Regular Update
ATM News Network: The Government has approved the integration of 101 agricultural produce marketing committee (APMC) mandis (markets or yards) into the electronic platform e-NAM, which is expected to bring the total number of such mandis to 1,361 by March 31. More mandis joining the platform will likely boost its turnover in current fiscal from over Rs.51,000 crores in 2021-22.
In the current fiscal, 260 mandis have so far joined the electronic National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) platform, bringing the total to 1,260. Spread over 22 States and 3 union territories, 2,40,500 traders and 1,08,237 commission agents have registered on the electronic platform. About 1.75 crores farmers have registered, along with 2,433 farmer-producer organisations (FPOs). The platform allows online trading in 203 agricultural and horticultural products.
The government is planning to enrol private mandis that are ready to join the platform, which the State government may be requested to facilitate, sources said. However, as there are many mandis in the private sector that are not keen to join e-NAM as they are dealing with one commodity for their own purposes, the plan has not taken off.
Platform of Platforms
In July last year, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar launched the Platform of Platforms (POP) within the e-NAM portal in Bengaluru. With the introduction of POP, farmers are facilitated to sell their produce outside their State borders as it increases digital access to multiple markets and buyers. It has brought transparency to business transactions with the aim of improving the price search mechanism and quality commensurate price realisation, officials said.
As many as 41 service providers from different platforms are covered under POP, facilitating various value chains services like trading, quality checks, warehousing, fintech, market information, and transportation. The PoP has created a digital ecosystem, benefitting from the expertise of different platforms in different segments of the agricultural value chain.
As of December 31, 2022, total trade of 69 million tonnes worth Rs.2.42 lakh crores, of which one-fifth was only in the last fiscal, has been recorded on the e-NAM platform since its launch in 2016.
'On a daily basis, over 70 per cent of the commodities that are put on sale are either partially or fully sold on the same day, which is a good sign. However, a lot needs to be done, as the location of the e-NAM auction hall inside the mandi should be well advertised and more farmers should first try the online option before moving to a commission agent,' said a former top official of the agriculture ministry.
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by ATM staff and is published from a web feed.)
