Centre aims to achieve e-mandi network target before deadline

So far, 250 mandis in 10 states linked with e-agri market; Centre urges states to hasten

The central government plan to integrate 585 wholesale markets (mandis) into an electronic National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) would be done by December 2017, before the target date of March 2018, said agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh. In the first phase, 250 mandis had been integrated by the end of last month, he said, on which commodities worth Rs 421 crore had been traded in the past six months.

Conceptually, e-NAM should lead to a common market for all farm commodities. However, in the absence of free inter-state and intra-state movement, the platform is being used to transform physical trade into electronic transactions.

In April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the e-NAM with 22 mandis in eight states. The target was to integrate 200 mandis by September and 585 by March 2018. The aim is to provide farmers a pan-India electronic portal for sale and purchase of agricultural produce, in an efficient and transparent manner.

“We have formed a committee to look into the entire gamut of issues associated with agricultural marketing and lowering of barriers in inter-state and intra-state movement of farm goods," said a senior ministry official.

So far, the government claims 153,992 tonnes of produce worth Rs 421 crore has been transacted on e-NAM. As many as 160,229 farmers, 46,688 traders and 25,970 commission agents have been registered on it, with 69 agricultural and horticultural commodities notified for trading.

To curb physical inspection of produce in mandis, the Centre has asked states to set up assaying facilities. “Provision of online payment of sale proceeds to farmers has also been made available and states requested to encourage direct transfer of sale proceeds to farmers' bank accounts,” Singh said.

The government has allocated Rs 200 crore for this scheme in this year. The Centre provides each mandi a one-time grant of Rs 30 lakh to set up the e-NAM infrastructure. Also, free software and an information technology expert for a year to each mandi. So far, 10 states and 250 mandis have decided to join e-NAM. Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) for integrating 399 mandis have been received from four more states. In the first phase, 67 mandis have been integrated in Uttar Pradesh, followed by Telangana (44), Gujarat (40), Haryana (36), Madhya Pradesh (20), Andhra Pradesh (12), Rajasthan (11), Jharkhand (eight), Himachal (seven), and Chhattisgarh (five).

The minister said 17 states and one Union Territory (UT) had fully or partially modified their Agriculture Produce Marketing Regulation (APMC) Acts. Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Assam and Puducherry are in the process of amending the law. Six governments —Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Meghalaya, West Bengal, Jammu & Kashmir and Delhi — have made no changes.

Sikkim has enacted a new APMC law but does not want to integrate with e-NAM. Bihar, Kerala, Manipur and four UTs do not have an APMC Act.

"I appeal to those states whose APMC Act require complete or partial changes to join the scheme, by reforming their laws on priority. I also urge those states where an APMC Act is not there to join the e-NAM scheme by framing the necessary Act/regulations," the minister said.