Leading online grocery store Chaldal has sourced nearly 115 metric tonnes of rice from rural areas of Bangladesh, under a pilot project titled ‘Know Your Rice’, with an aim to increase availability of local rice varieties among urban consumers.
The project is supported by USAID Feed the Future Bangladesh Rice and Diversified Crops Activity, said a press release.
In June 2020, Chaldal launched its ‘Know Your Rice’ campaign to establish a strong supply chain network with farmers and millers in the rural and southwestern belt of Bangladesh. It worked directly with rice farmers and millers to assess the difficulties that procurers face in entering the e-commerce market and subsequently provided technical support to help branding and packaging efforts.
Through the campaign, Chaldal has sourced Atop and Miniket rice for its urban consumers from the southern region of Bangladesh. Additionally, it has introduced Banglamoti rice for its customers, in a first for online grocery markets in the country.
Meanwhile, apart from rice, Chaldal’s sourcing team has also started procuring watermelons and is looking into obtaining vegetables from the same region.
Nerissa Nashin, ‘Know Your Rice’ project lead and assistant director at Chaldal, said: “It’s very rewarding to be able to partake in something that promotes local and to be able to disseminate information about all the wonderful produce Bangladesh has to offer to our customers.”
Being one of the first online grocery stores in Bangladesh, Chaldal is currently delivering to 10000+ families across Dhaka, Narayanganj, and Chattogram daily.
