New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Tuesday that states are being cajoled to reject the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) and adopt electronic National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) so that farmers get better price for their produce.
It should be stated here that ‘e-NAM’ is a pan-India electronic trading portal which networks the existing APMC mandis to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities. e-NAM has been promoted by the Union Government and many states have agreed also to take it up at their level, Nirmala Sitharaman said at an event organised by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) here.
“Together with this we’re also making sure that the states are cajoled to reject APMCs. It has served its purpose at one time there’s no doubt. But today there are many difficulties associated with the agricultural produce market committee, which at every state level has become not so efficient in helping the farmers find better price points for their produce,” Sitharaman pointed out.
“We are talking with states to sort of dismantle that and move towards e-NAM for farmers,” added the finance minister.
So far, 21 e-NAM mandis of eight states namely Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh had joined hands to start inter-state trade on e-NAM.
One hundred and thirty six inter-state transactions and 14 commodities which include vegetables, pulses, cereals, oilseeds, spices etc, have been traded under inter-state trade through e-NAM platform in a short span of time.
Initially started with 25 commodities, the e-trade facilities have been provided on 124 commodities with tradable parameters on e-NAM portal.
Through inter-state trade, farmers get better market access, more buyers/ traders and realise better prices for their produce.
The finance minister also said that she had in the Budget announced formation of 10,000 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) so that farmers have easy access to institutional finance.
Sitharaman said the government is looking at acknowledging a more than proportionate dependence on rural life and agriculture and further emphasised the immediate need for taking up water management and water-related stress points.
PTI