NEW DELHI: The government will link 109 more mandis on the electronic National Agriculture Market (eNam) by next month to ensure farmers get better rates for their produce, a senior agriculture ministry official said.
So far, 470 mandis in 14 states have been integrated with the eNAM platform, launched in April 2016 with an aim to help farmers with better price discovery and provide facilities for smooth marketing of their produce.
The government has set a target of linking total 585 mandis on the eNAM platform in the current fiscal.
"Work is in progress in additional 109 mandis. We expect these mandis to go live on the e-NAM platform by first week of February," the ministry official told PTI.
Punjab, Kerala, West Bengal, Chandigarh and Puducherry are the upcoming states/union territories (UTs) which have shown interest to connect some of their mandis on the eNAM platform.
That apart, Telangana, Gujarat and Maharashtra wants to connect additional mandis on the eNAM, the official added.
On the eNAM platform, farmers can choose an option to trade directly on their own or via registered commission agents. Farmers can either trade on the eNAM portal or via mobile app available in 5-6 languages.
So far, 72.12 lakh farmers, 53,130 commission agents and over 1 lakh traders are registered on the eNAM platform from 14 states.
The 14 states include Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarkhand.