E-marketing platform, eFarmarket, bringing ease of doing business for farmers in Andhra Pradesh
Author: BI Bureau
New Delhi: With the launch of e-marketing platform – eFarmarket – the Andhra Pradesh government is planning to achieve a revised Gross Transaction Value (GTV) of Rs 500 crore in the first year by onboarding 10,200 traders and over 50,000 farmers for the platform.
Price commensurate with the quality of produce is a challenge faced by the farmers. Quality management system in the traditional wholesale marketing ecosystem is still at a nascent stage. The eFarmarket platform is envisaged to provide impetus for the development of quality management system, based on a scientifically designed and operated process on a reliable sampling and assaying.
The process instills confidence in a remotely located buyer and at the same time assuring farmers and sellers of a quality based price realization. It becomes a source of developing a trade language based on trust.
The marketing portal provides all the needs of farmers, covering the trade and post-market needs. The platform provides end-to-end solutions for buyers and sellers of products and services in the agricultural sector.
Andhra Pradesh is the first State in the country to set up an e-marketing platform to connect the farmers of the State to the traders of the country.
Andhra Pradesh Farmers E-Virkaya Corporation Limited (APFEVCL) was registered as a Special Purpose Vehicle for implementing eFarmarket project in June 2021 and subsequently, eFarmarket mobile application has been customised with business processes.
As many as 2,932 traders and 3,471 farmers have benefited in the financial year 2022-23 through eFarmarket application, where the total transaction recorded was Rs 45.93 crore.
Besides this, Multi-Purpose Facilitation Centres (MPFCs) are being established for the development of agriculture infrastructure facilities at each Rythu Bharosa Kendra (RBKs).
In the first phase, 1,123 warehouses, drying platforms and other infrastructure are under construction with an estimated cost of Rs 736.03 crore.
In the second phase of MPFCs, as many as 1,238 warehouses, drying platforms and other infrastructure facilities will be constructed with an estimated cost of Rs 852.44 crore. Officials said eFarmarket and MPFCs at RBKs’ are meant to ensure that farmers are able to sell their produce hassle-free, at the best price. /BI/
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The exports of agricultural commodities from March to June 2020 shot up by 23.24 percent on-year to Rs 25,552.7 crores.
As the economy comes to a standstill amid the coronavirus-led lockdown, India’s agriculture sector has taken the baton of economic growth in its hands. The exports of agricultural commodities from March to June 2020 shot up by 23.24 percent on-year to Rs 25,552.7 crores, according to the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. The government said that self-reliant agriculture is critical for the goal of an Atmanirbhar Bharat and for this, agricultural export is extremely important as besides earning foreign exchange for the country, the exports help farmers, producers, and exporters to take advantage of the wider international market and increase their income.
The surge in exports has also resulted in increased production in the farm sector by increasing coverage area and productivity. The share of India’s agricultural exports and imports in the world agriculture trade in 2017 was 2.27 percent and 1.90 percent, respectively. Even during the difficult time of pandemic lockdown, India took care not to disturb the world food supply chain and continued to export, the government said.
Ministry of Agriculture has prepared a comprehensive action plan for the promotion of Agri trade; the twofold approach focuses on boosting Agri Export with emphasis on value addition and action plan for Import Substitution. Recently, the Agriculture sector has witnessed a series of reforms, giving more choices to the farmers to sell their produce at competitive rates.
To mention a few, the Export strategy focuses on the export promotion of fast-evolving niche markets of Wellness food/ Health-conscious food/nutraceuticals, Development of “Brand India” in campaign mode to help penetration into new foreign markets and of new products which automatically translates into higher value realization, Gulf countries have been identified as focus destination to increase the market share which is a strong market for India though presently India caters to only 10-12% share of their total imports. A product-market matrix has been made containing a list of products of strength that could be expanded in new geographies and a list of known markets which can be introduced with newer products.
At the behest of the Department of Agricultural Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture, product-specific Export Promotion Forums have been created to lead Agri exports to new heights. Each Export Promotion Forum shall be having exporters of the related commodity as its members along with official members representing concerned Ministries/Departments of the Central and State Governments. Chairman APEDA shall be the chairman of each of these forums. The forums will meet at least once every two months, to discuss recommendations on issues pertaining to the export.
The recommendations of the forum will be placed in the product committee / Authority of APEDA. The Forum will keep in close contact with the concerned organization of the Ministry of Agriculture such as MIDH, Extension, NPPO, etc., DGFT, Ministry of Civil Aviation, MoFPI, etc. to further the interest of agricultural export.
