Thanks to Ashish Kotamkar for sending this across from Pune. FN ---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Ashish Kotamkar" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Website to help farmers bargain better Date: Fri, 31 May 2002 12:11:24 +0530 Website to help farmers bargain better http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=11502961 TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ FRIDAY, MAY 31, 2002 3:39:44 AM ] IT'S a well-known fact that Indian farmers rarely know the actual price and stock level of his produce at the mandis where they come to sell it. A long chain, vested interests and sheer spread of the markets not only makes it difficult for them to take decisions regarding produce mix, but also deprives them of whatever little bargaining power they may have had. In a recent initiative to correct this anomaly, various state agricultural marketing boards (APMCs) have come together to form an Agricultural marketing information network (Agmarknet), hosting a portal called agmarknet.nic.in. This project has a budget of Rs 10 crore. The website has links to various APMCs and mandis across the country, as well as a few live links to major mandis like the Navi Mumbai APMC. Itís possible to check out at this site the delivery positions and prices of various commodities and vegetables at practically every mandi in India. Commodities are divided into seven groups here ó cereals, pulses, fibres, spices, fruits, vegetables and oilseeds. Surfers can search mandi-wise for commodity, or commodity-wise in each mandi. Presently, Agmarknet reports information from 73 markets across India. The Agmarknet venture is a heartening initiative from the much criticised and slow-to-react government, especially on the issue of easing the infrastructural constraints on agriculture. Till now, the government has only been regular in its support price policy for farmersí benefit (that too, only a small section), while any form of meaningful support in the shape of credit, research, extension or capital formation has been absent. Seen in this light, the Agmarknetís proposed aim to create a ënationwide network for speedy collection and dissemination of market informationí, could potentially reduce prices paid to intermediaries and bring benefits to a wide cross section of farmers and consumers. Secondly, Agmarknet also aims to computerise data about market fees and charges, arrivals, dispatches, sales transport, losses and wastage and various issues like APMC infrastructure and taxes. It envisages connecting, eventually, 670 mandis and 40 agricultural boards across India. At 75, Maharashtra has the maximum number of wholesale markets, or nodes connected, followed by Andhra Pradesh (65) and Uttar Pradesh (64). Perhaps a bee in the bonnet that has to be dealt with is the connectivity problem -- all attempts to log on to Mumbai APMC's website called falbazar.com, proved futile for three consecutive days. It is obvious then, that for such an ambitious and urgently needed network to really work, the project has to be backed up by back end systems and training. The National Informatics Centre of the Government of India said that it will procure, maintain and install the hardware and software for the sites and train the operators to upload and uplink. Each wholesale market or node that is connected to Agmarknet will pay Rs 2,750 per year as internet access charges. On first look, Agmarknet appears to be filling a huge gap by providing access to information at reasonable cost. The challenge, if the full potential of such ventures have utilised, is to take IT to rural India in a big way. [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Ashish ------------ ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, an NGO that is a GKP member*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/>
