With a view to making distant markets more accessible to farmers, the Indian Railways has decided to run Kisan special trains
Bengaluru: With a view to making distant markets more accessible to farmers, the Indian Railways has decided to run Kisan special trains.
The decision has been taken to help farmers better manage their perishable goods.
Reports add that one train will run from Agartala to Howrah.
“The railways has started running these Kisan special train services to transport perishables and agricultural products, including milk, meat and fish. This multi-commodity, multi-consignor/consignee, multi-loading/unloading transportation product is aimed at providing a wider market to our Kisans,” the statement issued by Subhanan Chanda, chief PRO of NFR said, as quoted by Swarajya.
Till now, over 49,000 tons of agricultural products with 157 services.
Perishable goods include vegetables and meat among others.
The move is also seen as an effective tool to boost the income of farmers.
What is more important to note is that the government is hoping to establish a seamless cold storage chain across the country. Reports add that 18 such routes exist across the country.
Farm laws:
The union government has brought in three laws which will enable farmers to sell their produce seamlessly and profitably.
With the introduction of these laws, the farmers will be enabled to sell their produce at better rates to private players. However, one should note the mandi system or APMC will continue to remain functional and the practice of minimum support price (MSP) will continue as usual.
Such a safety net means that the private players will have no hegemony on setting the prices. In the unfortunate event of private players buying the produce at cheap rates, the farmers will always have the recourse to go back to the APMCs and sell their produce at MSP.
Such reforms, due for a long time, will enable and strengthen the farmers to earn more and enjoy profits.
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