Centre Plans to Include 21 More Airports Under Krishi Udan Scheme: Jyotiraditya Scindia

The Central government on Tuesday said that 21 more airports will be added under the Krishi Udan scheme. The scheme is targeted at facilitating the easier, quicker, and smoother movement of agricultural produce in northeastern, hilly, and tribal regions of the country, informed Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday.

“We already have 31 airports under the Krishi Udan scheme and we are in talks with the Defence minister to add 21 more airports under the same scheme,” Scindia was quoted while speaking to the reporters about the second-day events at India’s G20 meet of agricultural deputies.

Krishi Udan scheme will ensure that fruits that are being grown in the north eastern states are being transported to not just other parts of the country but also to nations across the globe like Germany, the UK, Singapore and Philippines, according to Scindia.

This scheme was launched in October 2021 in order to promote the transport of perishable agricultural goods from north-eastern, hilly and tribal regions. The authority of issuing waiver of landing charges, parking charges, terminal navigation landing charges and route navigation facility charges to cargo aircraft lie with the Airports Authority of India.

While presently drones are being utilized to spray pesticides, he stated that drones would further be used for seeding, carrying out surveys and other domains.

The civil aviation ministry announced drone regulations in August 2021 to give the appropriate legal framework for their commercial usage. In order to encourage private enterprises to manufacture drones, the government subsequently liberalized the scope of drone regulations by launching the PLI scheme. PLI calls for a 120 crore rupee incentive spread across three fiscal years. Each drone currently costs between Rs 7 and Rs 8 lakh.

Industry estimates indicate that there are 1,000 drones being used for agriculture in the nation. There will be about 3,000 drones used for agriculture during the next year. Standard operating procedures for the use of drones to apply pesticides and nutrients had been published by the agriculture ministry.

According to reports, farmers have had reduced incidences of health hazards associated with manual spraying. Moreover, drones also aid in waste reduction, and reports state that farmers' shave saved 20% of their application cost.

“India and other member nations of the G20 summit will plan and come up with new mechanisms for the development of agriculture,” the minister said.