The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the Central Sector Scheme for promotion on National Agriculture Market through Agritech Infrastructure Fund with a budget allocation of Rs. 200 crores.
The Scheme entails setting up of a common e platform and its deployment in 585 selected wholesale regulated markets across the country. Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) has been identifying as the lead implementing agency for the national market.
The Central Government will provide software free of costs to the States and also Rs. 30 lakhs for hardware per mandi for setting up related equipment and infrastructure.
In order to orient the States and Union Territories (UTs) towards this initiative, the Union Agriculture Minister Shri Radha Mohan Singh will be leading a delegation of Ministers In-charge of Agriculture Marketing of States and UTs to Hubli, Karnataka, on 09th and 10th of July, 2015 to witness first hand the functioning of e-marketing platforms.
Karnataka has taken a lead in implementing trading of agricultural produce on e-platform by establishing a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), Rashtriya e Market Services Pvt. Ltd. (ReMS) as a joint venture company between Government of Karnataka and NCDEX Spot Exchange Ltd for the purpose.
The Study visit on 9th and 10th of July, 2015 will include presentation on Agricultural Market Reforms in Karnataka and familiarization with Unified Marketing Platform (UMP) and its modules. A visit to APMCs at Hubli and Sirsi is also scheduled to interact with market participants and observe the operation of UMP. The visit is expected to promote a better understanding of the way forward for implementation of the National Agriculture Market, claims a PIB release.