India’s biggest farm reform 91.6 percent behind target

Abhishek Waghmare (IANS) 19 April 2016

India’s biggest reform to transform the life of a crisis-ridden farmer is 91.6 percent behind schedule this year, prompting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to promise in five months what could not be done over the last 10.

As many as 250 agricultural markets nationwide (of 585 selected) were supposed to have been linked by 2015-16 to a common nationwide electronic platform, but only 21 markets in eights states have been linked-as of March 2016-to what is called the National Agricultural Market (NAM) platform.

On average, a farmer gets no more than 10 percent to 30 percent of the cost you pay for his produce, as IndiaSpend has reported, primarily because the farmer cannot sell directly to consumers and large companies, thanks to an archaic law that delivers commissions to layers of agents, usually linked to politicians.

Despite the slow progress, the target of linking 585 markets to the NAM by 2018 stays unchanged, according to a statement issued on April 14, 2016, by the Ministry of Agriculture. This means that 564 markets must be linked in two years, 26 times the number (21) linked over the last 10 months.

Last week Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to link 200 markets over the next five months.

The NAM platform will allow anyone from any part of India to buy agricultural produce from any farmer from any part of the country.

There are 2,477 principal agricultural markets and 4,843 sub-markets (smaller than principal markets) that buy and sell agricultural produce in India.

The NAM target of 585 thus covers only 25 percent of the India’s principal agricultural markets.

The law that helps agents and politicians

The Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act of a state regulates the purchase of agricultural products, such as cereals, pulses, fruits and vegetables for that region.

It hobbles farmers, imposing multiple levies on produce and disallows direct sales to private companies.

“The continued presence of regulations of APMC Acts in most commodities in most states has compelled the farmer to sell produce only in the government-controlled marketing yards,” said a December 2015 NITI Aayog report, Raising Agricultural Productivity and Making Farming Remunerative for Farmers. “The APMC market yards are subject to vast technical as well as marketing inefficiencies that undermine the prices that farmers receive.”

Bihar is the only state to have repealed the APMC Act in 2006. Kerala never enacted APMC legislation, but it did not develop marketing infrastructure either.

“APMCs levy multiple fees, of substantial magnitude, that are non-transparent and hence a source of political power,” said the Economic Survey of 2015-16 (Volume 1, Chapter 8).

For instance, at the principal market yard for Mumbai city (at Vashi), farmers must pay two percent commission to agents, who charge further commissions that range from 6.5 percent (on onions) to 10 percent (on vegetables), the survey said.

The southern state of Karnataka has pioneered modern agriculture marketing by unifying 51 of 155 principal markets statewide in collaboration with the National Commodity Exchange, a trading platform for commodities.

Disclaimer: Information, facts or opinions expressed in this news article are presented as sourced from IANS and do not reflect views of Moneylife and hence Moneylife is not responsible or liable for the same. As a source and news provider, IANS is responsible for accuracy, completeness, suitability and validity of any information in this article.

Comments

User

Mahesh S Bhatt

1 decade ago

Lets mourn & Celebrate Death of real media as Farm deaths are Political tool & nothing more.Mahesh

Mahesh S Bhatt

1 decade ago

Have Aamir Khan as State Ambassador.

Sideline Real Indian Nana Patekar as Politics Hai Sub Chalta Hai.

Amitabh shall become Brand Ambassdor after Panama Papers Match fixing is done at 74 years.

We have severe shortage of Youth as we are skilling India with largest pool of Engineers & Doctors.

They are not fit for Ambassador scheme of things but are selected in Tesla Google Microsoft RESERVATION SCHEME UNDER GLOBAL SAFE HARBOUR scheme for Global Ideas Manufacturing plans.

Our Municipal Engineers are now building SMART CITIES who could deliver year on year new roads under RE RE RE DEVELOPMENT schemes when China was developing we were busy asphalting/tiling roads.

Now our Indian Railways have learnt this best practice & they are fixing tiles on stations as 1lac death on rails are less we need few more twisted legs/hands to sustain Health Economies.

Mahesh Bhat

Mahesh S Bhatt

1 decade ago

Sir how shall Sharad Pawar's of Indian politics survive if the magically & mytically donot jack up the prices of Onions/Potatoes/ Tomatoes generally & specifically during Elections/Festivals & we have well articulated reasons pre defined:

1) Rains/Drought/Unseasonal rains/poor storage.. destroyed the crops.

2) Make money whereever whenever keeping inflation well doctored n administered by CSO etal..

But never a Political person did the same they conserved to Make in Hay when needed.

May we observe a Minute Silence for Death of Farmers across the Country.Om Shanti.( Polically Correct with spiritual touch)

B. Yerram Raju

1 decade ago

Agricultural Market Yards are in the hands of politicians and not agriculturists. Barring Karnataka as mentioned in the article, no other State was serious about bringing changes to the APMC Act. This Act 2005 has to be repealed by all States. All Agricultural market Yards have to be digitised if the grandiose 'initiative' of the PM were to be a success and this requires massive investments in PPP mode.
The two cereals - paddy and wheat - that are also targets of public procurement under food security provisioning - are among the 21 commodities freed for national market integration. Access to the small farmers through this initiative is possible only when aggregation takes place. There is no clue as to how the government is planning to facilitate this aggregation at the village level assuring the price advantage of free market.