NEW DELHI, 1 May 2020: In order to connect all agricultural produce market committiee (APMC) markets under one platform, the agriculture ministry has added 200 new APMC markets (also known as mandis) to the e-NAM platform from seven states taking the total to 785 mandis.
While announcing this at a function in Krishi Bhawan, Indian Agriculture and Farmers Welfare minister, Narendra Singh Tomar said that by May 2020 there will be around 1000 mandis joining the e-NAM platform for marketing of Agricultural produce.
The 200 markets integrated with the e-NAM platform includes Andhra Pradesh (11 mandis), Gujarat (25 mandis), Odisha (16 mandis), Rajasthan (94 mandis), Tamil Nadu (27 mandis), Uttar Pradesh (25 mandis) & Karnataka (02 mandis), the agriculture ministry statement said.
Tomar also witnessed via video conference live trading between mandis from Kurnool and Hubli in groundnuts and maize and said that it was the Prime minister’s vision of using technology for the benefit of farmers will soon be realized.
Along with Tomar, ministers of state for agriculture and farmers welfare, Parshottan Rupala and Kailash Choudhary, Secretary (AC&FW), Sanjay Agarwal, and senior officers of the ministry participated in today’s programme through video conferencing.
First time Karnataka state mandi was integrated the Unified Market Platform
This is the first milestone achieved in the path of integrating 415 new markets across the country. It is for the first time that Karnataka State has been added to the list of e-NAM States, the minister underlined.
With the aim to reach the last mile farmer & transform the way they sell their agri produce, e-NAM has gained more strength today by reaching out to more farmers & traders of these new mandis. e-NAM is also integrated from today with the Unified Market Platform (UMP) of Karnataka’s Rashtriya e-Market Services (ReMS), an e-trading platform promoted by the Karnataka State Agriculture Marketing Board.
This will facilitate traders across both the platforms to execute seamless trading in both the platforms by using Single Sign On framework.
Farmers can take the benefits of interoperability
This is for the first time in India that two different e-trading platforms for Agri commodities of this scale will be made interoperable.
This will help farmers of Karnataka to sell their produce to large number of traders registered with e-NAM and even farmers from e-NAM mandis in other States will be able to sell their produce to Karnataka traders who are enrolled with ReMS platform of Karnataka. This will also promote inter-State trade between the States on-boarded on e-NAM platform & Karnataka.
Over 1.66 Cr farmers, 1.28 lakh traders already connected with e-NAM platform
e-NAM has come a long way with 1.66 Crore Farmers and 1.28 lakh traders having been registered on e-NAM platform. As of 30 April 2020, total trade volume of 3.41 Crore metric tonnes & 37 Lakh numbers (Bamboo & Coconut) collectively worth approximately INR 1 lakh crore have been recorded on e-NAM platform.
A path-breaking and revolutionary concept in Agri-sector, the e-NAM online platform has proven to be a giant leap in reforming the agriculture market in India.
e-NAM facilitates trade beyond mandi/ state borders. A total of 233 mandis have participated in inter- mandi trade within 12 States, whereas 13 States/UTs have participated in the inter-state trading on e-NAM platform allowing farmers to interact directly with distantly located traders. At present, more than 1,000 FPOs have been on-boarded on e-NAM platform.
Two new modules added in e-NAM
In addition, Ministry launched two major modules in e-NAM last month to deal with the COVID-19 situation so that famers can sell their produce without bringing them to mandi.
These modules are: FPO module helping farmer members of FPO to trade from their collection center and other being warehouse module whereby farmers can sell their stored produce in WDRA registered warehouses, declared as deemed mandi by States.
In addition, Ministry has launched recently the Kisan Rath mobile App which is helping farmers in finding a suitable transport vehicles/tractor to carry their produce to nearby mandi and warehouse etc.
About e-NAM
National Agriculture Market (eNAM) is a pan-India electronic trading portal which networks the existing APMC mandis to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities. Over 90 commodities including staple food grains, vegetables and fruits are currently listed in its list of commodities available for trade.
About APMC market
An Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) is a marketing board established by a state government in India to ensure farmers are safeguarded from exploitation by large retailers, as well as ensuring the farm to retail price spread does not reach excessively high levels.