Boost to farmers as 34 govt ‘mandis’ join virtual agri platform

LUCKNOW: As many as 34 government mandis (markets) will join the e-national agriculture market (e-NAM) platform by the end of this month taking the total number of such markets to 100.

Bringing 34 markets on the e-NAM platform before the completion of 100 days of the Yogi Adityanath government on June 26 was on the agenda of Mandi Parishad.

In March, the Central government had approved 34 mandis for e-NAM and had allotted Rs 30 lakh per month.

Under the e-NAM, farmers sell their produce through a unified virtual market within and outside the state. Farmers bring their produce to the mandi and buyers anywhere in the country can make bids on e-platform and feed the price on the portal.

The highest price offered is finalised and locked after which the farmer receives an SMS alert about the same.

A total of 66 mandis from UP have been already included in the e-NAM platform since the project was launched in April 2016.

“The existing 66 e-mandis are doing well and have done a transaction of more than Rs 1,000 crore since their launch benefiting both the farmers as well as the traders,” principal secretary, agriculture, Rajnish Gupta said. “The 34 new mandis will be on the e-NAM platform within a week,” he said.

To facilitate unification of market and online trading it is necessary for the states to undertake reforms prior to seeking assistance under the scheme in respect of a single license to be valid across the state, single point levy of market fee, and provision of electronic auction as a mode of price discovery.

Only those states/UTs that have completed these three prerequisites are eligible for assistance under the scheme.