Determinants of small farmers access to agricultural markets: evidence from South India

The electronic National Agricultural Market (e-NAM) in India aims to modernize agricultural marketing and enhance farmer income. This paper investigates farmers’’ awareness of the online trading platform across southern states, focusing on factors influencing awareness and utilization. Data of farmers, traders and officials during the time period Jan 2024 to June 2024 were collected through primary data collection and analysed using descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, and logit regression analysis. Findings reveal significant variations in online platform’s awareness among smallholder farmers, with knowledge to use smartphone and apps playing pivotal roles. The more the smartphone/app knowledge of the farmers and traders, they exhibit higher awareness levels. However, associations with other factors such as age and gender are less pronounced. This is due to the different adaption stages of the online auction system with the six states regardless of demographic distribution. Challenges in adoption include inadequate awareness and logistical constraints. Policy implications highlight the need for targeted awareness programs and tailored support mechanisms to enhance the utilization of online agricultural commodity trading. Furthermore, the study highlights the significant impact of digital literacy and accessibility to smartphones on farmer awareness of e-NAM, suggesting that improving access to technology and digital skills training could enhance adoption rates. Additionally, the findings underscore the importance of addressing perceived risk in adoption, farmers lack of awareness that weighing through online trading is lengthier than open auction, in order to facilitate greater participation online and promote more inclusive agricultural marketing practices.