The governmental efforts to promote direct marketing of agri produce in the wake of Corona scare seem to bear fruits with more and more states making provisions for the same.
It bears recall that Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has sent a letter earlier to the Chief Ministers of States reiterating the need for direct marketing through Cooperatives and Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) etc.
The Department also issued an advisory to the States to promote direct marketing without insisting for licensing procedures and facilitate the farmers in timely marketing of farm produce.
In order to decongest wholesale markets & to boost the supply chain, two modules namely, FPO Module and Warehouse Based Trading Module under National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) have been introduced.
FPOs can directly trade with e-NAM portal. They can upload produce details from collection centers with picture/quality parameters and avail the bidding facility without physically reaching to the mandis.
In Warehouse Based Trading Module, farmers can sell their produce from Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA) registered warehouses notified as deemed market, and do not physically bring the produce to the nearest mandis.
Various States have adopted Direct Marketing and taken several measures. Karnataka exempted Cooperative Institutions and FPOs in the State for engaging in wholesale trade of agricultural produce outside the market yards and Tamil Nadu exempted market fee on all notified agricultural produce.
States like Uttar Pradesh allowed trading in e-NAM platform from farm gate and promoted issuance of unified licence to processors for direct purchase from farmers and also allowed FPOs to undertake procurement operations of wheat. Rajasthan allowed direct marketing by traders, processors and FPOs.
Apart from Individuals, firms, and processing units, Madhya Pradesh has allowed to set up private purchase centres outside the market–yard to purchase directly from farmers with an application fee of Rs. 500/- only.
Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Gujarat have also allowed direct marketing without requirement of any licence.
Rajasthan has issued more than 1,100 direct marketing licences to processors during lockdown period wherein farmers have already started selling directly to the processors. Out of more than 550 PACS declared as market-yards in rural areas, 150 PACS have become functional for direct marketing and village traders are performing trade transactions successfully.
As per the report received from the States, Direct Marketing has facilitated the farmers groups, FPOs, Cooperatives and all the stakeholders in effective and timely marketing of farm produce.