e-mandi launched in Karnal, Ellenabad
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 14
Farmers in Karnal and Ellenabad (Sirsa) grain markets of Haryana and 18 others mandis in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, HP, UP and Telangana will now be able to sell their produce online to these mandis.
Agriculture Minister OP Dhankar today launched the first phase of the National Agricultural Marketing (NAM) scheme from Karnal while Chief Parliamentary Secretary Bakshish Singh Virk inaugurated it at Ellenabad .
Dhankar said a farmer sitting in Karnal would be able to sell his produce to a trader in UP at a better price and get instant payment through the RTGS in his bank account.
The scheme was launched at the national level by PM Narendra Modi today.
In the next three phases scheduled for September, 2016, March, 2017, and March, 2018, 585 mandis of the country, including 54 from Haryana, will be integrated with the common e-platform (NAM) to enable the farmers to sell their crops online.
NAM is envisaged as a pan-India electronic trading portal, which seeks to network the existing mandis and other market yards to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities.
Gurjeet Singh Mann, a progressive farmer from Kirpal Patti village of Sirsa, said the online sale facility would not benefit the crops covered under the MSP regime.
“However, for crops like guar, cotton and basmati not purchased by the government at MSP, farmers will definitely be in a better position to earn more by having options of more than one mandi,” he said.
