JOIN USA website that will act as a platform for farmers to sell their produce, without any middlemen, was launched here on Monday.
Speaking at the launch of the website KisanMarket.com, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said that the portal will help farmers by directly integrating the buyer and the seller.
“Some traders dominate the business. Farmers are deprived of good price for their produce and they do not get proper information. Farmers, in fact, get only 20 per cent of the profit. Middlemen are making the best of the situation,” he said.
More than 1,100 farmers have already registered on the portal, which is an initiative by the TGS Group.
Thyagaraja Rallapalli, Chairman, KisanMarket.com, said that farmers can register themselves on the website for free with their mobile numbers. The facility is open to farmers and traders in different states and is not confined only to Karnataka.
The main advantage is that farmers can fix their own prices for the produce on the website. The website is available in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi and English.
R V Venkatesh, Chief Whip, Karnataka Legislative Council, added that farmers' distress was staring at our faces today. “The government is taking several steps to help the farming community. However, middlemen are very strong. When it comes to branded items, there is uniform price across the country. When it comes to farmers' produce, they get a raw deal.”
Kalyan Shivaji Bhagat, a farmer from Pune, explained the advantages of this platform to the farming community. “We have data of farm produce in the surrounding villages. A network like this will help us easily sell our produce,” he said.