December 9, 2020: Kisan Rail, launched on August this year, was started with the aim to help the farmers send perishable products to other states at a reduced rate of transportation. Till now, Kisan Rail has carried more than 8,400 tonnes of fruits and vegetables in 67 trips to Muzaffarpur, Delhi and Kolkata.
The service is in demand and has been able to meet its objective as there has been less congestion on routes due to less number of passenger trains currently operational.
An indication of its popularity can be gauged from the fact that Jeur, a small station under Solapur Division of Central Railway and a centre for loading fruits, witnessed more than 400 tonnes of fruits being loaded in November through Kisan Rail.
The government is also reportedly looking to increase the number of Kisan Rail trains as farmers have realised the benefits of using this service to transport their produce.
Sandip Ghose, a marketing specialist who runs StratG, a strategic advisory, feels that the Kisan Rail service will facilitate the open market movement and help in eradicating unequal distribution and wastage.
“The government started Kisan Rail with the aim to help farmers and the country realised the benefits of transporting agricultural products in a medium which would ensure time-bound delivery. Railways in our country has a major dependency on freight revenue. It is a flagship project which will ensure that a farmer in South India can sell his produce in North India in a seamless manner. It reduced transportation cost. In Indian agriculture, the biggest problems are unequal distribution and wastage. So, the Rail Kisan will be a good way of removing these bottlenecks,” he told Moneycontrol.
He also expects the Railways to promote this service vigorously when passenger trains resume operations in full steam.
“The Railways will have to continue to give priority to this service. With the Dedicated Freight Corridor coming up, track congestion won’t be an issue and the Railways will need to ensure the trains do not suffer from any delays as these contain perishable commodities,” he added.
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had earlier said that the government is also mulling introducing the Kisan Rail service in Kashmir to enable transport of apples to other parts of the country.
Farmers in south India growing horticultural crops were facing post-harvest losses of around 25 percent due transportation by trucks and the Kisan Rail service has been of immense help to them.
Source: money control
