Second Kisan Rail flagged off from Anantapur

Anantapur: Kisan Rail has been flagged off at the local railway station for the second time in a span of 10 days. The second train was carrying 262 tonnes of papayya and tomatoes to Adarshnagar in New Delhi.

The Kisan Rail initiative is a big boost to horticulture produce marketing and to farmers who had been looking for such a governmental support for a long time. Horticulture plantations are spread in 5,00,000 acres in the district out of which sweet oranges are in 53,331 hectares, bananas in 16,402, mangoes 55,827, pomegranate 7,519, melons 6,579 and papayas in 4,646 hectares.

District Collector told The Hans India that the Kisan Rail not only saved Rs 300 crore for the farmers but also secured a higher price benefitting the farmers by Rs 400 crore. In all, the farmers gained Rs 700 crore.

The collector maintained that while the total production is nearly 60 lakh metric tonnes, one single rail transports 406 tonnes which means that to transport the entire produce it would take 365 freight rails per year.