89 per cent Telangana farmers observe better pricing and reduced transaction costs: Eco Survey
Hyderabad: Eighty-nine per cent of farmers in Telangana observed better pricing and reduced transaction costs, according to Economic Survey 2023-24.
It said that 82 per cent of farmers in Gujarat, 79 per cent of farmers in Haryana and 64 per cent farmers in Maharashtra observed better pricing and reduced transaction costs. Overall, farmers expressed satisfaction with the e-NAM facilities, including cleaning, drying, weighing, assaying, bid management, and e-auction. Similarly, it is seen that 54 per cent of the farmers prefer transactions through the eNAM portal over traditional markets due to the multiple benefits derived through this portal.
According to survey, implementation challenges of e-NAM still exist, such as limited awareness, lack of trust and infrastructure issues related to setting up assaying facilities. About 66 per cent of farmers from the surveyed States found the quality testing procedures transparent.
To promote efficiency in agriculture marketing, and improve price discovery, the government implemented the e-NAM scheme. Under the scheme, the Central government provides free software and assistance of Rs.75 lakh per Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) mandi for related hardware, including quality assaying equipment and the creation of infrastructure for cleaning, grading, sorting, packaging, etc.
As of March 14 2024, more than 1.77 crore farmers and 2.56 lakh traders have been registered on the e-NAM portal. The Centre launched the scheme to form and promote 10,000 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) in 2020 with a budget outlay of Rs.6.86 thousand crore till 2027-28.
As of 29 February 2024, 8,195 FPOs have registered under the new FPO scheme, and equity grants of Rs.157.4 crore were released to 3,325 FPOs. Credit guarantee cover worth Rs.278.2 crore was issued to 1,185 FPOs. Studies have evaluated the performance and prospects of the e-NAM and concluded that the initiative has generally had a positive impact on farmers by enabling higher price realisation for their crops, thus fulfilling one of its primary objectives. Farmers who participated in e-NAM reported receiving higher prices for their crops post-implementation.