In a major move aimed to cover all the PIN Codes of Indian towns and villages, co-op titan IFFCO has tied-up with Indian Post office to ensure doorstep delivery of products of IFFCO Bazar to the country’s farmers.
Announcing the development IFFCO Managing Director tweeted “Glad to share that @IFFCOBAZAR has now joined hands with India Post (India post office) to deliver Agri inputs to Indian #Farmers at their doorstep. Now serving all the 21500+ Pin codes of the country. Almost 100 % coverage.”
India has the largest Postal Network in the world with 154,965 Post Offices of which 139,067 are in rural areas, according to an estimate prepared by the govt a couple of years ago. The network has registered a seven-fold growth since Independence, with the focus of this expansion primarily in rural areas.
The tie-up means IFFCO Bazar would be available to the whole of India as even today private couriers fight shy of serving the rural population and Indian post office is the last and only hope for villagers, said an IFFCO official.
Constantly on the growth path with Ministers and opinion-makers eager to inaugurate IFFCO Bazar in their areas, the numbers (sales point) of such Bazar spread across states have crossed the figure of 500 last year.
Presently, products being made available to the farmers by IFFCO Bazar include seeds, fertilizers, bio fertilizers, pesticides, bio stimulants, cattle feed etc. The facility of Soil testing is also provided through these Centers.
IFFCO Bazar also provides other Products & Services such as Health Check-up, Micro Banking, solar LED lights etc.
IFFCO Bazar has unveiled a Franchisee model and Kisan Mitra scheme to partner with the rural India and to promote Women Empowerment. These models have special Incentives for Women entrepreneurs, claims its website.
Several union ministers and state ministers regularly keep opening these centres as they seem to realize their political benefits in terms of votes. As recently as last month BJP MP from Jharkhand Nishkant Dubey inaugurated a sale point of IFFCO Bazar in Godda district.
Earlier, several ministers including Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar to Parshottam Rupala and several others have participated in the inauguration of IFFCO Bazar, which today got the widest platform possible, said an IFFCO official with pride.