Fertiliser cooperative IFFCO today said it will run a campaign to educate its 5 crore member farmers about the use of online and digital payment gateways for purchase of seeds and fertilisers.
IFFCO has already organised information seminars in Dadri (Uttar Pradesh), Palwal (Haryana) and Dehradun (Uttarakhand).
Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh and Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu were present at the event held in Dadri on November 26. On November 27, the Agriculture Minister attended a seminar in Dehradun, while the Railway Minister was present at Palwal.
The ministers addressed the farmers and encouraged them to embrace digital banking, IFFCO said in a statement.
More than 500 farmers were present in each of these seminars and about 50 farmers did their first cashless transaction at the event and bought seeds and fertilisers, IFFCO said in a statement.
"IFFCO has decided to spearhead the campaign in all our marketing zones located across the country to sensitise our farmers about the use of online and digital payment gateways and also educate them about the benefits of going cashless," IFFCO Managing Director US Awasthi said.
He welcomed the demonetisation move saying that this would help in shaping the Indian economy into a more efficient, transparent, technologically driven and cashless one.
IFFCO has initiated a pan-India outreach programme to educate farmers about the benefits of shifting towards cashless transactions through live demonstrations and interactive sessions, it added.
IFFCO has membership of 36,000 cooperatives comprising of about 5 crore farmers.
"Most of the farmers use cash to buy agri-inputs like seeds and fertilisers during the sowing season and have been facing difficulty in procuring them due to lack of knowledge about using alternative digital payment mechanisms like cash wallets, mobile and internet banking," IFFCO said.
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