Govt to launch National Agriculture E-Market on 16 April

The government will launch the National Agriculture Market (NAM) on 14 April 2016, on pilot basis, tentatively in 20 agricultural mandis across eight states, with scheduled integration of 200 regulated markets by September 2016.

The scheme envisages implementation of the National Agriculture Market (NAM) by setting up of an appropriate common e-market platform that would be deployed in 585 regulated wholesale markets in states/union territories (UTs) desirous of joining the e-platform.

Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) has been selected as the lead agency to implement the national e-platform. Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW) will meet the cost on software and its customization for the states. DAC&FW will also provide grant as one time fixed cost for related equipment and infrastructure subject to the ceiling of Rs3,0.00 lakh per mandi. State governments will propose the regulated markets which are to be integrated with NAM.

As on date, proposals from 12 states/UTs namely Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, UT of Chandigarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh for integration of 365 mandis with NAM have been given in principle approval and grant has been released to Gujarat, Telangana, Jharkhand and Rajasthan.

Meanwhile, other states like Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Punjab Odisha, Tamil Nadu, UT of Puducherry, Administration of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram have also expressed their willingness to join NAM.

Government has approved a scheme for setting up of National Agriculture Market (NAM) on 1 July 2015 with a budget of Rs200 crore, which is to be implemented during 2015-16 to 2017-18.