Telangana will move towards AI-powered digital market yards after Agriculture and Marketing Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao directed officials to invite tenders within a week for a platform intended to track agricultural trading from farmer registration to payment.
The proposed Telangana digital market yards system will bring registration, crop-quality assessment, bidding, price fixation, weighing, billing, market-fee calculation and payments onto a single platform, according to the details discussed at a review meeting at the Secretariat. The government aims to develop the system as a model for the country.
Under the proposed process, farmers will be registered when they arrive at a market yard and each consignment will receive a unique lot identification number. The system will record the quality assessment of the crop and manage digital bidding or online auctions before displaying the final price.
A farmer’s confirmation will be sought through a one-time password sent through the commission agent before the sale proceeds. After approval, the produce will be weighed and a sale bill will be generated using the recorded weight and agreed price. Market charges and payments to farmers will also be entered digitally.
Once the transaction is completed, the system will generate electronic receipts and permits at the market-yard exit. Tummala said the proposed arrangement should reduce manual intervention and improve accountability at each stage of the transaction. The minister said the use of advanced technology was intended to support remunerative prices and transparency in agricultural trading.
The plan also includes a management information system to capture real-time information on arrivals, price trends, traders, commission agents and auction transactions. Historical auction and transaction data is expected to be preserved and made available for analysis and inspections, based on the directions issued at the meeting.
The proposed platform could make market-yard activity more visible to the department by creating a digital record of transactions rather than relying primarily on separate manual processes. The reported scope, however, remains at the tender and system-design stage; the supplied announcement does not specify the project cost, implementation schedule, number of market yards to be covered or the technology provider.
Officials were directed to study digital market systems in other states and develop what Tummala described as a more advanced model for Telangana. The plan also provides for attendance and biometric monitoring of marketing department staff, along with closed-circuit television cameras at market yards, warehouses and other operational areas.
Digital screens displaying prices prevailing in markets across the country have also been proposed to help farmers and traders compare market information. The directions were issued at a meeting attended by senior Marketing Department officials and Minister D Sridhar Babu. The next stated step is the invitation of tenders within a week.
