NIC in association with Directorate of Marketing & Inspection, Jharkhand organised a state level workshop on “AGMARKNET PORTAL” on 27th March'2010 at Ranchi. Hon'ble Minister of Agriculture, Govt. of Jharkhand Sh. Mathura Prasad Mahto, who inaugurated the workshop by lightening the traditional lamps, said that both Central and State governments are jointly working for the benefits of the farmers. He declared that the government will set up cold storages in 12 districts of the state and has decided that marketing board officials will directly purchase commodities from the farmers. Earlier Sh. Shahid Ahmad, SIO welcomed the dignitaries and informed that NIC has computerised the 26 APMC's of the state and data are regularly uploaded on the portal to provide best market prices to the farmers of the state. Sh. M Moni, DDG & national head appraised the gathering that daily minimum, maximum & model prices of approximately 300 agriculture commodities are uploaded on the portal. He congratulated the Government of Jharkhand for setting up IT Task Force in Agriculture. Sh. Loukesh Kumar, TD and state coordinator NIC, gave a brief presentation on the portal and explained to the audience about the various information available and future projections and facilities that will enrich the AGMARKNET portal. Sh. Amar Kumar Sinha, TD, NIC coordinated the workshop. The workshop was also attended by Sh. Kailash Chandra Rout, Dy. Director, DMI, Ranchi besides officials from NIC District centres, NABARD, APMCs, NGO's, farmers & media persons. Before the end of the morning session Sh. Rout, delivered vote of thanks and hoped to organize farmer awareness program in future with the help of NIC. In the afternoon session various Secretary's from APMC's, NIC officials and farmers interacted with the dignitaries regarding problems related to storage, transportation, production, marketing etc.