The agri-aggregator of the Magnit company has increased the number of its partners in Dagestan to 20 farms. This season, agricultural contracts for growing cabbage were signed by new farms in the south of the republic — in the Derbent District. This will make it possible to supply fresh produce to retail chain customers across Russia several weeks earlier than usual.
It has been exactly one year since Magnit started operating its agri-aggregator in Levashinsky District, a joint project with the family-run peasant farm of Shamil Bagandov and his brothers. The facility handles advance payments to growers, bulk vegetable buying, weighing, packaging, and paperwork. Cabbage is dispatched from the district warehouse to Magnit's distribution hubs in Russia's south and centre.
Pavel Rozhkov, Director General of Magnit Agro Farmer, announced that five additional farms in Dagestan joined the Magnit aggregator through the Bagandov farm this season, expanding the project's geographic reach. He added that cabbage purchasing contracts have now been signed in a new district, Derbentsky.
Last year the agri-aggregator bought 3,000 tons of cabbage from 15 farms and shipped it to 12 distribution centres in the south and centre of Russia, Rozhkov said. In 2024, a new farm in Derbentsky District joined the project, sowing 6 hectares for Magnit, while the Bagandov enterprise helped farmers with advance payments, paperwork and logistics. Benefiting from the mild local climate, the first cabbage of the season will reach stores in April, several weeks earlier than normal.
Sharip Sharipov, First Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food of Dagestan, pointed out that Levashinsky District accounts for about 15% of Russia's total cabbage harvest, with more than 90% of that volume coming from private farms. As to Sharipov, Magnit's agri-aggregator ensures farmers are paid quickly and takes care of all packaging and out-of-republic logistics, adding that the plan is to replicate this model in other districts and broaden the range to include other vegetables and fruits. Dagestan is the sixth Russian region where the aggregation project operates; since 2022, Magnit has launched agri-aggregators in Tula, Volgograd, Leningrad and Moscow regions, as well as in Krasnodar Krai.