eGovWatch: Centre to approach biggest contributor Punjab for joining online agriculture market

With Haryana agreeing to join the online trading platform National Agriculture Market (NAM), the Centre would soon urge Punjab, the country’s biggest contributor to central grain pool, to join the initiative that aims at integrating all the existing 585 agricultural produce market committees (APMCs) across the country.

By: Sandip Das

With Haryana agreeing to join the online trading platform National Agriculture Market (NAM), the Centre would soon urge Punjab, the country’s biggest contributor to central grain pool, to join the initiative that aims at integrating all the existing 585 agricultural produce market committees (APMCs) across the country.

“We have received proposals from the Haryana government for integrating its 54 APMCs through online platform and we will approach Punjab to join the NAM,” an agriculture ministry official told FE.
The official said the e-trading platform would be launched from April 1, 2016. Thereafter, 200 mandis during April-September, 2016 would be linked to the e-trading portal.

“I urge the state governments to complete the pre-requisite reforms in APMC Act which will enable them to join NAM,” agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh said on Sunday while addressing the National Conference on Sustainable Agriculture here.

A ministry official said while the physical transaction would continue to be conducted through concerned APMC, the online platform would allow the bulk buyers, processors and exporters to participate directly in trading at the local mandi-level through NAM, which would reduce cost of transaction.

In the proposed online agri-market place, farmers bringing their produce to local APMC market would have choice to sell their produce to local traders or buyers registered with online platform but stationed outside the APMC locality or even the physical boundary of the state.

Currently, the farmers are restricted to sell their produce only at APMC market that often charge high levies or taxes on the produce.