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Context

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said that he believes that with the help of the National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) portal, the farmers will be able to decide the place, time and price of selling their products, and reduce the burden on the consumers.

e-NAM Portal

• National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) is a pan-India electronic trading portal that networks the existing Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) mandis to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities.

About National Agriculture Market (NAM)

• National Agriculture Market (NAM) is a pan-India electronic trading portal launched in 2016 completely funded by Central Government and implemented by Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC).
• NAM portal networks the existing APMC (Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee) / Regulated Marketing Committee (RMC) market yards, sub-market yards, private markets and other unregulated markets to unify all the nationwide agricultural markets by creating a central online platform for agricultural commodity price discovery.
• The scheme envisages deployment of a common e-market platform of 585 selected regulated wholesale agriculture market yards by March, 2018. The common electronic trading portal will be called as e-NAM.

Objectives

• To integrate markets first at the level of the States and eventually across the country through a common online market platform, to facilitate pan – India trade in agricultural commodities.
• To streamline marketing / transaction procedures and make them uniform across all markets to promote efficient functioning of the markets.
• To promote better marketing opportunities for farmers / sellers through online access to more buyers / markets, removal of information asymmetry between farmer and trader, better and real-time price discovery based on actual demand and supply of agri-commodities, transparency in the auction process, prices commensurate with quality of produce, online payment etc. that contribute to marketing efficiency.
• To establish quality assaying systems for quality assurance to promote informed bidding by buyers.
• To promote stable prices and availability of quality produce to consumers.

Beneficiary

• Farmers, Mandis, Traders, Buyers, Processers and Exporters.

Benefits

• Transparent online trading with enhanced accessibility to the market. Real-time price discovery for better & stable price realization for producers.
• Reduced transaction cost for buyers. Availability of information on e-Nam mobile app about commodity prices.
• The details of price of commodity sold along with the quantity are received through SMS. Quality certification.
• More efficient supply chain & warehouse-based sales. Online payment directly to the bank accounts of the farmers.

Outcomes

The outcomes of the scheme include

• A single license for trading across all markets in a State,
• A single point of market fee,
• An electronic auction for transparent price discovery,
• Easier norms for obtaining trading licenses,
• Abolition of fragmented markets,
• Seamless transfer of agricultural commodities,
• Improved supply-chain and reduced wastage,
• Increased price share for the farmers,
• Wholesale-based sales,
• Quality-based informed training.

PRACTICE QUESTION Q. What are the objectives of National Agriculture Market (NAM) scheme? Elaborate.

https://theprint.in/india/national-agriculture-market-portal-to-help-farmers-in-selling-produce-pm-modi/1518962/\