Kisan Rail, a blessing to farmers of Western Maharashtra, transports tonnes of nutritious and immunity boosting Pomegranate i.e. Anar to Northern India. So far in last one month transported more than 1100 tons. Farmers availing the benefit of the cheap and the fastest mode of transport are excited & happy as now the Kisan Rail is running thrice a week.
Kisan Rail is becoming popular day by day with the farmers of Maharashtra. It transports perishable goods like Anar, Capsicum, Cauliflower, lemon, Green chillies, Iced-Fish, live plants, Eggs and other vegetables from Sangola, Pandharpur, Kopergaon, Pune, Daund, Nashik, Manmad regions of Maharashtra. Out of the total perishable commodity transported by Kisan Rail so far, 1127.67 tonnes of Pomegranate were carried constituting about 61 percent of the perishable commodity. Started on 7th August 2020 as a weekly service from Devlali to Danapur and further extended upto Muzaffarpur and later attaching a link Rail at Manmad from Sangola/Pune, Kisan Rail is now running as a tri-weekly, shows the growing response from the Farmers.
Pomegranate, the fruit has an impressive nutrient profile containing Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Folate, Potassium, etc. is being produced massively in western Maharashtra i.e Nashik, Pune and Solapur. According to the National Horticultural Board, the data provided by the National Research Centre on Pomegranate, Solapur, the share of Maharashtra in total production is 62.91%. Therefore, these huge produces are transported across India through road transport on trucks taking many days bearing huge cost, yielding low income for the farmers.
Introduced by the Ministry of Railways with the support of Ministry of Agriculture Kisan Rail has brought hope & opportunity for the farmers to increase their income with faster mode of transport, fresh delivery of perishables, with no restriction on quantity, cheaper than road and saving huge transport costs including tolls. Officials of Akhil Maharashtra DalimbUtpadakSanshodhan Sangh, Pune expressed happiness that Kisan Rail by the Ministry of Railways has reduced the time as compared to other modes of transportation and since fresh goods are going to the market in less time, the demand for the fruits is looking good and yielding benefit to the farmers.
