Union Agriculture Ministry has come forward to help farmers who are affected due to lock down and help them to transport their farm products.  Kisan Rath transport aggregator mobile app for farmers was launched on 17th of this month to resolve the  problem of transportation of agriculture products. Our nation is in the middle of extended lockdown to combat Covid 19 pandemic from spreading without control. State governments like Tamil Nadu are giving free rice, pulses, cooking oil to people through ration shops. Food is perhaps most important to survive and the role of farmers in giving us enough stock of food grains is very important. The lockdown affected farmers also as they were not able to transport their farm products to markets. There were complaints of the farm products going waste without the facility of transportation. To help farmers in this scenario, Kisan rath app was launched to definitely help farmers to transport their products with available transport facility.

The Kisan rath app can be downloaded in a smart phone with android from Play store or google. For registration first it is language selection with options of Tamil, Hindi English Marathi Punjabi and other languages. Then in the next page PM Kisan farmer beneficiaries can register  and Aadhar number has to be entered. After entering mobile number,  OTP can be generated through SMS and it has to be filled. Information regarding rural, urban areas, district, state, village details have to be entered then.  Traders can register themselves  as individuals or companies. Farmer can select the transport required after logging in and filling details of source and destination. In the next page commodity group, weight in quintals, range of dates when transportation has to be done, type of vehicle needed have to be entered. After that farmers can view responses from various transporters in the app with details about type of vehicles available.  The app connects more than 5 lakh trucks and tractors through mobile app with farmers.

Pullambady Assistant Director Agriculture Mohan while talking to Field Publicity Officer, Tiruchirapalli said his department had appealed to farmers in Trichy to utilise the Kisan Rath app to transport agriculture products. He said farmers can utilise it to transport farm products to regulated markets, farmer production organisation centres, warehouses, wholesale retail markets, processing units and even railway stations.

Banana farmer Saravanan of Lalgudi said that he is having five acres of banana plantation. He said he found it very difficult to transport plantains from his field to markets because of lockdown. Drivers refused to come saying that they will be detained by police. He said it was great relief to farmers like him as central government started Kisan rath app to facilitate transportation of farm products.

Rajendran, farmer from Lalgudi said he is doing banana cultivation in 15 acres and said he was badly affected by Corona lock down. He thanks central government for Kisan rath app as he can find transport facility for marketing bananas.

The ultimate aim of technology is to help farmers in these tough times and tide over the crisis. Food security is important for us to face the Covid 19 lock down challenge and government continues to help farmers through various measures as they are the backbone of our economy who ensures food for all.

Tiruchirapalli Pullambady Assistant Director Agriculture Shri R Mohan

Banana farmer Saravanan from Lalgudi with labourers

Truck laden plantains

Kisan rath app

 

 

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