Pune: After jaggery, Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC), Pune, began the experimental auction of pomegranate on Electronic National Agriculture Market (e-nam) two weeks ago. As per APMC Pune, around 200 farmers and buyers have been registered on the platform. However, farmers are concerned whether they will be able to fetch fair prices for their produce, as there will be only limited buyers on the platform.
Ashok Gund, a pomegranate farmer from Junnar, feels that with the implementation of e-nam, they are unable to get a fair price.
“In Junnar APMC, we have started auction of pomegranates from last one year. However, we are not able to receive a good amount for our produce. There are four varieties of pomegranate and on an average, we get Rs 38 to Rs 40 per kg. However, our production cost is Rs 50,” he said.
In Pune, pomegranates come from Solapur, Sangli, Satara and Ahmednagar.
BJ Deshmukh, Administrator at APMC, said, “We have started an experimental auction on e-nam for pomegranates for two weeks. There are around 200 farmers and buyers registered on this platform. It is experimental because farmers are facing certain issues and are concerned about getting fair prices for their produce. They are apprehensive that due to limited buyers online, they might not get good competitive prices.”
“Therefore, we have told them that it is being done on an experimental basis and if things will not work out, we will go back to the normal auction. However, we hope that we can create awareness among farmers regarding e-nam so that they do not have any apprehensions,” added Deshmukh.
Deshmukh further said, “With the e-nam platform, buyers from any place can take part in the auction and it can also help in getting a competitive price for farmers produce.”
Kishore Toshniwal, Director of Marketing, said, “This platform will bring transparency and farmers will get better and competitive prices and buyers from other APMCs can also participate in the auction if it is online. However, it is a big shift, so there are technological and mindset issues among the community and therefore, we are taking it forward slowly.”
President of Shri Chhatrapati Shivaji Market Yard Aadte Association Vilas Bhujbal said, “E-nam auction is a good thing but it will have certain difficulties as a lot of people are not very technologically savvy to use the platform. It is a big shift and at present, it is in the very initial stage as pomegranate auction has just started and it will take at least three to four months for everyone to download the application and learn how to use it.”
“However, if auction will shift on e-nam, there are chances that farmers might sell their produce at farm level only and the arrival in the market will reduce,” added Bhujbal.
