E-auction in agriculture markets of Rajasthan-some issues

Marketing of agricultural produce in Rajasthan is being facilitated by 133 principal and 313 sub market yards spread across the state of Rajasthan. The average area served by a regulated market is 767 sq kms. Number of licences issued by APMCs is 79818, out of which only 2944 are processors and miller. Most of the produce is sold through commission agents (29 percent of total licensees). Amendments in the APMC act in the year 2005 to increase competition through direct purchase licence, single licence to operate throughout the state, private market, contract farming, spot exchanges or e-market has so far shown negligible impact. Use of technology in agriculture marketing may be preferred in the form of e-auction of agriculture produce. State Government has decided to move towards quality based price for agricultural produce to be sold through APMCs. State has already pointed out commercial standards in some commodities which are in addition to AGMARK standards. Grading of whole produce at market itself is cumbersome. Testing at mandi gate is possible and the state has chosen to go with it instead of grading. Responsibility to authenticate quality will be borne by commission agents. It will facilitate e-auction and is necessary for its success. E-auction is proposed to be available in the remote area with the prerequisite of grain analyzer, oil testing machine and other commodity specific quality testing equipment at licensed firm. In this way, e-auction may overcome location disadvantage in marketing of agricultural produce. E-platform shall work as a place for display of agriculture produce available with commission agent and traders. E-auction ensures availability of real time prices for dissemination to various stakeholders. Same e-platform may facilitate registration of farmer at mandi gate or through web portal. Mobile number of farmers will be used as their unique ID. It is targeted to generate over 12 lakh IDs so that marketing department can establish its reach up to every 10th farmer. It may be concluded that E-auction is the only alternative available at present to ensure better competition in marketing of agricultural produce.