The electronic-National Agriculture Market (e-NAM), a pan-India electronic portal launched by the Union Government, will start functioning in Koraput’s Kunduli weekly market from April.
Kunduli is one of the largest weekly haats in the undivided Koraput district.
It networks the existing agricultural produce marketing committees to create a unified market for agricultural commodities. Officials said Koraput is one of the 10 districts to be included under e-NAM.
According to officials, in the first phase, ginger and potato produced in the district have been included under e-NAM and traders can buy those through online bidding. Till date, 1,700 farmers of the district are growing ginger and potato and 51 traders have registered with the e-NAM. The highest bidder will be allowed to purchase the commodity if the farmer agrees to the price, said Koraput RMC secretary Susant Kumar Padhi.
It is expected that through online bidding of products, the monopoly of local traders will be checked in determining the price of a product and the farmers will get the highest price for their produce, he added.
Anyone from across the country can obtain a licence to participate in the online bidding process by paying fee of Rs 1,100 at the respective market committee.
According to official data available annually, around 20 tonne of ginger and eight tonne of potato are grown by farmers in the district. Also, farmers are optimistic that through online bidding they will financially benefit and will not be forced to sell their produce at throwaway prices.
“last year, we sold ginger at Rs 8 a kg to local traders but in bordering Andhra Pradesh it was sold at Rs 35 to 40 a kg. However, through online bidding, we are hopeful to get the maximum profit for out products,” said Chandra Chepadi, a ginger grower of Bodotema village under Pottangi block, who has registered with the e-NAM.
Apart from Koraput, the e-NAM project will be operational at Puri, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Balangir, Sambalpur, Nabarangpur, Gajapati, Rayagada and Kandhamal districts. “We are planning to include cashew in the next phase,” Padhi said.