Bengal: First interstate trade through e-NAM portal begins

Kolkata: The first interstate trade through e-NAM (Electronic National Agriculture Market) from Bengal took place on Friday with a reputed Farmers Producers Company (FPC) of Purbasthali I in East Burdwan procuring potato, cabbage and tomatoes from the farmers of the state of Jharkhand. The trading took place from Kalna e-NAM centre under East Burdwan Zilla Regulated Market Committee (RMC). Five quintals of potato, 20 quintals of cabbage and 10 quintals of tomato were traded through the e-NAM platform.

"The intra state trading among farmers have been going on since 2018. But for interstate online trading the items' quality certificate needs to be in place. It took us some time to develop this infrastructure," said a senior official of West Bengal State Agricultural Marketing Board (WBSAMB).

WBSAMB has already set up assaying laboratories with state of the art quality detection machineries and equipment in the 17 markets under the e-NAM for quality analysis and grading of the farm produce brought by the farmers.

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 in 17 markets in 14 districts in the state under the E -NAM platform that networks the existing agri-markets or krishak bazars to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities. More than 19,203 farmers, 2,542 traders and 71 FPOs have already been registered in the e-NAM platform in Bengal.

"The platform is a major stride in ensuring that the farmers get access to a nationwide market and get prices commensurate with the 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.

The project was rolled out by the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on April 14, 2016 across the country and Bengal started its implementation from March 1, 2018.

"The necessary amendments in the West Bengal Agricultural Produce Marketing (Regulation) Act and Rules have been made for incorporating e-trading through the e-NAM portal," the official said.

Till June 2020, 9,111.94 metric tonnes of items worth Rs 1,598. 53 lakh have been traded through this platform. Fruits, vegetables, pulses, paddy, rice and flowers are the main agricultural commodities e –traded through the e–NAM.