About 15 agriculture regulated markets in the State are expected to join the electronic trading portal of National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) this year.
Shunchonngam Jatak Chiru, Commissioner of Agri Marketing and Agri Business, Tamilnadu State Agricultural Marketing Board, told reporters here on Friday that farmers, traders and officials will have to move from manual to e-trading and then to online trading.
Of the 278 regulated markets in the State, 50 handle large volume of commodities and another 100 get seasonal volume.
Two of these - Perundurai and Vellore - have e-trading platforms. This year, about 15 of these markets are expected to be linked to the Central Government’s e-NAM platform.
Further, the State Government is looking at development supply chain management in 10 districts for horticultural produce.
The ₹398 crore project is funded by Nabard and is expected to be completed in two years.
The districts covered will include Coimbatore, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, the Nilgiris, Dindigul and Tiruchi.
By bringing in organised handling, perishability of the produce will come down and the farmers will get better realisation.
About 65 primary processing centres will be set up in these 10 districts to handle the fruits and vegetables that are cultivated in large volume in that area.
Cleaning, sorting, and packing will be done at these centres and there will be direct linkages with the market.
The ICRISAT was studying systems to operate these centres and also developing a software for this.
“We have started the infrastructure work in four districts and these will be operational in two years,” he said.
Mr. Chiru was in the city to take part in the inaugural of the four-day agriculture fair (Agri Intex) organised by Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (Codissia) jointly with Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers Association (Amma) at Codissia Trade Fair Complex.
K. Ramasamy, Vice-Chancellor of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, said at the inaugural that a new generation was coming into agriculture.
There are several agriculture-based industries and fund allocation for the agriculture sector should go up. According to S. Thilagar, Vice-Chancellor of Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, farmers should be flexible and go in for crops and livestock that will give them better realisation in a particular season.
Value addition and processing will bring in better revenue.
S. Nagoor Ali Jinnah, Chief General Manager of Nabard, said agriculture sector needs support in terms of finance, marketing, and modern technology.
The Nabard was giving consultancy to the Government on modernising marketing committees, markets, and warehouses.
Surendra Singh, Technical Advisor of Amma, spoke about the support extended by the association for the agri fair.
V. Sundaram, president of Codissia, said the exhibition has a model farm and showcases technology for different kinds of farming.
R. Soundararajan, chairman of Agri Intex 2017, added that the event focuses cost effective technology and attracts progressive farmers from across the country.
Spread across five halls and having 400 participants, the Agri Fair is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The Hindu is a media partner for the fair.
