(MENAFN- IANS) New Delhi, Aug 9 (IANS) The trade turnover on the government's electronic National Agriculture market (e-NAM) has increased by 13 per cent to surpass the Rs 23,500 crore mark in the first four months (April-July) of the current financial year with more states coming on board the pan-India digital wholesale platform, a senior official confirmed.
The volume of trade in agricultural goods on the e-NAM platform has more than doubled from Rs 34,940 crore in 2019-20 to Rs 78,424 crore in 2023-24, according to official figures.
Mandis in 27 states including Tamil Nadu (157), Rajasthan (145), Gujarat (144), Maharashtra (133), Uttar Pradesh (125) and Haryana (108) have been integrated into the digital platform since its launch in April 2016.
Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced that over 1,500 more mandis will be integrated with the e-NAM platform.
In addition, 4009 farmer producers organisations, 0.25 million traders and around 0.11 million commission agents are registered with e-NAM.
The e-NAM platform currently allows online trading in over 200 farm goods. The agriculture ministry has directed all the central agencies such as the Food Corporation of India, farmers' cooperative NAFED and others engaged in the procurement and selling of grain, pulses and other agricultural produce to use the platform for better price discovery.
The Uttar Pradesh (UP) government has decided to also connect the state's agriculture commodity startups with central government-promoted e-NAM. The state government has directed the agriculture department to connect farmer-producer organisations (FPOs) with e-NAM and ONDC through a dedicated farmer-producer cell, which may be constituted soon. It aims to augment rural incomes and generate employment through this move.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced in Parliament this week that the Central government will invest Rs 18,000 crore to develop 100 agricultural export clusters to enable farmers to realise higher incomes. Additionally, the government plans to launch an oilseeds mission with an investment of Rs 6,800 crore to boost self-sufficiency in production.
During a discussion on his ministry's performance in Parliament, Chouhan outlined plans to establish 50,000 climate-resilient villages and develop 1,500 new seed varieties to build a robust agriculture system. He also mentioned plans to provide farmers with digital identities as part of the government's ongoing efforts.
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