Expansion of trade under e-NAM

Why in News?

• The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India has decided to further expand the scope of trade under e-NAM.

Key Points:

• The initiative aims to increase the coverage of agricultural commodities and provide more opportunities to farmers and traders to benefit from the digital trading platform.
• The Directorate of Marketing and Inspection (DMI) has formulated tradable parameters for 10 additional agricultural commodities.
• DMI has formulated tradable parameters for 221 agricultural commodities, which are available on the e-NAM platform.
• The inclusion of 10 additional commodities will take the list to 231 commodities. 

The 10 items include-

• Miscellaneous items: Dried basil leaves, gram flour (chickpea flour), wheat flour, chana sattu (roasted chickpea flour), water chestnut flour
• Spices: asafoetida, dried fenugreek leaves
• Vegetables: water chestnut, baby corn
• Fruits: dragon fruit

e-NAM:

• The full form of e-NAM is National Agriculture Market.
• It is an online agricultural marketing platform launched by the Government of India in 2016.
• Its aim is to integrate and digitize agricultural markets across the country.
• It connects farmers, traders and buyers on a single online platform, allowing them to get transparent and competitive prices.

Main objectives of e-NAM:

• Bringing all registered mandis on a digital platform.
• Reducing the role of middlemen and increasing direct trade.
• Farmers can sell their produce online in any state.
• Fixing the right price through electronic auction (E-Auction).
• Promoting digital payments, weighing system and quality testing.