In e-auctions, buyers inspect tobacco bales and evaluate their quality, physical and chemical characteristics such as tobacco leaf, aroma, moisture, texture, and body before bidding. To facilitate this exercise, the board provides hand-held terminals in wireless networking environment. Auction details are displayed on a large LCD screen for farmers.
The project is piloted by Cranes Software International, Bangalore, at a cost of Rs 18.42 lakh. It includes software for core auction process, leasing of 30 hand-held terminals and operation and technical support for a month.
Tobacco Board chairman J Suresh Babu said e-auctions would be introduced on all platforms in two phases.
In the first phase, e-auctions will be set up on all platforms in Karnataka in the ensuing (2008) auction season and all platforms in Andhra Pradesh in the 2009 season.
Social welfare minister P Subhas Chandra Bose inaugurated the e-auctions. Bose said the state government was considering a proposal to supply free electricity for tobacco cultivation and loans to tobacco farmers at an interest rate of 25 paise and harvesters for paddy and sugarcane crops.
