What is/are the advantage/advantages of implementing the ‘National Agriculture Market’ scheme?

National Agriculture Market (NAM)

Q. What is/are the advantage/advantages of implementing the ‘National Agriculture Market’ scheme?

1. It is a pan-India electronic trading portal for agricultural commodities.
2. It provides the farmer’s access to the nationwide market, with prices commensurate with the quality of their produce

Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

National Agriculture Market (NAM): Aim & Objectives

National Agriculture Market (NAM) is a pan-India electronic trading portal which networks the existing APMC mandis to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities.

The NAM Portal provides a single window service for all APMC related information and services. This includes commodity arrivals & prices, buy & sell trade offers, provision to respond to trade offers, among other services. While material flow (agriculture produce) continue to happen through mandis, an online market reduces transaction costs and information asymmetry.

Agriculture marketing is administered by the States as per their agri-marketing regulations, under which, the State is divided into several market areas, each of which is administered by a separate Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) which imposes its own marketing regulation (including fees). This fragmentation of markets, even within the State, hinders free flow of Agri commodities from one market area to another and multiple handling of agri-produce and multiple levels of mandi charges ends up escalating the prices for the consumers without commensurate benefit to the farmer.

NAM addresses these challenges by creating a unified market through online trading platform, both, at State and National level and promotes uniformity, streamlining of procedures across the integrated markets, removes information asymmetry between buyers and sellers and promotes real-time price discovery, based on actual demand and supply, promotes transparency in auction process, and access to a nationwide market for the farmer, with prices commensurate with quality of his produce and online payment and availability of better quality produce and at more reasonable prices to the consumer.

Objectives of National Agriculture Market (NAM)

• A national e-market platform for transparent sale transactions and price discovery initially in regulated markets. Willing States to accordingly enact suitable provisions in their APMC Act for the promotion of e-trading by their State Agricultural Marketing Board/APMC.
• Liberal licensing of traders/buyers and commission agents by State authorities without any pre-condition of physical presence or possession of shop /premises in the market yard.
• One license for a trader valid across all markets in the State.
• Harmonisation of quality standards of agricultural produce and provision for assaying (quality testing) infrastructure in every market to enable informed bidding by buyers. Common tradable parameters have so far been developed for 25 commodities.
• Single point levy of market fees, i.e on the first wholesale purchase from the farmer.
• Provision of Soil Testing Laboratories in/ or near the selected Mandi to facilitate visiting farmers to access this facility in the Mandi itself. M/s. Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd. is the Strategic Partner (SP) who is responsible for the development, operation and maintenance of the platform. The broad role of the Strategic Partner is comprehensive and includes writing of the software, customising it to meet the specific requirements of the mandis in the States willing to integrate with NAM and running the platform.