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A ₹98-crore plan for setting up online trading platform for agricultural produce in select regulated market yards and Agricultural Producers’ Cooperative Marketing Societies (APCMS) was given the go-ahead by the Tamil Nadu government last week.
The Government Order of April 20, approved the project proposed by the State Agricultural Marketing and Agri Business Board envisaging e-trading platform in 15 regulated markets spread across 10 districts.
The GO also approved creation of online trading facilities in eight APCMS in five districts.
Nabard loan
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development is providing a loan to fund 90 per cent of the project cost. This includes ₹56.45 crore for the regulated markets and ₹32 crore for the APCMS under the Nabard Warehouse Infrastructure Fund.
The balance 10 per cent will be shared equally between the State and the regulated markets and APCMS.
Regulated markets
The regulated markets are in Villupuram, Tiruvannamalai, Coimbatore, Cuddalore, Erode, Tirupur, Salem, Tiruchi, Madurai and Dharmapuri. The APCMS are in Salem, Erode, Tirupur, Namakkal and the Nilgiris.
According to official sources, the State government is expediting the electronic-National Agriculture Marketing initiative (eNAM) for linking farmers and buyers online to strengthen farmers’ marketing ability. The APCMS are part of a separate project to provide online trading facilities.
Online access
Initially, 30 regulated markets are being upgraded with warehouses, transaction halls, assay labs and computer facilities. The government will soon approve plans for 15 more markets soon.
As of now, the 23 regulated markets have basic electronic trading facilities for onsite, online bidding for various agriculture produce that come in. This initiative rolled out in October 2017 has benefitted nearly 61,200 farmers and 1,274 traders. By the year-end, once the assaying and grading facilities are in place, farmers will have online access to markets across the State, said officials.
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