Digital market falters, leaves farmers with fewer buyers and weaker returns

The old electronic National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) system was shut down even before onboarding to the revamped version was complete, forcing farmers back to local physical mandis, where fewer buyers mean reduced competition and lower price realisations, two people directly involved in the transition process told Mint on the condition of anonymity.

The disruption could not have come at a worse time, as kharif crop arrivals start to surge.

“Any disruption during the transition is therefore seen as significant, especially during the peak arrival season of kharif crops. When e-NAM is not working and farmers have to sell their produce in the physical mandi, they lose access to competitive bidding from multiple mandis, and must rely only on the traders present locally on that day, which reduces competition and can lead to lower prices," said the first of the two persons cited earlier, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity.

e-NAM is one of the central government's flagship digital reforms for agriculture, connecting about 18 million farmers through 1,522 mandis onboarded on the platform, out of the nearly 7,500 regulated mandis across the country. The platform aims to improve price discovery, reduce cartelization, and allow farmers to sell beyond their local mandis, helping them secure better returns and increase their income.

In response to Mint's queries, the agriculture ministry said that several suggestions and issues had been reported after the pilot launch in Rajasthan, and that its team is working to incorporate feedback and resolve problems.

The ministry also said that the implementation process of e-NAM 2.0 is being undertaken in a phased, consultative, and technically-supported manner to ensure stability, continuity, and readiness for a wider national rollout once the pilot phase is fully streamlined.

Queries sent on 4 December to the Rajasthan chief secretary, the directorate of agricultural marketing, and Akal Information System Ltd, the technology partner for the roll-out of the revamped e-NAM 2.0 system, remained unanswered till press time.

The e-NAM platform is managed and operated by the Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC), which reports to the Union ministry of agriculture and farmers’ welfare. The roll-out of the e-NAM 2.0 pilot began on 3 November across all 173 mandis in Rajasthan after SFAC selected Akal Information System as the technology partner after a competitive tender, at a contract value of over ₹25 crore for a four-year period, with a provision to extend it by another four years if mutually agreed, the first person said.

Experts say the success of e-NAM 2.0 will depend not only on technological upgrades but also on how smoothly farmers and mandi staff are able to adopt the new system.

“Digital platforms like e-NAM can strengthen agricultural markets, but any transition must be handled with care," said Rakesh Arrawatia, professor of finance and accounting at the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA).

The government is rolling out e-NAM 2.0 to replace the earlier system and ensure smoother cross-mandi trading through a mandatory unified licence. “In the earlier system, states largely issued single-mandi licences and the unified licence concept was never fully implemented," said the second person cited earlier.

“This limited traders to one mandi and slowed cross-mandi bidding. The new version makes the unified licence mandatory, allowing traders to operate across multiple mandis with a single licence. e-NAM 2.0 also offers advanced search and filtering options for locating users, lots and commodities—an important feature missing in the earlier version," said this person.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on 25 July 2025, minister of state for agriculture and farmers' welfare Ramnath Thakur said that 1,79,41,613 farmers, 2,67,719 traders and 4,518 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) were registered on the e-NAM platform as on 30 June. Thakur added that agricultural produce worth about ₹4.4 trillion had been traded on the portal till that date.

As per the second person cited earlier, the directorate of agricultural marketing in Jaipur has red-flagged several issues in the e-NAM 2.0 pilot in a letter dated 27 November sent to SFAC.

It has reported that traders who are already registered are still being shown with a single-mandi licence, leaving them unable to place bids, and there is no option to convert this into a unified licence, this person added.

The directorate has also pointed out that the mandatory PIN code in farmer registration is causing addresses to appear incorrectly, and that farmers from the state’s eight newly-created districts are still being mapped to old district names, making it necessary to update all 41 districts, cities and villages.

It added that data from eight newly-formed mandi samitis is still appearing under older mandis and must be migrated properly.

“The gate pass is showing the mandi’s address instead of the farmer’s address, and users with joint trader–commission agent licences are not being given the option to register as commission agents," said Raghunath Ram, secretary, Krishi Upaj Mandi Samiti Nagaur, Rajasthan.

Nagaur is one of the mandis that sees large arrivals of major cash crops, particularly spices such as cumin and saunf (fennel seeds). In the Nagaur mandi, which is in western Rajasthan, the peak arrivals also include moong (green gram), guar (cluster bean) and moth bean.

“As farmers are not able to get themselves registered on the new system (e-NAM 2.0), they are losing the opportunity to secure better prices for their produce and are being forced to sell physically at rates negotiated locally," said Raghunath Ram.

“e-NAM 2.0 has incorrect district mapping following the creation of eight new districts—Deeg, Khairthal-Tijara, Kotputli-Behror, Balotra, Beawar, Phalodi, Salumber and Didwana-Kuchaman. Farmers continue to be mapped to the old district names, and the state has asked that all 41 districts be updated," the Nagaur mandi official said.

Some user profiles are not visible in the system, preventing updates, while new registrations are being blocked because these users appear as already registered.

The directorate has also said that lots from other mandis are showing up in sampling, assaying and bidding screens, causing confusion.

Farmer organisations say the glitches in the e-NAM 2.0 pilot are already affecting market operations in Rajasthan and could hurt farmers during the peak arrival season if not addressed quickly.

“Farmers cannot afford disruptions in the mandi system at the peak of the marketing season," said Rakesh Tikait, national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU). “If the new e-NAM platform is not fully ready, the government should not force farmers to depend on a system that is still facing technical issues. Wrong district mapping and registration failures directly affect farmers’ ability to get better prices. The priority should be to fix the system first and ensure that farmers do not lose out because of these glitches," Tikait added.