With more states joining the pan-India digital wholesale platform, the trade turnover on the government’s electronic National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) surged by 13% to surpass the Rs 23,500 crore threshold in the first four months (April-July) of the current fiscal year, a senior official confirmed.
Official data indicates that the amount of agricultural items traded on the e-NAM network more than quadrupled, from Rs 34,940 crore in 2019–20 to Rs 78,424 crore in 2023–2024.
Since the digital platform’s introduction in April 2016, mandis in 27 states have been integrated, including Tamil Nadu (157), Rajasthan (145), Gujarat (144), Maharashtra (133), Uttar Pradesh (125) and Haryana (108).
Over 1,500 more mandis would be integrated with the e-NAM network, according to an announcement made by Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Furthermore registered with e-NAM are 4009 farmer producers organizations, 0.25 million dealers, and approximately 0.11 million commission agents.
Currently, over 200 agricultural products can be traded online using the e-NAM network. The ministry of agriculture has instructed all central agencies involved in the buying and selling of grains, pulses, and other agricultural products, including the Food Corporation of India, the farmers’ cooperative NAFED, and others, to use the platform in order to improve price discovery.
The government of Uttar Pradesh (UP) has made the decision to link e-NAM, which is supported by the central government, with the state’s agricultural commodity markets. The agriculture department is mandated by the state government to establish a specialized farmer-producer cell, which could be established in the near future, to facilitate the connection between farmer-producer organizations (FPOs) and e-NAM and ONDC. By taking this action, it hopes to increase rural residents’ earnings and create jobs.
In the meantime, to help farmers realize greater incomes, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan stated last week in Parliament that the Central government will invest Rs 18,000 crore to create 100 agricultural export clusters. In order to increase production self-sufficiency, the government also intends to initiate an oilseeds mission with a Rs 6,800 crore investment.
In Parliament, during a debate on the performance of his cabinet, Chouhan presented plans to create 50,000 climate-resilient villages and 1,500 new seed varieties to create a strong agricultural system. As part of ongoing government initiatives, he also highlighted plans to give farmers digital identities.
