46 TS agriculture markets to be integrated with e-NAM

Mahbubnagar: The State government of Telangana has decided to integrate 46 agricultural markets in the State with e-NAM (National Agriculture Marketing Portal), said C Parthasarathy, Principal Secretary of Agriculture, Agriculture Marketing and Cooperative department while speaking at the second annual national conference on agricultural marketing held at Palamuru University on Thursday.

The Principal Secretary while agreeing that there are various imperfections in the existing marketing systems that needs to be streamlined said that the State government was soon going to initiate various reforms so as to make the agricultural marketing system in the State more transparent and robust.

"As many as 46 agriculture markets in Telangana have been integrated the electronic hub of National Agriculture Markets (e-NAM) which is going to give a wider boost to the marketing opportunities for the agriculture produce of Telangana farmers across the country. Not just this, the State government is also planning to push forward the Rythu Bazaar scheme more effectively so as to connect the consumers directly with the farmers and reduce middlemen and brokers which would give more profits for the farmers," said Parthasarathy.

The Principal Secretary said that the main objective of the government was to ensure transparency, elimination of middlemen, impetus to competition in place cartelisation, which is possible only with e-NAM which would give better prices for the farmers for their produce.

At present, Telangana is producing about 189 varieties of various agricultural produces and the total turnover of agricultural market committees across the State is said to be about Rs 30,000 crore annually.

The full benefits of e-NAM are expected to be achieved only with the adoption of Model Act. The Model Act proposed by the Central government needs to be amended by the States concerned so as to facilitate reforms in the agricultural marketing pipeline.

For further streamlining in the agriculture marketing system, the State government is soon going to take measures with a futuristic perspective and has plans to establish an Agriculture Market Intelligence Centre (AMIC) at Prof Jayashankar Telangana State Agriculture University in Rajendranagar, observed the Principal Secretary during his address at the Palamuru University conference.