Union Minister Piyush Goyal highlighted the pivotal role of the agriculture sector in steering India towards ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047. Speaking at the inauguration of the ‘e-Kisan Upaj Nidhi’ (Digital Gateway) by the Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA) in New Delhi, he expressed gratitude to farmers for their immense contribution to the nation’s well-being.
Goyal emphasized that the ‘e-Kisan Upaj Nidhi’ initiative, leveraging technology, will streamline farmers’ warehousing logistics and ensure fair prices for their produce.
Goyal announced a forthcoming reduction in security deposit charges at WDRA registered warehouses, particularly benefiting small-scale farmers. He revealed that the deposit requirement would be lowered from 3% to 1%, aiming to encourage more farmers to utilize these facilities and augment their income.
Describing the Digital Gateway initiative as a crucial stride towards making farming lucrative, Goyal highlighted its role in preventing distress sales by offering farmers improved storage options. He stressed the importance of mandatory registration of warehouses utilized by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) under WDRA, urging states to prepare infrastructure-ready roadmaps for their warehouses.
Detailing the benefits of the ‘e-Kisan Upaj Nidhi’ platform, Goyal outlined its simplified digital process, allowing farmers to store their produce at any registered WDRA warehouse for up to 6 months at a nominal interest rate of 7% per annum. He commended WDRA’s online registration platform for warehouses and set a target of registering 1 lakh warehouses on the portal.
Goyal underscored that initiatives like ‘e-Kisan Upaj Nidhi’ and e-NAM enable farmers to leverage interconnected markets, expanding their selling options beyond government procurement at Minimum Support Price (MSP). He highlighted the significant increase in government procurement through MSPs over the past decade.
Addressing the launch of the world’s largest cooperative food grain storage scheme, Goyal urged WDRA to devise a proposal for free registration of all cooperative sector godowns. He believed this initiative would further empower farmers to store their produce in WDRA facilities and secure fair prices for their harvests.