Krishi Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN)
- The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has introduced the ‘Krishi-Udan Scheme’ to enable the selling of agricultural and farm commodities from the northeastern states beyond the area.
- The system has been deployed exceedingly well throughout the region.
- In October 2021, the government declared Krishi UDAN 2.0.
Vision
- The objective of Krishi UDAN 2.0 is to improve value realisation via enhanced collaboration, streamline agri-harvesting and air shipping, and contribute to the Agri-value chain’s resilience and sustainability under evolving and dynamic conditions.
Objectives of the Scheme
- The Krishi Udan scheme’s goal was to offer growers and cultivators aid in agricultural product transportation so that they could realise the total worth of their crops.
- The Krishi UDAN 2.0 emphasises delivering delicate food products from northern, mountainous, and tribal areas.
- The initiative will focus on tackling the long-standing issue of agricultural product waste.
- The other goal is to go further into the countryside and give value, particularly perishable commodities.
Provisions
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Promoting and rewarding agricultural commodity transportation by air transportation
- Local carriers will receive a total exemption of landing, storage, landing costs, and route navigation facility expenses under the plan.
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Improving freight capacity at airports and off-airports
- To make it easier to create a hub-and-spoke network and a logistic grid.
- As part of an emphasis on NER, Hilly Districts, Tribal, airside transit, and trans-shipment facilities would be built at Bagdogra and Guwahati airports, as well as Leh, Nagpur, Ranchi, Nashik, Srinagar, and Raipur airports.
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Resource management
- Coordination with other government agencies and regulatory organisations to provide incentives and discounts to shipping services, airline companies, and other stakeholders to improve agricultural air transportation.
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Fusion of technologies
- E-KUSHAL development (Krishi UDAN for Sustainable Holistic Agri-Logistics). The platform that will be created will aid in disseminating data to all stakeholders.
- Furthermore, E-KUSHAL connectivity with the National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) is envisaged.
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E-KUSHAL Portal
- It is a suggested framework for disseminating information to all parties.
- This centralised platform will provide vital information while assisting in the scheme’s planning, supervision, and assessment.
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Hub and Spoke Model
- The concept will permit the establishment of a hub and spoke network as well as a logistic network.
- The hub and spoke method is a transmission model shaped like a bicycle wheel. The hub is located in the centre of a wire-spoked wheel.
- This hub permits the spokes, spread across all dimensions around the wheel, to meet at a concentrated place in the centre of the wheel.
- This approach is applied in various sectors, including supermarkets, where consumer and food items are frequently placed into a single vehicle at a distribution centre and then delivered to individual satellite locations.
Advantages
Alteration in approach
A fundamental change in agriculture is required to quadruple farmers’ earnings. This plan is a step in the right direction.
Farmers’ income should be doubled
This strategy would assist farmers in increasing their revenue by providing value realisations for their crops.
Agriculture Sector Development
By reducing bottlenecks in the logistic network, infrastructure, and transportation of agricultural goods, the initiative will provide new channels of expansion for the agriculture industry and assist in achieving the goal of doubling farmers’ income.
Cut down on food waste
This will also address the issue of agricultural food waste.
