The Haryana government has been increasingly adopting digital governance means in its bid to improve farming and ensure enhanced income for farmers. A successful initiative in this regard is the Meri Fasal-Mera Byora e-procurement portal that was launched by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in April 2020. In less than two years, 8.71 lakh or more than 80 per cent of the total farmers in the state, registered on the portal in the rabi season. 🗞️ Subscribe Now: Get Express Premium to access the best Election reporting and analysis 🗞️ Senior officials say the portal was started in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The lockdowns during April-May 2020 had disrupted normal functioning across all sectors. At that time, mustard and wheat crops were ready for harvest. But there was a realisation within the government that strict lockdowns will make it difficult for farmers to take their produce to the market. As such, it was decided to start an e-procurement portal on which they could register and sell their produce. Thanks to the portal, Haryana has become the first state in India where as many as 14 crops are procured at the Minimum Support Price (MSP). These crops include wheat, mustard, barley, gram, paddy, maize, bajra, cotton, sunflower, moong, groundnut, tur, urad and sesame. To provide an online sale facility, 81 mandis of the state have been linked with the E-NAM (electronic national agriculture market) portal. The eNAM platform offers a pan-India electronic trading portal which networks the existing APMC mandis to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities. Since the government prioritises the procurement of crops of farmers who have registered on this portal, it is not surprising that, as of date, over 27 lakh farmers have sold their crops using it. The procurement of bajra by the state government is a good example of how digitisation has helped the state government to smoothen the procurement. “Last year, we paid Rs. 1,670 crore to farmers for the procurement of bajra at the MSP of Rs 2,150 per quintal. The MSP of bajra this year is Rs 2,250 per quintal. According to the National Commodity Index, the market price of millet was between Rs 1,680 and Rs 1,800 per quintal from November 11 to December 15. Assuming an average price of Rs 1,650 per quintal, we have compensated the balance Rs 600 per quintal and paid Rs 429 crore directly into the accounts of 2,38,245 farmers. This compensation has been made on the basis of average productivity per acre of bajra”, a senior official told The Indian Express. Explaining how it worked in the interest of farmers, the official said, “Even if the farmer did not bring his produce to the market, even if he kept the bajra for his own use, he was paid compensation. In this way, the farmer got Rs 600 per quintal without going anywhere. The farmer only grew bajra and gave its details on the 'Meri Fasal-Mera Byora' portal.” However, the portal's use is not just limited to being a platform for online sale and purchase of crops (see BOX). “On this portal, the farmer also gets financial assistance to sell his crop, buy fertilizers and seed, get a loan for agricultural equipment - all the while sitting at home,” said an official.
