KURNOOL: Resistance from onion traders to shift to e-NAM (electronic national agriculture market) at Kurnool market yard has put onion farmers in a quandary as to how to dispose of the product which is perishable in nature. In the past two days, about 2,000 quintals of onion were brought to the market yard but the resistance of the licensed traders made them return home without disposing of it, said Jayalakshmi, secretary of the market yard.
Onion, which is being grown in 25,000 hectares in the district, being a perishable commodity, cannot be stored for more than 15 days. Lack of storage facilities and cold chains were also major hindrances for farmers, she said. E-NAM provided transparency in trade, quick payments to farmers and better price discovery, said Jayalakshmi.
She said e-NAM is an electronic trading platform where buyer and seller know exactly at what rates the produce was being sold and bought and there was little difference in realisation of the prices. "We have brought red gram, castor seed, groundnut, ajwain, dry chillies, thana and sunflower seeds already on e-NAM platform," she said. But onion traders, 25 of them in all, were putting spokes in a seamless transition to the electronic trading platform, explained Jayalakshmi.
She said under the manual selling practice, a few traders and commission agents indulged in irregularities. Many costs, including market fee, commission fee, and other unauthorised deductions were made, resulting in a dent in the farmers’ profits. Further, after the negotiations are completed, most traders and agents delayed payments to farmers. To address all these issues, the government introduced online marketing, she said. "Traders and agents usually collude and fix low prices affecting the farmers’ prospects in the manual system which Kurnool onion traders are insisting to continue,” the market yard secretary said.
Jayalakshmi further said they had already advised the traders to shift to e-NAM. If they resisted further, their licenses would be cancelled and fresh licenses would be called in.
e-NAM at Pathikonda dealt in tomato and Madanapalle was the biggest market for tomato trading, she said.
