Agri extension centres across State to get cashless transactions facility
CHENNAI: The ease and luxury of cashless transactions, a necessity for urbanites, will soon be implemented across all Agricultural Extension Centres (AECs) in the State.
“Cashless transactions were implemented on a pilot basis in 37 AECs last year to facilitate farmers to get inputs. And now, it will be expanded to the 348 AECs in the State,” said the State Agriculture Production Commissioner and Secretary C Samayamoorthy in a circular accessed by DT Next.
“To carry out the cashless transaction, the department will provide Point of Sale (PoS) tools to all AECs in the State except Chennai. To make easy payments, farmers can use credit card and/or debit card and also access UPI in centres. This scheme will be implemented in collaboration with the Indian Bank, which has provided PoS equipment under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) fund,” he added.
For those farmers who cannot afford to buy agricultural machinery, the State Agriculture Department provides them at a low rent fixed by the government. “To solve the difficulties of farmers during the harvest season, the details of the owners of 4,456 machines that harvest rice, maize, pulses and grains will be uploaded according to region and district in the -Rental app. As the demand increases, the rental amount of such tractors goes up. In some cases, farmers have to contact tractor owners through middlemen, who push the cost higher. This hits farmers hard, as it dips into their income. To prevent this, they can now identify private farmers near their homes through the Uzhavan App,” said a senior official from the agriculture department.
Furthermore, to meet the demand of the growing population, agricultural productivity has to be increased quickly. Due to shortage of labourers, farmers are unable to complete farming work on time.
“Agricultural mechanisation is the best way to finish farming work on time. For that, machinery should be in good condition to complete the works on time. They need to be well maintained to function properly,” added the official.
Endorsing the new proposal is Samayamoorthy who pointed out that details like name, address, mobile number of technicians who can repair agricultural machinery, tools and diesel pump sets, electric motor pump sets and solar powered pump sets are uploaded in the E-Rental app.
“It will be linked with Uzhavan App. Inclusion of details of mechanics will help in reducing idle time of machinery and lead to an increase in food grain production. It will also help in creating employment opportunities for the rural youth and improve their economic status,” he added. Welcoming both the moves, EV Elankeeran, president of the Federation of Cauvery Delta Farmers’ Association, said that if cashless transactions were implemented, it would be a boon to farmers. “Officials and employees at AECs can no longer demand bribes to carry out transactions. Often in villages, when agricultural machinery breaks down, there is no manpower to repair it. This new feature in the app will help farmers know the availability of technicians instantly and slot their repair work accordingly without the aid of middle-men. Unemployed repairmen will also get more work and adequate income,” he added.
The new feature in Uzhavan App will also help in creating employment opportunities for the rural youth and improve their economic status — C Samayamoorthy,
Commissioner-Secretary, State Agriculture Production