NEW DELHI, 08 October 2016 : Giving a push to fill digital divide in agriculture sector, India has connected 250 agricultural produce market committee (APMC) to online platform, e-NAM.
Announcing this, Indian Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Minister, Radha Mohan Singh said that e-NAM platform is connected to 250 markets across 10 States as of now (Andhra Pradesh (12), Chhattisgarh (05), Gujarat (40), Haryana (36), Himachal Pradesh (07), Jharkhand (08), Madhya Pradesh (20), Rajasthan (11), Telangana (44), Uttar Pradesh (67).
The central government has targeted over 400 markets by March 2017, out of the 585 markets to be connected with this online platform the first phase by March 2018.
Singh also launched a mobile app for e-NAM and stressed that most of the implementation issues faced in pilot phase have been addressed.
Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) for integrating 399 mandis with e-NAM has been received from 14 states and all of them have been approved, Singh said.
Agriculture Minister said that e-NAM will bring forth more profit to farmers, availability of trade at lesser cost to the buyers and development of permanent mandis and will enable the farmers to have access to the National Market having wide choice.
Active involvement of all stakeholders, and in particular mandi and marketing board officials; the NAM programme is a success and is going ahead of schedule. Minister is sure that e-NAM will significantly contribute towards enhancing the farmer’s income, Singh adds.
So far, 1 53,992.7 tonnes of agriculture produce worth $63.14 million (Rs 421 crore) has been transacted on e-NAM platform and 1,60,229 Farmers, 46,688 Traders and 25,970 Commission Agents have been registered on the e-NAM platform.
Union Minister said that quality parameters for 69 agricultural and horticultural commodities including cereals, Pulses, Oil seeds, Spices, Fruits and Vegetables have been notified for trading on e-NAM platorm.
States have been asked to set up the quality assaying facilities to ensure quality assessment of the farmer’s produce in a scientific and professional manner.
The minister also said that provision of online payment of the sale proceeds to the farmers is made available in the e-NAM portal and States are requested to encourage direct transfer of sales proceeds to the farmer’s bank account.
Agriculture Minister said that the issues in hardware and software during implementation of the project have been resolved and a new version of software has been released whereby trading is going on in a stable manner.
He informed that the newer versions of software will be released in future as per actual requirements.
The minister also appealed to those states whose APMC Act require complete or partial changes, to join the scheme by reforming their Acts on priority.
Singh also appealed to those states where APMC Act does not exist, to join the e-NAM scheme by framing necessary act/regulation so that farmers could benefit by way of enhanced income.
