Fifty-nine-year-old Siddaiah Swamy of Gulbarga has mastered the art of moving the mouse, but he is puzzled by the sight of alphabets on the key board. He is the most trusted employee deputed to feed the price quote of agriculture products on the computer.

Swamy has emerged the role model for many villagers who have to handle the mouse and punch a few keys on the computer keyboard to access the e-mandi at the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC), Gulbarga.

“It was not easy initially. Right from training people to upgrading the hardware, software and ensuring connectivity through local area network, all of it was a daunting task, but the expertise of the NCDEX came handy,” says Rajesh Sinha, Executive Vice-President and Head, NCDEX Spot (Nspot), which was mandated to modernise 50 APMC markets in Karnataka.

Nspot has managed to roll out e-auction and grading facilities across 11 commodities in nine markets across the State.

The modernisation programme is targeted to fetch farmers an optimum price and ensure higher arrivals at the market place.

H.K. Chandramohan, (Additional Director) Secretary, APMC, said there was a huge opposition when the project was implemented last year, as the commission agents and traders thought they would go out of business, but they are now more than convinced.

“Last year, about 14 lakh quintals of tur and two lakh quintals of chana were sold on the e-mandi platform.

Though the crop this year is not satisfactory, we expect the trade to grow 20 per cent as farmers from Latur, Dudhani and Solapur in Maharashtra have shown keenness in tapping our market,” he said.

The transparent price discovery and hassle-free settlement has influenced about 270 commission agents and 700 traders to adapt the trading platform.

THE PROCESS

At the mandi gate, farmers are assigned a unique lot number which identifies various details including the farmer’s name, village and quantity of produce they bring in. APMC has deputed officials to grade and confirm the quantity that has entered the mandi.

A small heap of tur and chana is made with the unique identity number and is promptly displayed.

This facilitates the buyer to check the quality.

Based on the identification number, buyers quote their price on the computer.

The highest price quote for a particular produce is marked for delivery and the farmer is informed of the settlement price through SMS and a public address system installed at the mandi. Farmers receive the cash at the end of day.

MODERNISATION BY-PRODUCT

In the entire process, APMC has also managed to increase its revenue by 15 per cent to Rs 10 crore last year.

It has already collected Rs 7.5 crore till November and expects to mop-up Rs 1.5 croe-2 crore each month till March, when the tur arrival picks up gradually.

“While farmers pay no fees, we collect 1.5 per cent of the trade value from buyers.

The increase in revenue is just a by-product. What is more important is the benefit accrued to the farmers,” said Chandramohan.

The success of e-mandi in Gulbarga has already attracted government officials’ attention from other States such as Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra , Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, said Sinha.

> suresh.iyengar@thehindu.co.in

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