Agri Nation Network
New Delhi | 13 April 2017
Nine changes in Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Acts were suggested in a progress review meeting of agri marketing reforms held yesterday. The meeting was held under the Chairmanship of Dr. Ramesh Chand, Member, NITI Aayog and attended by senior officials from DAC&FW, Niti Aayog, Ministry of Environment, Forests & CC and departments of Agricultural Marketing, Forest and Revenue from the State Govts /UTs.
These include three mandatory reforms enabling integration to e-NAM viz provision for e-trading, unified trading license and a single point levy of market fee, as well as setting up markets in the private sector, direct marketing, etc all aimed at reducing the intermediaries between producer and buyer so as to ensure remunerative prices to the farmer. The States were also advised to relax the felling and transit rules for trees being grown by farmers on their own lands so as to encourage agroforestry which has a huge potential for supplementing the income from agriculture.
The officials also discussed the salient features of the new model Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act, 2017. They said, “It is expected to create a transparent market enabling price discovery and competition where farmers would have multiple options to sell their produce, including the eNAM platform”. The officials also urged state governments to send their views to help drafting a model Contract Farming Act.
According to the press release, “E-NAM is already proving to be very beneficial as evidenced by increasing number of States coming on board, traders and farmer’s registration and volume and value of trade being done online. So far 417 markets from 13 States have joined the online-portal, which targets integration of 585 markets by March 2018. So far 39.75 lakh farmers and 88474 traders have registered and trade of Rs 15,009 crores has taken through the e-NAM portal”.
Niti Aayog will also convene a meeting soon to focus on the issues of North East.
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