With the aim to integrate the farmers to agriculture produce market across the country, prime minister Narendra Modi today launched a national portal e-NAM for agriculture market.
Speaking on the launching ceremony in New Delhi, Prime Minister asked farmers to adopt modern and scientific methods in farming to boost country’s economy.
He said the e-NAM is a pan-India e-trading portal to network existing APMC and other market (local mandis) to create a unified national market for agri commodities. The Prime Minister said the portal will provide a single window service for all APMC related information and services.
He also called for change in the agriculture sector according to global requirement to make the agri products more profitable.
Prime Minister said earlier farmers used to get to know rate of their crops only after reaching Mandis but now it enables them to know the rate of their crops and production even before they load it on a tractor or cart.
He said, laboratories will be established in mandis to check quality of the crops. He added this initiative will usher in transparency which will greatly benefit the farmers.
Describing the portal as a turning point for the agriculture sector, Mr. Modi said it will not only benefit farmers but also other stakeholders and consumers.
He also said unfortunately, the country does not have real time data on agriculture production and these structures need to be changed. He said, even in many states there is no laws on agriculture market.
The Prime Minister urged states to amend the APMC rules to facilitate farmers to take benefit of the scheme.
Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said, Government will connect 200 mandis by September this year. He said, by March 2018 all 585 mandis will be connected with the portal.
