(a) whether the Government has reviewed the efficacy of e-NAM in helping farmers to get timely payment for their produce, if so, the details thereof;
(b) whether it is a fact that a majority of e-NAM transactions are settled outside the system, if so, the reasons therefor; and
(c) the steps taken by the Government to strengthen the e-NAM platform to improve farmers’ income?
MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
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(a): Government of India through CCS National Institute of Agricultural Marketing (NIAM), an autonomous organization of Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare, has carried out the assessment of the National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) scheme, with report titled Performance Evaluation of e-National Agriculture Market” (October, 2020). It was mentioned in the report that as on 14th May, 2020, farmers have transacted over Rs 1 Lakh crore on the e-NAM platform with a trade volume of 3.43 crore tones of commodities and 38.16 Lakh bamboo and coconuts. Further, as per the report, significant number of farmers opined prompt payment of sales proceeds through e-NAM.
(b): e-NAM transactions can be settled through different available modes of payment outside e-NAM such as through cash payment, cheque payment, Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS)/ National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT), Debit Card, Internet Banking etc. in addition to that through e-payment facility available through e-NAM. While e-payment facility in e-NAM enables sale proceeds in e-NAM to be directly transferred from buyers account to the bank account of the farmers in a transparent, speedy and safe manner, it is not mandatory. So far, Rs 1047 crore has been paid through e-payment facility in e-NAM.
(c) Following are some of the major steps taken by the Government to strengthen the e-NAM platform to improve farmers’ income:-
i. Integration of additional 415 mandis with e-NAM, taking the total number of mandis to 1000 across 18 states and 3 UTs, thus bringing more markets access to farmers to sell their agriculture produce.
ii. FPO trading module has been launched whereby FPOs can trade their produce from their collection center/ premise without bringing the produce to APMC.
iii. Warehouse based trading module is provided in e-NAM to facilitate trade from warehouses based on e-NWR
iv. Further the e-NAM platform is made inter operable with Rashtriya e Market Services Private Limited (ReMS) platform of Government of Karnataka which will facilitate famers of either platforms were can sell their produce in other platform thereby increasing their market access.
v. GPS Based e-NAM Mandi Locator: Farmers / Sellers can locate their nearby e-NAM mandi using GPS based mandi locator feature through e-NAM mobile app. This will helps the farmers to easily locate and reach the selected mandis and sell their agri-produce.
vi. Integration with AGMARKNET platform: Farmer can access the prevailing commodity prices & arrival information of e-NAM mandi as well as non e-NAM mandi on e-NAM mobile app. prior to even going to the mandi.
vii. e-NAM portal is available in English and 11 Indian languages (Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Odiya, Dogri, Malayalam and Kannada) to facilitate farmers to use e-NAM in the language of their choice.
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