As part of the Central Governments Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY),about 100 Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs) in the state will now go online. According to the officials of the Maharashtra State Agriculture Marketing Board (MSAMB),the project will take two years for completion. For implementation of the project Rs 44.5 crore has been earmarked for infrastructure development and Rs 13.8 crore for maintenance for first three years. Rs 20 crore has also been sanctioned for the year 2011-12 for the project. MSAMB officials said after the completion of the project the information about arrivals of produce in the market will be immediately put online. The auctions and selling produce will take place online,making the process more transparent and would help farmers to get the fair price. For the 100 APMCs that will go online,complete computerisation is a pre-condition. For this the MSAMB would bear the 75 per cent expense while remaining 25 per cent would have to be contributed by the concerned APMC. A state level database will be prepared which will be stored at a central server at the marketing board. A special software that would be required for such a system is being developed, said Kishor Toshinwal,managing director,MSAMB.
