Traders associated with the Uttar Pradesh Yuva Vyapar Mandal (UPYVM) have opposed to eNAM, an online trading platform for agricultural commodities launched by the central government. UPYVM has written a letter to Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman opposing the e-market and urged to figure out other means to increase farmers’ income.
As per the traders, the online mechanism will break the long-standing relations between farmers and mandi traders/businessmen with whom they take loans based on goodwill. They added that not all farmers are well-equipped for the online system, which will leave traditional farmers in the lurch.
“We have written to the finance minister citing that India is identified with the traditional markets and not due to online markets. We’ve urged the minister to not create an online agriculture market as it’ll break traditional relationships, which are based on trust and association. Loans taken by farmers are easily addressed via this mechanism, which is beneficial to both parties,” said Vikas Jain, president UPYVM.
Sitharaman on Tuesday urged states to dismantle the agriculture produce marketing committees (APMCs) and join the electronic national agriculture market (eNAM). She said the reason behind pushing for eNAM was its effectiveness in current times and that APMC platform has outlived its utility.
Source (The Times Of India)