Agri produce trading touches Rs 91,000cr mark on e-NAM platform

Agriculture produce worth Rs 91,000 crore has been traded through the e-National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) platform so far and the figure will soon reach Rs 1 lakh crore, the government said on Tuesday.

The agriculture ministry on Tuesday organised the first national consultative workshop on strengthening agri-logistics in e-Nam here.

At present, 585 mandies (agri-markets) across 16 states and two Union Territories have been integrated on the e-platform. It is expected that 415 other mandis will soon be integrated.

"On this portal more than 1.65 crore farmers and 1.27 lakh traders have registered. Through this platform trading of Rs 91,000 crore has already taken place and in the near future it is expected to reach 1 lakh crores," an official statement said.

 

Speaking on the occasion, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said, "Agriculture is very important for the country as there is a large population engaged in agriculture."

He stated that strengthening agriculture and the rural economy will strengthen India so that the country can face challenges victoriously. The government is also committed to realizing the Prime Minister's vision of doubling farmers income by 2022.

Tomar said the government is committed to strengthening the economy and infrastructure of rural areas so that every facility is available to villagers at their door-step.

He said the disparity between small farmers and big farmers should be bridged and benefits of technology and various schemes should reach the small and marginal farmers.

The minister said the greatest challenge in present times is to provide farmers the correct price for their produce.

e-NAM scheme envisages a pan-India e-trading facility for agricultural commodities through integration of existing APMCs. Market integration through e-platform facilitates transparent and competitive bidding by enabling inter-mandi trade of the agricultural produce thereby giving advantage to the farmers for better price discovery.

Tomar said the government is committed to strengthen the e-NAM platform and will ensure that small farmers join this platform.

On strengthening agri-logistics, he said: "Along with harvesting cleaning, grading, segregating, quality inspection, packaging and marketing have to be done so that the journey from production to consumer is completed.