All you need to know about e-mandis

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch national e-agriculture market on Thursday. The initiative is not only unique but highly beneficial for farmers of the country. This will enable farmers in eight states, including Uttar Pradesh, to sell 25 commodities online in 21 wholesale mandis.

The government intends to integrate all the 585 wholesale mandis across the country with National Agriculture Market (NAM) by March 2018.

At present, 21 mandis have been selected from eight states on pilot basis.

Right now 25 commodities such as onion, potato, apple, wheat, pulses, coarse grains and cotton, among others, had been identified for online trading.

What are e-mandis?

With this launch, farmers can easily sell their produce in any of the markets where they find right (highest) price for their crop.

In the traditional mandi system, farmers generally procure very less price for their crops as they has to pass through various intermediaries at the physical marketplace. This not only adds costs but also handling costs.

In addition, the famer has to face obstacles in form of multiple tax levies and licenses and weak logistics and infrastructure in India.

With introduction of NAM transparency will be introduced in the marketing system, and market will be regulated. It will enable participation and benefits for the entire agri value chain, from farmer to consumer. There will be creation of high-end warehouses just near to production clusters.

The proposed NAM framework envisages real-time electronic auctioning of the commodities along with integrated assaying, weighing, storage and payment systems. It proposes to issue a single licence for trading across the country. Also, the payments will be credited directly to the farmers’ accounts.

Details will be furnished on the electronic platform. It will provide a dual benefit to producers by averting the need to bring produce to the market physically and enabling them to avail funding against the commodities stored in the warehouses, thus strengthening the price risk management framework for the farmer.