Performance of e-nam and its determinants in the largest market of Andhra Pradesh

Abstract

The national agriculture market (e-NAM) is an online trading platform with a physical market at the back end. The study was purposively conducted in the Guntur mandi in Andhra Pradesh, as it was the state's largest mandi in terms of trade volume and value, using an ex-post facto research design with 100 respondents. A disproportionate stratified random sampling approach was used to select 30 farmers, 30 traders, 5 FPOs, 25 Commission agents, and 10 e-NAM officials, and data was collected using a pre-tested interview schedule. The performance of the e-NAM index was examined using a list of four sub-indicators, and it was discovered that the average value of the performance index was 0.646, it did not cross the 3/4th mark, indicating that there was a lot of scope for improvement. Finally, using multiple linear regression, the factors that determined the performance of e-NAM were found. Only four of the 12 predicted factors were significant. To improve the performance of e-NAM great attention should be given to social participation, landholding, annual family income, and scientific orientation. Farmers had a higher illiteracy rate than traders, commission agents, and e-NAM officials. Commission agents had more average annual family income than traders, farmers, and e-NAM officials. Intermediaries benefitted more than farmers and traders. Thus, policymakers should replace the role played by commission agents with the authorized body. The manuscript concluded by proposing recommendations for policymakers to improve the performance of e-NAM.