The Government policy of procurement of food grains has broad objectives of ensuring MSP to the farmers and availability of food grains to the weaker sections at affordable prices. It also ensures effective market intervention thereby keeping the prices under check and also adding to the overall food security of the country.The procurement under Price Support is taken up mainly to ensure remunerative prices to the farmers for their produce which works as an incentive for achieving better production.
Food Corporation of India, the nodal central agency of the Government of India, along with other State Agencies undertakes procurement of wheat and paddy under a price support scheme. Coarse grains are procured by State Government Agencies for Central Pool as per the direction issued by the Government of India from time to time.
Before the harvest during each Rabi / Kharif Crop season, the Government of India announces the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for procurement on the basis of the recommendation of the Commission of Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP). Minimum Support Price (MSP) is the minimum price set by the government for certain agricultural products, at which the products would directly be bought from the farmers if the open market prices are less than the cost incurred. To facilitate procurement of food grains, FCI and various State Agencies in consultation with the State Government establish a large number of purchase centers at various mandis.
The National Agricultural Market (e-NAM) is a pan-India electronic trading portal. It was launched in April 2016 with the objective of integrating the existing Mandis to “One Nation One Market” for agricultural commodities in India. It provides for contactless remote bidding and mobile-based anytime payment for which traders do not need to either visit mandis or banks for the same. Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) is the lead agency for implementing e-NAM. It functions under the aegis of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.
In short, we can conclude that the government used to procure the agricultural products in the offline mode i.e. from mandi or markets. But now they have shifted to the online mode of an electronic trading platform (e-NAM).
Written by -
Mahesh Madhas
G Division 691
E-naam is indeed an excellent feature for the agricultural sector,it definitely ensures smooth functioning
Very nice blog!
Very insightful
such an intricate business and handled so well. great to learn that from this blog
A very detailed blog and it includes almost all the points which are necessary to explain the concept . Good use of pictures as well .