Twelve States have shown interest in being part of the National Agriculture Market (NAM) mooted by the Union Government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will formally launch the agriculture e-trading portal on Thursday. This is the first time farmers will be able to sell their products directly through competitive bidding.
“We have received proposals from 12 States for integration of 365 wholesale mandis. Of these, 21 mandis from eight States have been selected for the pilot launch,” said Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh on Wednesday.
The eight States participating in the pilot project are Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Telangana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh. Farmers from these States will be able to sell online 25 commodities in 21 wholesale mandis and get better prices. “Earlier, prices in the market were determined by a few persons but not through e-trading farmers will be able to gain more,” Singh added.
To integrate a wholesale mandi with the online platform, the State Governments have to amend their APMC Act to ensure there is a single license for trading to be valid across the State, single-point levy of market fee and provision for electronic auction as a mode of price discovery.
Singh said some States have given in-principle nod to be part of NAM and are expected to soon send their proposals while in States like Bihar and Kerala, there is no APMC Act and those States need to take a call.
The Government plans to integrate 585 wholesale mandis across the country with the national e-agriculture market by March 2018. About `200 crore budget has been sanctioned for this purpose. Once that is done, the Centre will allow inter-state sale of agri-produce after addressing issues related to taxes, etc. However, during a pilot project, online trade will be allowed within the State initially. As of now 25 commodities — wheat, maize, chana, castor seed, jowar, bajra, barley, groundnut, soyabean, mustard seed, paddy, arhar, urad, masoor, moong, chilli, cumin, cotton, onion, potato, apple, turmeric, shelling peas, mahua flower and tamarind — will be put up for online trading.