State agri board sees 68% surge in trade through e-Nam

Kolkata: Despite the prevailing pandemic situation, the West Bengal State Agricultural Marketing Board (WBSAMB) has witnessed 68 per cent increase in its trading percentage during the period between April and September through e-Nam (Electronic National Agriculture Market) platform.

The total trade value in 2019-20 fiscal was Rs 10 crore. However, in the current fiscal the total trade value has already touched Rs 10 crore in barely six months. The total traded quantity in the first six months is more than 5100 metric tonne. "We are targeting trade value of Rs 20 crore by the end of the current fiscal. We are hopeful of achieving the target, considering the response during the first six months," said a senior official of WBSAMB.

The online transaction has also been Rs 14.70 lakh during the first six months as against Rs 6.39 lakhs in the corresponding period last year.

The e-Nam platform has also seen a reasonable increase in the number of stakeholders, including farmers, traders and Farmers Producers Company. Prior to March 2020, the board had 25,000 stakeholders. But, another 5,000 stakeholders were added to the board from April to September this year.

Interestingly, the first inter-state trade from Bengal took place in July with a reputed FPC of Purbasthali I in East Burdwan involving the procurement of potato, cabbage and tomatoes from Jharkhand farmers. The trading took place from Kalna e-Nam centre under East Burdwan Zilla Regulated Market Committee (RMC). "The intra-state trading, among farmers, has been going on since 2018. But, for inter-state online trading the items' quality certificate needs to be in place. It has taken us some time to develop this infrastructure and presently we are in talks with neighbouring states of Jharkhand and Odisha for more inter-state trading," said the official.

E -Nam is a pan India electronic trading portal that creates a unified market through online trading platform both at the national and state level. The board has already brought 18 markets in 15 districts in the state under this platform that connects the existing agri markets or krishak bazars with one another to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities.

"It is a major step in ensuring that the farmers get access to a nationwide market and get prices commensurate with quality of their produce. It promotes uniformity by streamlining the procedures

across the integrated markets and removes lack of information between buyers and sellers," a senior official of the Board said.