Improving access to formal agriculture credit, new farming techniques and agri inputs like quality seeds, and online trading marketplace for farmers, the Common Services Centers (CSC), under the Ministry of Electronics & IT, have in recent times partnered with farmers and agriculture workers and stakeholders across the country.
Despite the Covid pandemic and the nation-wide lockdown by the Government, CSC, in a latest report, has said that it launched Kisan e-Mart, a unique online trading platform for farm produce. CSC Kisan e-Mart leverages technology to connect farmers with the buyers through the Village Level Entrepreneurs of CSC. With the pandemic disrupting the supply chain between the producers, sellers and buyers, Kisan e-Mart has helped farmers connect with buyers at the regional and global level, it claimed.
The platform creates a win-win situation for the farmer, buyer and VLE as there are no mediators in this platform. The farmer is directly connected to the buyer. The farmer is guaranteed a minimum price which is competitive to the market rates, officials said.
The platform came to the rescue of farmers from Solapur who were not able to sell their harvest of onion due to the markets being closed. Through Kisan e-Mart, 60 quintals of onion were sold to a buyer from Singapore, benefitting the farmers. Abhikant Kumar, a litchi farmer from Muzaffarpur district in Bihar, sold ten quintals of Shahi Litchi to a buyer in London through CSC Kisan e-Mart run by Village Level Entrepreneur Roopak Kumar.
Managing Director, CSC SPV, Dr. Dinesh Tyagi said, “Our partnership with agriculture workers is a step ahead in furthering the agenda of the Government in serving the farmers across the country. CSC has also partnered with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to provide agriculture related teleconsultations to farmers through qualified agricultural scientists at Krishi Vigyan Kendras. Till October 2020, about one lakh farmers have taken agriculture related tele-consultations with agricultural scientist at KVKs through CSC”.
Officials said CSC has been registering farmers for crop loan under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), the third largest crop insurance scheme in the world. The scheme aims at protecting farmers’ investment from natural adversity as well as ensures continued flow of capital within the agricultural economy.
In the Kharif season 2020, CSC registered a total of 51 lakh policies with a total premium of Rs 576 crores from 13 States, namely Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Odisha, Tripura, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
CSC also executed a MoU with the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare last year for carrying out enrolment of farmers under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan-Dhan Yojana, a voluntary and contributory pension scheme for small and marginal land-holding farmers to provide them social security. Under this scheme, a monthly pension of Rs 3,000 is provided to all eligible farmers. Till September 2020, 20.77 lakh farmers have been enrolled under PM Kisan Maan-Dhan Yojana through CSCs.
The Ministry of Agriculture partnered with CSC in February 2020 to provide institutional credit to 14.65 land holding farmers in the country. Through CSC, it was desired to cover all PM Kisan beneficiaries under Kisan Credit Card (KCC) Scheme, said the report on the subject.