Enriching the Farmers
The just-released Report of the Expert Committee on Market Yard of National Importance platform talks of enhancing the share of producers in the end consumer price and facilitating seamless inter-mandi and inter-State trade.
In order to empower the farmers and create new opportunities for them, the Government of India is working towards the integration of e-NAM and the introduction of the Market Yard of National Importance (MNI).
The idea is to enable the framers to access a larger market and sell their surplus produce, thereby expanding their reach and boosting their incomes.
The digital ecosystem is an enabler as it facilitates quality-based trading, transparent price discovery, and efficient marketing systems. This collaborative approach between the government, farmers, and traders fosters a competitive and sustainable agricultural sector.
It may be noted that the Government has been supporting the idea of empowering Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) and making them more transparent and competitive with the arrival of modern technologies through improving infrastructure and services offered to the farmers.
National Agriculture Market has come a long way since its launch (April 2016). So far, 04 UTs and 1361 Mandis of 23 States have been integrated into the e-NAM platform. As on 03rd July 2023, 2.45 Lakh traders & more than 1.75 Crore Farmers have been registered on the e-NAM portal. The total volume of 7.97 Crore MT & 25.82 Crore numbers (bamboo, betel leaves, coconut, lemon & sweet corn) collectively worth approximately Rs. 2.79 lakh crore of trade has been recorded on the e-NAM platform.
Achievement of e-NAM has been fabulous in the Agri-marketing sector. Though 1361 regulated markets have become a part of the e-NAM platform, a need has been felt for obtaining a competitive price, especially for surplus farmers to create inter-mandi more importantly, inter-State trade is crucial and it is essential that a more suited intervention is needed for creating a larger reach for the farmer’s surplus produce through an efficient and seamless marketing system across India by promoting quality based trading with a transparent price discovery mechanism for inter-mandi and inter-State trade.
Taking the progress of policy reforms to the next level and with a vision to enhance the share of the producers at the end CP(Consumer price), the Government constituted a high-level Expert Committee on 21st April 2023, to promote inter-mandi & inter-State trade and business through conceptualization and implementation of Market Yard of National Importance (MNI).
The said expert committee’s chairman Dr. Manoj Rajan is the Special Secretary (Agriculture), of the Government of Karnataka with members from State Agri Marketing Boards of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Telangana, Odisha & Bihar. Apart from the State representative, Director (Agriculture Marketing), DA&FW, GoI, Deputy AMA, DMI, a representative from SFAC, and Strategic Partner for e-NAM were also the members of the said committee. The Committee has been created for the task of recommending the framework for the implementation of MNI.
Chairperson of the Expert Committee submitted a report of the Expert Committee on MNI platform. Aforesaid committee has recommended the implementation framework of MNI-P platform, legal framework & inter-state reciprocity of license and movement, dispute resolution mechanism, rollout strategy etc on 4th July, 2023. This platform will provide a chance for the workers of the participating states to sell their surplus produce beyond its state boundaries. This platform would support creating digital ecosystems that leverage the expertise of various segments of the agriculture value chain.
