Previous Year Question
What is/are the advantage/advantages of implementing the ‘National Agriculture Market’ scheme?
It is a pan-India electronic trading portal for agricultural commodities.
It provides farmers access to a nationwide market, with prices commensurate with the quality of their produce.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
1 only
2 only
Both 1 and 2
Neither 1 nor 2
Correct Answer: C
Detailed Solution
Statement 1 is correct. The National Agriculture Market, or e-NAM, is a pan-India electronic trading portal created for trading agricultural commodities. It was launched on 14 April 2016.
Its objective is to develop a unified national market for agricultural produce by electronically connecting regulated APMC mandis in different states. It is implemented by the Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.
e-NAM is not a separate physical market. It is an electronic platform connecting existing APMC mandis, while the physical arrival and delivery of agricultural produce primarily continue through the mandis.
Statement 2 is correct. e-NAM enables farmers to access a wider market and a larger number of buyers instead of depending only on buyers operating in a local mandi. The quality of produce can be recorded through quality assaying, increasing the possibility of farmers receiving prices commensurate with the quality of their produce.
Its major benefits include:
Transparent online bidding and improved price discovery.
Greater competition among traders.
Information regarding commodity arrivals and market prices.
Facilities for buy and sell offers for farmers and traders.
Greater transparency in payment through electronic settlement.
Reduction in intermediaries and information asymmetry.
The possibility of expanding agricultural markets beyond local mandis.
Under the scheme’s initial approval, 585 regulated markets were targeted for integration with the platform by March 2018.