National Agriculture Market To Remove Discrepancies: Minister

A well-developed futures market for agricultural commodities is imperative for farmers to reduce the range of seasonal price variations, protecting the farmers from post-harvest slump in prices, Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said.

"We are in the process of removing all discrepancies to promote agriculture sector across India," he said.

"Our small farmers have not been able to reap benefits of India’s growth, technological advancement and overall development as they lack bargaining strength and possess limited awareness about market conditions,” Singh at trade body Assocham’s event in New Delhi on Wednesday.

The minister said the government has given funds to about 214 markets from eight states that have come up with a proposal to join the online trading platform National Agriculture Market (NAM).

"The strategic partner has been hired to make an e-trading platform and computerise the markets, I believe that we will have a single e-trading platform for 200 markets by September 25, 2016 and we will add another 200 markets by March 2017 as we aim to connect 585 markets and this number might increase considering the number of proposals being received from states," Singh added.

Seeking the industry’s co-operation and active engagement, Singh said: "The success of NAM programme will depend not merely on technical solutions, but on complete involvement and collaboration all players."

Overseas Loans
Meanwhile, India could raise about $12.65 billion in overseas loans to boost irrigation facilities, Bloomberg reported quoting a senior government official.

State-run National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development may steer the borrowing plan that is aimed at adding as much as 13 million hectares (32.1 million acres) of irrigated farmland, the report said, citing Water Resources Secretary Shashi Shekhar.

Two consecutive droughts have brought down farm output in India as only about half of the farmlands have irrigation facilities.