Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday interacted with beneficiaries of the Digital India programme where two progressive farmers from Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand too were selected among beneficiaries to interact with the PM.
However, farmers Ashok Kumar Mehta a native of Barkhakhurda village under Ichak block and Phuleshwar Mahto, native of Chanaro village under Churchu block of Hazaribagh district could not get time to share their experience of Digital India.
However, they said the interaction programme was quite informative and they found the speech of the Prime Minister quite motivating. The interactive session was organised on the occasion of completion of six years of the Digital India programme.
In the farming category four farmers were selected and the other two were from Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra. The farmer from Maharashtra Prahlad, who runs an agro company, got an opportunity to share his experience with the PM.
Both Mehta and Mahto share something common. Both have their education up to intermediate and they are in their forties. They have their paternal land besides they have taken land on lease for cultivation. Both are proud farmers and both have set an example among farmers of their district.
Both sell their products through National Agriculture Market (eNAM) and they have earned profit like anything during nationwide lockdown. Mehta sold 821 quintals of wheat, 4.5 quintals of white radish and 30 kg mustard worth over Rs 8 lakh through eNAM.
Mahto on the other hand runs a company Churchubadi Phal Sabzi Producer Company Limited helped 760 farmers to sale their product through online eNAMP. “The Prime Minister was explaining to us the benefits of Digital India in a very simple way. He said that farmers will have to adopt digital mode in order to compete with others and to get the right price for their product,” Mehta told The Pioneer over phone.
Asked whether he had something in his mind that he wanted to share with the PM, Mehta said that given the opportunity he could have requested the PM to explore opportunities for farmers in the foreign market.
“I joined e-NAM platform in 2018 and it has just broadened my idea and understanding of the agro market which is vast like the universe. It has substantially reduced unproductive post production costs and hazards like transportation, undervaluation of product,” he said. He added that he will like his children to pick farming as a profession.
Mahto had set-up a company in 2016, which is more of a cooperative society than a company. 760 farmers are associated with his company. From April last year till June this year he did a business worth Rs 27 lakh.
“Thanks to Digital India and e-NAM, farmers survived and even got the right price of their product during the lockdown. I sold around 40 tonne watermelons through online marketing. I got customers within Jharkhand. Digital India has given farmers wings to fly from one market to another without carrying your product. Farmers are free to sell their product whether they get the highest price. The Prime Minister rightly said that farmers should be digitally empowered like other sections of society,” he said.
Mahto’s father was a CCL employee. But after the death of father; he decided to be a farmer. His daughter Nisha Kumari is pursuing post-graduation in Hindi from St Columba’s College in Hazaribagh whereas his sons Sanoj and Diwakar are minors.
“We have a joint family and my children also extend help to me,” he said.