CHANDIGARH: Haryana has procured Rs 2,500-crore worth of kharif crops , including paddy guar and oilseeds , through the e-purchase platform.The state government’s ‘e-kharid’ initiative supplements National Agriculture Marketing, a pan-India electronic trading portal of existing APMC ‘mandis’, to bring efficiency and transparency in procurement of agricultural commodities.In the current season, paddy worth Rs 1,500 crore and other cash crops worth Rs 1,000 crore were procured online. The programme was launched on September 27 by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Union Minister for Food and Public Distribution, Ram Vilas Paswan. The ‘e-kharid’ portal is a joint initiative of the Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board and the state’s department of food & supplies.The online procurement process was made optional for the current season by the Haryana government after ‘aarthiyas’ and commission agents sought more time to adapt to the automated process. The aarthiyas had expressed concern over the money given as advance to farmers and objected to direct payment to farmers.“Even though almost 80% of the crop in 37 designated mandis was brought under online process, direct payments to farmers were not issued due to non-cooperation of aarthiyas and commission agents,” sources in Haryana Food and Supplies told ET. Officials maintained that direct payments are likely to be introduced by rabi season when mainly wheat is bought by government agencies.By the following rabi marketing season, about 54 more mandis are being targeted to be covered under the online scheme. “It will bring mandis in half of Haryana under the ambit of e-kharid ,” said J Ganesan, chief administrator, Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board.Under e-kharid, an auction recorder digitises data, including credentials of a farmer, the linked Aadhaar number and bank account details, through handheld device. An auto generated gate pass receipt is issued and the device also registers the login ID of an aarthiya selected by the farmer.