Seamless transactions

Increasing e-NAM turnover will improve realisations

After a prolonged sluggish phase since its inception in 2016, the electronic National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) finally seems to be getting into action. This is clear from the increase in the volumes of the intra- and inter-state trading of farm goods through the e-NAM digital platform over the past two years. The turnover of this unified pan-country online farm market is reckoned to have grown by 32 per cent in 2022-23 to reach close to Rs 75,000 crore. Indications are that it would touch, or even exceed, Rs 1 trillion this fiscal year. This would be deemed an impressive performance, especially considering that the country’s annual trade in farm goods, excluding milk and marine products, is worth just over Rs 5 trillion.

This turnaround is attributable chiefly to farmers and traders shedding their misgivings about deals in virtual mode rather than the traditional system of a physical exchange of goods after visual inspection, and the growing realisation of the benefits of trading through e-NAM. The potential gains include access to a relatively large market, better real-time price discovery based on actual demand and supply, transparency in the auction process, and speedy online payments. Moreover, farmer-producer organisations (FPOs) and many other kinds of start-ups that have come up in recent years have begun serving as aggregators of the farm produce for sale through this portal at the best available prices anywhere in the country. Besides, some glaring snags and vexing issues concerning this mode of commerce have been addressed to a large extent by launching the specially designed “Platform of Platforms” on the e-NAM portal to provide single-window access to supplementary services like warehousing, assaying, packaging, transportation, and logistics support. About 60-odd private entities are said to have been accredited for this purpose.

The usefulness of this mode of marketing was evident during the recent slump in the prices of potatoes in Uttar Pradesh, forcing many producers to throw their sacks on the roads. However, those potato growers who were members of FPOs managed to realise better prices by selling their produce directly to wholesalers in consumption centres in states as far away as Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka. Going by the latest official numbers, more than 17.5 million farmers and 243,000 traders had been registered on e-NAM till March-end. More importantly, over 2,570 FPOs have begun using the e-NAM platform for inter-state trade of agricultural commodities.

Earlier, much of the trade being recorded on the e-NAM portal consisted of transactions within the same mandi or among mandis in the same state. But, now deals with traders in other states have also begun to pick up. Significantly, many states have exempted vegetables and other perishable agricultural produce from compulsory sale through regulated markets, opening the door for their online transactions. In all, 209 agricultural, horticultural, and other farm commodities are now allowed to be traded through e-NAM. This list should be expanded, and diversified, further. There is also a need for uniformity in market charges and trade-licensing provisions in different states. Though these changes require amendments to state agricultural marketing statutes, this must be done to give a further impetus to the seamless inter-state trading of farm goods through e-NAM for the benefit of both producers and consumers.