Chief Minister Siddaramaiah launched a unified virtual market for agricultural produce here on Saturday.
The Chief Minister said his government wanted to empower farmers so that they could fix the price for their produce.
“A unified market is a step towards this direction as licensed traders can bid online for agriculture produces from anywhere and farmers will have the right to reject the price if they are not satisfied,” he said.
Stating that Karnataka is the first State in the country to launch such a system, Mr. Siddaramaiah said it was in tune with the recently launched agriculture marketing policy, which sought to ensure scientific prices for agriculture products as well as competition in the market. The government had also issued orders to set up an Agriculture Price Commission, he added.
Mr. Siddaramaiah said that within 10 minutes of launching the market, 10 traders had made bids for copra and 53 for turmeric.
Revolution“This is just the beginning of a revolution in agriculture marketing,” he said hoping that farmers would get adequate price for their produce.
Growers from Arsikere and Tiptur would be allowed to market copra and those from Chamarajanagar would be allowed to sell turmeric.
The facility would be extended to other produce and markets in a phased manner, he said. The unified market allows traders to buy produce online and facilitates payment to farmers online itself.
Details on phoneMinister for Agriculture Marketing Shamanur Shivashankarappa said as soon as the farmer entered the regulated market, details such as the name of the produce would be collected and he would be given a unique identification number.
Even the commission to the agent and market fee would be paid online by the trader. The farmer would get details of the online trade on his cellphone.
Minister for Cooperation H.S. Mahadeva Prasad and Chief Secretary Kaushik Mukherjee were present.
