Union Agriculture Minister Radha Modhan Singh, accompanied by Agriculture Ministers and Secretaries from 23 States and three Union Territories, had a first-hand experience of the ‘Karnataka Model’ of Unified Market Platform here on Friday during their visit to the Hubballi Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC).
Under the Unified Market Platform model developed and executed by the Karnataka government, as many as 55 major APMCs in the State have been brought on e-trading platform and the farmers would get the price for their crop deposited directly to their bank account.
The Union Minister first visited the quality testing centre where assaying and grading of the arrivals to the market were done. He then visited the premises of a trader before proceeding to the trading hall, where he inaugurated the ‘e-payment’ facility for the Hubballi APMC by clicking the mouse to facilitate a payment from a trader to the farmer.
Prior to the inauguration, the Ministers spent some time interacting with Additional Chief Secretary of Cooperation Mahendra Jain and Additional Secretary of Cooperation Manoj Rajan getting to know more about the e-trading platform. Union Agriculture Secretary Siraj Hussain also joined them in clearing the doubts regarding the system.
Mr. Radha Mohan Singh sought to know whether the delay in payment to farmers could be addressed through the new system. Another Minister wanted to know whether there was any mechanism to ensure the credibility of the commission agents.
Responding to a few suggestions, Mr. Mahendra Jain said they could be incorporated in the model to improve it further.
Subsequently, except Mr. Radha Mohan Singh, several of the Ministers and Secretaries proceeded to Sirsi APMC to see the e-trading facility.
