Speed Post News Network
New Delhi : Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on May 11, 2020, launched integration of 177 new mandis with the National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) to strengthen agriculture marketing and facilitate farmers to sell their harvested produce through the online portal.
The mandis integrated on May 11 include : Gujarat (17), Haryana (26), J&K (1), Kerala (5), Maharashtra (54), Odisha (15), Punjab (17), Rajasthan (25), Tamil Nadu (13), and West Bengal (1). With the launch of 177 additional mandis, the total number of eNAM mandis across country is 962.
Launching the new mandis through video conferencing, Tomar said efforts should be made to strengthen eNAM further to benefit the farmers. He said eNAM portal has been envisioned by PM Narendra Modi as an ambitious use of technology for the benefit of farmers.
Earlier, 785 mandis were integrated with eNAM across 17 States and 2 UTs with a user base of 1.66 crore farmers, 1.30 lakh traders and 71,911 commission agents. As of May 9, 2020, total volume of 3.43 Crore MT & 37.93 Lakh numbers (Bamboo & Coconut) collectively worth more than Rs 1 lakh crore has been traded on eNAM platform.
Digital payment worth Rs 708 Cr have been done via eNAM platform benefitting more than 1.25 lakh farmers. eNAM facilitates trade beyond mandi/ state borders. A total of 236 mandis participated in inter- mandi trade across 12 States whereas 13 States/UT have participated in the inter-state trade allowing farmers to interact directly with distantly located traders.
At present, 150 commodities including foodgrains, oilseeds, fibers, vegetables, and fruits, are being traded on eNAM. More than 1,005 FPOs have been registered on eNAM platform and have traded 2,900 MT of agri-produce worth Rs 7.92 Crore, according to a PIB release.
To de-congest mandis during COVID-19 lockdown situation, FPO trade module, Logistics module and eNWR based Warehouse module were launched by the Union Agriculture Minister on April 2, 2020. Since then, 82 FPOs from 15 States have traded on eNAM with total quantity of 12,048 quintals of commodities worth Rs 2.22 crore. Nine Logistics Service Aggregators have partnered with eNAM having 2,31,300 transporters providing availability of 11,37,700 trucks to service transportation need of eNAM stakeholders.
On May 1, 2020, Tomar had launched integration of 200 eNAM mandis from 7 States including 1 new state of Karnataka being added on eNAM to help Indian farmers. In addition, the Union Agriculture Minister had also launched inter-operability between ReMS (Unified Market Portal-UMP) of Karnataka & eNAM portal.
National Agriculture Market (eNAM), a pan-India electronic trading portal with the objective of integrating the existing Mandis to “One Nation One Market” for agricultural commodities in India, was launched on April 14, 2016, byPM Narendra Modi. Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) is the lead agency for implementing eNAM under the aegis of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India.