The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar, launched the Platform of Platforms (POP) under the National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) on the sidelines of the State Agriculture and Horticulture Ministers' Conference in Bengaluru, Karnataka today. Equity grant of over Rs 37 crore was also released to 1,018 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) that will benefit about 3.5 lakh farmers.
Besides Shri Tomar, the dignitaries present included the Chief Minister of Karnataka, Basavaraj Bommai, Union Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers and Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Ministers of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shobha Karandlaje and Kailash Choudhary, Agriculture Minister of Karnataka, BC Patil, State Ministers, Union Agriculture Secretary Manoj Ahuja and other senior officers.
With the introduction of POP, farmers will be facilitated to sell the produce outside their state borders. This will increase farmers' digital access to multiple markets, buyers and service providers and bring transparency in business transactions with the aim of improving price search mechanism and quality commensurate price realisation.
41 service providers from different platforms are covered under POP facilitating various value chain services like trading, quality checks, warehousing, fintech, market information, transportation etc. The PoP will create a digital ecosystem, which will benefit from the expertise of different platforms in different segments of the agricultural value chain.
e-NAM integrates the platform of Service Providers as "Platform of Platforms" which includes Composite Service Providers (Service Providers who provide holistic services for trading of agricultural produce including quality analysis, trading, payment systems and logistics), Logistics Service Provider, Quality Assurance Service Provider, Cleaning, Grading, Sorting & Packaging Service Provider, Warehousing Facility Service Provider, Agricultural Input Service Provider, Technology Enabled Finance & Insurance Service Provider, Information Dissemination Portal (Advisory Services, crop forecasting, weather updates, capacity building for farmers etc.) and other platforms (e-commerce, international agri-business platforms, barter, private market platforms etc.).
The inclusion of various service providers not only adds to the value of the e-NAM platform, but also gives the users of the platform options to avail services from different service providers. It enables farmers, FPOs, traders and other stakeholders to access a wide variety of goods and services across the agricultural value chain through a single window, thereby giving more options to the stakeholders.
Moreover, while selecting a good quality Goods/Service Provider, it saves the time and labour of the stakeholders. The POP can be accessed through e-NAM mobile app which can be downloaded from Google Play Store.On the occasion, Shri Tomar released an equity grant of more than Rs 37 crore to 1,018 FPOs under the CSS which will benefit about 3.5 lakh farmers leading to the goal of setting up of 10 thousand FPOs.
The Producer Members' equity, supplemented by a similar equity grant from the Central Government, would strengthen the financial base of the FPOs and help them to avail loans from financial institutions for their projects and working capital requirements for business development. Under the scheme, upto Rs. 18 lakh financial aid per FPO will be provided for a period of 3 years.
In addition, a loan of Rs. 2,000 for each farmer member of the FPO within a limit of Rs.15 lakh per FPO will be available. There is also a provision of project loan or equivalent grant from any eligible lending institution of up to Rs.2 crore per FPO.
The Coffee Table Book released by the Agriculture Minister showcases the endeavour and journey of e-NAM in bringing transparency and efficiency in the trade of agricultural products in the country through innovation and technology. Coffee Table Book on e-NAM focuses on showcasing the benefits and success of farmers and stakeholders by facilitating digitization of APMC mandis.