Farmers in Karnataka have adopted the digital platform in selling their produce. They go online, check out the quotes of the traders and seal the deal that suits them best and also receive the payments online. This facility has gained quite popularity now and other states like Andhra Pradesh has also come forward to adopt it.

Unified Marketing platform (UMP), a state government initiative launched in 2014 by the Rashtriya e-Market Services (ReMS), provide the farmers an opportunity to interact with the traders online. Thus, they can directly deal with the traders and have the right to reject if the quoted prices are not satisfactory for them.

This facility completely rules out the middlemen, who take away a big share from the farmers’ profit by buying their produce at minimum cost.

Through UMP, farmers now receive SMS alerts from their banks when transactions with traders have been confirmed.

The ReMS have successfully integrated 103 of the 157 Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees (APMC) through UMP, helping farmers get a higher price for their produce.

Manoj, the managing director of ReMS has told Deccan Chronicle, “The success of this new online marketing system has created ripples and will revolutionise the agricultural sector in the country,  greatly benefiting poor farmers and other stakeholders in agricultural markets.”

Nearly 1.4 million farmers have registered with UMP. The ReMS is providing training to the rest of the farmers to incorporate in the programme. States like Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh are showing their interest in replicating this model followed in Karnataka.

The Logical Indian appreciates this initiative taken by the state government of Karnataka. This is a great initiative to help the farmers get the right price for their produce, abolishing the system of middlemen.