Amid farmers’ ongoing protests against the farm laws and the ongoing pandemic, the Government has reached out to small and marginal farmers through common service centres (CSC).

The CSC SPV is a special purpose vehicle under the Ministry of Electronics & IT that provides a host of electronic services to consumers through its CSCs. It operates around 3.74 lakh CSCs, 80 percent of which are functional in rural and semi-urban areas. Currently, 32,162 CSCs are connected to over 600 Krishi Vigyan Kendras for providing teleconsultations. Through the agri services portal, the farmers will be able to buy seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, cattle feed and other agri-input products.

“Aimed at empowering small and marginal farmers, who constitute 86 per cent of India’s farming community, the CSC E-Governance India Ltd (CSC SPV) has unveiled a unique Agri Services Portal that will act as a one-stop destination and marketplace for them,” a CSC SPV statement said.  The portal -- www.cscagri.in – will enable small and marginal farmers, who do not have easy access to the digital world, to avail essential agri services with ease and at an affordable cost, it said.

“Our newly launched portal can be accessed by farmers with support from local CSCs for buying agri-input products, renting and hire of agriculture implements and machinery, soil testing, sale of farm produce, tele-consultations, loan and insurance facility,” CSC SPV Chief Executive Officer Sanjay Rakesh said in the statement.

CSC SPV plans to reach out to 6,000 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), one in each block of the country, this year. “We have already onboarded 1,000 FPOs on this new platform. These FPOs will enrol about 1 crore farmers for availing various services on the portal,” said Rakesh.

With the help of Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) who run the CSCs (common service centres) and FPOs, farmers can connect with buyers for selling their produce through Kisan e-Mart, the rural marketing arm of the CSC. In the last one year, almost 4 lakh teleconsultations have been conducted.

Various government schemes for farmers will also be available through the agri platform, for example Kisan Credit Card, PM Fasal Bima Yojana, PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, PM Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana and similar schemes.