Govt’s eNAM reports first inter-state agri produce sale
11 Jan 2019
Online transactions on the National Agriculture Market, or eNAM, kicked off on Thursday with a farmer from Haldwani eNAM APMC in Uttarakhand selling his tomato crop to a trader in Bareilly eNAM APMC in Uttar Pradesh, according to an official statement.
Similarly, inter-state transactions in potatoes, brinjal and cauliflower have also been carried out between the e-NAM mandis of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. In all the cases, e-payments have been made through e-NAM portal. This will helps farmers get better market access, more buyers/ traders and realise better prices for their produce, the statement added.
“To facilitate inter-state trade between the e-NAM states, the ministry of agriculture and farmers’ welfare conducted a series of coordination meetings with the states concerned and mandi board officials. As a result of these interactions, both the states have now facilitated licensing of traders of each other for inter-state trade on the e-NAM portal,” it said.
One of the major issues that hinders seamless transactions on eNAM, which is supposed to act as a pan-India electronic trading (e-trading) portal, is the non-availability of a trading licence for traders other than those from the home State. The centre has been pushing the states to adopt a universal licence, very similar to the way a driving licence issued by one state is recognised in other states.
E-NAM, i,e, National Agriculture Market, is a pan-India electronic trading (e-trading) portal, which seeks to network the existing physical regulated wholesale market (known as APMC market) through a virtual platform to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities. e-NAM platform promotes better marketing opportunities for the farmers to sell their produce through online competitive and transparent price discovery system and online payment facility. It also promotes prices commensurate with quality of produce.
The e-NAM portal provides single window services for all APMC related information and services. This includes commodity arrivals, quality and prices, buy and sell offers and e-payment settlement directly into farmers’ account, among other services.
So far, 585 regulated markets in 16 states and 2 union territories have been integrated with the e-NAM platform. Another 415 markets are expected to be on the platform by March 2020.