Jammu and Kashmir’s Department of Horticulture Planning & Marketing has registered 45,000 farmers who produce apple, cherry, pear, peach plum and they do their marketing on the eNAM, officials said.
Deputy Director Central Department of Horticulture Planning & Marketing J&K, Manzoor Ahmad Mir said the eNAM is meant for the online marketing of agriculture and horticulture produce and they have kept the infrastructure for the same in the mandis.
“Traders, farmers and commission agents can register and take their produce to the integrated mandis and we felicitate the inter-state marketing and they can do online marketing. Even the bidding and payment is done online,” he said.
He said till November 05 this year transactions of Rs 180 crore have been done on e-NAM in Jammu and Kashmir. He said that growers can now sell their produce directly in major markets.
“This is the innovative way for the farmers or growers to grow their business and earn profit without the role of middlemen. It aims to give exact prices to the farmers who work hard,” he said.
The Deputy Director said in order to further push the marketing, this year they organized three major buyer seller meets in Calcutta, Hyderabad and Jammu.
“We took some progressive farmers to Calcutta. There we invited some 300 buyers and they held interaction with the Kashmir farmers. We helped to create linkages between the buyer and farmer. A similar event was held at Hyderabad and Jammu,” he said.
On the other side, Mir said the Government of India and Union Territory Government is focussing to integrate the fruits mandis and cold storages to eNAM.
Earlier in August, Jammu and Kashmir integrated six mandis under National Agriculture Market or eNAM, an online trading platform for agricultural commodities in India.
The Deputy Director said that the eNAM has ended the role of middlemen so that the growers can get the better process of their produce. He said there are 25 mandis in Jammu and Kashmir UT out of which 17 have been integrated with eNAM.
He said that the Department of Horticulture Planning & Marketing J&K is working on mission mode to integrate the rest of the mandis with the eNAM.
“We have conducted awareness programs in every district and field officers have explained the benefits of the eNAM to the farmers and fruit growers,” he said.
The Deputy Director said the registered farmers produce apple, cherry, pear, peach plum and they do their marketing easily on the eNAM.
“The farmers should register themselves at the respective mandis and they can come on the e-trade platform. Our Area Marketing Officers and concerned district officers are available at mandis and farmers should take benefit of the same,” he added.
He also said that they have been encouraging farmers to switch over to e-marketing and farmers also need to be alert and take the benefits of the government facilities.
National Agriculture Market (eNAM) is a pan-India electronic trading portal that networks the existing APMC mandis to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities.
He said Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) is the lead agency for implementing eNAM under the aegis of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India.
“To promote uniformity in agriculture marketing by streamlining of procedures across the integrated markets, removing information asymmetry between buyers and sellers and promoting real time price discovery based on actual demand and supply,” he added.
