their choice delivered to their doorstep at the click of a button.”

Recently, Amazon also launched its agronomy services for farmers that will provide timely advice and enable them to make accurate decisions on actions required for their crops.

The aim of this initiative is to introduce machine learning technology for better produce and build a robust supply chain infrastructure.