Agriculture portal E-kisan to bridge farmer-wholesaler gap

NEW DELHI: Small farmers growing vegetables and fruits in the hinterland can avoid the pain of hunting for buyers after taking their perishable commodities to wholesale markets in cities like Delhi.

E-kisan, a portal that will go online on July 27, will allow them to showcase their farm produce on the Internet for wholesalers to bid remotely before the crop is harvested and sent to the buyer. The e-kisan mandi, an initiative of the agriculture ministry, will be a platform to trade fresh vegetables and fruits. The Small Farmers Agri-business Consortium ( SFAC), a body under the ministry, will facilitate transactions.

“Apart from ensuring remunerative prices to farmers, the portal will be an attractive alternative for wholesale buyers as they will not have to pay any mandi tax,” said SFAC managing director Pravesh Sharma.

The portal will initially cover Delhi and benefit farmers who bring their produce all the way to the capital from across the country. “Farmer growing onion from Nashik, tomatoes from Ranjangaon, apple from Himachal Pradesh and garlic from Madhya Pradesh will no more have to get their produce to Delhi market to sell,” he said.