e-NAM: Farm Ministry hails states' efforts

New Delhi: Expressing satisfaction over the progress of states in implementation of electronic national agricultural marketing (e-NAM) plan, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh hailed the efforts of stakeholders for the achievement. "States are really doing a commendable job on e-NAM implementation front. The states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh deserve appreciation for their work, while Chhattisgarh and Telangana are already making headway. Several other states are also doing their best to achive the target, Singh during a meeting held to review the progress of e-NAM on Wednesday.

The minister also said that the officials should run awareness campaign among farmers and sensitize both farmers and traders about the benefits of online bidding as the government is also doing this through the strategic partner.

The minister further said that the laboratories need basic facilities to boost inter-mandi trading and interstate trading.

"To incentivize online trading and participation in e-NAM, some states like Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand have reduced user/market fee for online traders. Rajasthan has instituted Upahar award to encourage for the same," Singh said. Talking about model APLM Act, 2017, the minister said, "The states should adopt unified single market to boost inter-state trading. Under the Act, a cap has been levied on market fees to reduce the burden on the consumers."