• National Agriculture Market (NAM) is a pan-India electronic trading portal which networks the existing APMC mandis to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities.
• The NAM Portal provides a single window service for all APMC related information and services. This includes commodity arrivals & prices, buy & sell trade offers, provision to respond to trade offers, among other services. While material flow (agriculture produce) continue to happen through mandis, an online market reduces transaction costs and information asymmetry.
• Agriculture marketing is administered by the States as per their agri-marketing regulations, under which, the State is divided into several market areas, each of which is administered by a separate Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) which imposes its own marketing regulation (including fees). This fragmentation of markets, even within the State, hinders free flow of agri commodities from one market area to another and multiple handling of agri-produce and multiple levels of mandi charges ends up escalating the prices for the consumers without commensurate benefit to the farmer.
• NAM addresses these challenges by creating a unified market through online trading platform, both, at State and National level and promotes uniformity, streamlining of procedures across the integrated markets, removes information asymmetry between buyers and sellers and promotes real time price discovery, based on actual demand and supply, promotes transparency in auction process, and access to a nationwide market for the farmer, with prices commensurate with quality of his produce and online payment and availability of better quality produce and at more reasonable prices to the consumer.

Soil Health card (SHC) is a printed report card issued to farmers in once in three years indicating the status of his soil in terms of 12 parameters. It is also accompanied by an advice on the various fertilizers and other soil amendments he is suppose to make. 

SHC is field-specific detailed report of soil fertility status and other important soil parameters that affect crop productivity. Details in a Soil Health Card includes

• Information regarding Soil Fertility
• Dosage of fertilizer application in crops.
• Information on soil amendments of saline or alkaline soil; and 
• Recommendation on integrated nutrient management.

From the PIB:

In the changing scenario, the government has taken an active step in the interest of the farmers by devising a new model called Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act and it was inaugurated on 24/04/2017. APMC Act 2017 provides the facility of creating private market yards and farmer-consumer markets. Now, if the states actively enforce the act, it will be easier for the farmers to have a liberal market available as this Act is based on the model of “ease of doing business” to encourage direct marketing.