Marking Kisan Diwas, bigbasket, a TATA Enterprise, highlighted the scale and impact of its farmer sourcing ecosystem, which today connects over 50,000 farmers across 16 states through a network of 120+ farm-gate collection centres. This initiative enables farmers to access organised markets directly and reinforces bigbasket’s commitment to building a transparent, efficient, and farmer-centric fresh produce supply chain.
bigbasket began its direct engagement with farmers in 2015 with its first collection centre at Malur near Bengaluru. Over the past decade, the company has steadily expanded this model pan-India, enabling farmers to access organized markets directly from their villages and reducing dependence on traditional intermediaries.
Through this network, farmers supply fruits and vegetables directly to bigbasket, with the company ensuring payments within 48 hours of Goods Receipt Note (GRN) directly into their bank accounts. This has helped bring predictability, transparency, and income security to thousands of farming households.
The backbone of bigbasket’s sourcing operations is its on-ground team of 400+ agricultural graduates, including one agronomist at every collection centre. These agronomists work closely with registered farmers on a daily basis, mapping fields and crops using bigbasket’s in-house Farmus app, which enables geotagging of farms, crop estimation, and harvest forecasting. Farmers are also guided on cultivating high-demand and high-return crops, aligned with bigbasket’s requirements.
Speaking on the occasion, Seshu Kumar Tirumala, Chief Buying & Merchandising Officer, bigbasket, said, “Our relationship with farmers is central to how we think about building the fresh food ecosystem. As this network has grown, the focus has been on long-term trust, consistent engagement, and shared value creation, rather than short-term procurement. That approach has shaped how our sourcing model has scaled over the last decade.”
In addition to conventional sourcing, bigbasket has built a strong organic sourcing ecosystem through 12 exclusive organic collection centres, supporting around 6,300 organic farmers. The company facilitates organic certification for these farmers at its own cost and deploys Jaivikmitras, trained rural youth from local communities, to guide farmers on organic farming practices such as preparation of Jeevamruth, Beejamruth, and Neemastra, along with crop planning support.
Through these initiatives, bigbasket continues to strengthen its partnership with India’s farmers, reinforcing the message that empowering farmers is integral to building a sustainable and reliable food ecosystem.
