Guwahati: The e-commerce start-up, Big Basket, will soon start procurement of fruits and vegetables from the Northeast.

The three-day CII-North East Farm and Food Tech, which concluded here on Friday, proved to be a good platform for local producers to meet, interact and showcase their produce brands like Big Basket, Britannia Industries, ITC, Nestle, Blue Star Limited, Keventer Agro Limited, Frick India Limited and CG Foods Global, among others.

Companies from allied sectors like cold chain, certification, packaging, beverages, confectionaries also attended the event.

"We are extremely fortunate that senior executives from Big Basket, a leading e-commerce firm, visited the exhibition. They showed profound interest in learning how we can meet their procurement needs for fruits and vegetables. I feel really encouraged," said Abhijit Barooah, co-chairman, CII North East Council.

"Our preferred procurement items are kiwi fruit, pineapples, oranges and ginger. I am really delighted to have met so many people. The Northeast has got a rich basket," Chinmoy Hait, category manager (fruits and vegetables), Big Basket, said. "We look forward to procurement from the region and provide suitable market linkages to producers."

"I am quite hopeful the poor market linkage, which has been a major problem for the players operating in northeastern states, will be a thing of the past soon," Barooah said.

Several B2B (business to business) meetings were held between executives from big brands and local manufacturers in the past three days.

Besides, farmer producer companies and exporters from Assam, the Tripura government and entrepreneurs from Mizoram, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, showcased their products.