It provides e-marketing platform at national level and support creation of infrastructure to enable e-marketing.
This innovative market process is revolutionizing agriculture markets by ensuring better price discovery. It brings in transparency and competition to enable farmers to get improved remuneration for their produce moving towards ‘One Nation One Market’.
National Agriculture Market (eNAM) is a pan-India electronic trading portal which networks the existing APMC mandis to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities.
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.
VISION
To promote uniformity in agriculture marketing by streamlining of procedures across the integrated markets, removing information asymmetry between buyers and sellers and promoting real time price discovery based on actual demand and supply.
MISSION
Integration of APMCs across the country through a common online market platform to facilitate pan-India trade in agriculture commodities, providing better price discovery through transparent auction process based on quality of produce along with timely online payment.
Issues with APMCs:
- Limited number of traders in APMC markets thereby reducing competition,
- Cartelization of traders, and
- Undue deductions in the form of commission charges and market fee.
Most farmers lack access to government procurement facilities including APMC markets.
Reforms in APMC Acts: The Acts are highly restrictive in promotion of multiple channels of marketing and competition in the system. The central government is continuously pursuing state governments for reform in APMC Acts through model Acts. However, there is lukewarm response of state governments towards reforms in the Acts. The central government should constitute a Committee of Agriculture Ministers of all states to arrive at a consensus and design a legal framework for agriculture marketing.
3 marketing reforms in the APMC Act that the states desirous of linking their mandis with e-NAM are required to carry out
- Single point levy of mandi fee,
- Unified trade license valid across all mandis of State
- Provision of e-auction.
After carrying out reforms, States are required to propose their wholesale regulated markets for integration with e-NAM platform based on States priorities, which are then considered by Government of India for integration.
585 markets across 18 states are connected on the portal of the Electronic National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) scheme.
Availability of markets: the average area served by an APMC market is 496 sq. km., which is much higher than the 80 sq. km. recommended by the National Commission on Farmers (Chair: Dr. M. S. Swaminathan) in 2006. There is a need of 41,000 markets to meet this requirement. The central government should
- Initiate consultation with state governments to increase the number of agriculture markets, and
Gramin Haats: The Gramin Haats can provide farmers direct access to consumers, require less transportation cost, and thus, may emerge as a viable alternative for agriculture marketing. Central government to hold discussions with state governments to keep Gramin Haats out of the ambit of the APMC Acts.
GrAM scheme: The aim of the Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAM) scheme is to improve the infrastructure and civic facilities in Gramin Haats across the country.
Under the scheme, 4,600 of the existing 22,000 Haats will be developed and upgraded using MGNREGA and other government schemes.
Increase the number of Haats being targeted under the scheme and ensure presence of a Haat in each panchayat of the country, and make the scheme a fully funded central scheme.
