Krishi Udan Scheme 2.0 covers 25 airports in hilly, tribal regions

The Krishi Udan Scheme, introduced in August 2020 on both international and national routes, aimed to support farmers by facilitating the transportation of agricultural products, thereby enhancing their value realisation. Krishi Udan Scheme 2.0, revealed on October 27, 2021, focuses primarily on transporting perishable food items from hilly areas, North Eastern States, and tribal regions. The scheme covers 25 airports in the North Eastern, Hilly, and Tribal regions, as well as 33 airports in other regions. This initiative is a convergence scheme involving eight Ministries/Departments: Ministry of Civil Aviation, Department of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, and Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region. These entities collaborate to enhance logistics and transportation for agricultural produce by leveraging existing schemes. To facilitate and incentivise the air transportation of agricultural produce, the Krishi Udan Scheme provides a waiver of Landing charges, Parking charges, etc, for Indian freighters at selected airports. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the Ministry of Defence implement these waivers at specific airports under the scheme. The Krishi Udan Scheme encompasses 58 airports across different states.