Amazon Retail India announced launching of its first mango collection centre in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra.

“This center will assure farmers of fast payments, fair and transparent pricing, and guidance on farming. Additionally, this facility will be a channel to provide a source of authentic mangoes like Ratnagiri Alphonso, Devghad Alphonso, Organic Alphonso and premium Kesar variants, among others for the customers,” the company said in a statement.

The Ratnagiri collection centre will have a temperature-controlled supply chain infrastructure. After sourcing , the company leverages technology to inspect and monitor the mangoes’ quality at multiple stages. The fresh mangoes would then be sent to the processing centres for sorting, grading, geotagging, and packaged in “well-aerated sustainable corrugated boxes” to prevent rotting in transit to the Amazon Fresh fulfillment centers located closer to customers.

Rajesh Prasad, Category Leader, Amazon Retail India said, “Our mission is to enable local farmers across the region to leverage the online marketplaces and become a part of the digital economy. With this launch, and expansion of our collection centre network, we are positioned to procure the freshest and best quality local produce from farmers and deliver it to our customers.”

“As we grow, we continue to learn more about farmers and the supply chain and are working towards building the infrastructure and technologies that help simplify the end-to-end value chain from our farms to customers,” said Prasad.