Seeds & Market

Seeds:

Most of the farmer in India do not have access to quality certified seeds and the seed replacement rate is low, there are concerns related to availability, affordability and quality of seeds. Introduction of GM crops is a matter of debate with issue, related to human, health, biodiversity loss creation of monopolies etc. (It has been reported that farmer in Haryana illegally cultivated BT Brinjal which provides protection against fruit and shot borel as it has toxic Cry1ac & Cry2ab proteins, similarly, farmers in Maharastra, illegally cultivated HT variety of cotton which contains CP4-EPSPS guenons extracted from Agro bacterium, it provides resistance against (Glyphosate, a common herbicide).

Market:-

Farmer à APMCàDistributer à Wholesale/Retailer à Customer

Markets reforms are initiated in most of the state n 1960 & 1970, Under the Agri. Produce and market Regulate Act. The farmer had to compulsorily take the produce the APMS mandi’s where the produce was to be sold only through the mechanism of Auction.

But the APMC mandis has filed the interest of the farmers and do not function as per law most of the times. Some problems are:-

1. Absence for _______Value addition
2. Requirement of multiple licenses.
3. Large areas covered by mandis that increase the cost of transportation.
4. Formation of cartel and manipulation of prices.

In order to solve above problems the Government came up with Agriculture produce and live stock market Act.,  2017 (Also known as Model APMC Act, 2017)

Important provision are:-

1. License given to a trader will be valid across the mandi’s of the same state.
2. The average area covered by a mandi would be brought down from 432 km² to 80 Km².
3. Farmer will be given exemption from compulsorily to the APMC mandi’s.
4. Private market yards will be setup at warehouses and Silos.
5. The commission charged by the agent and taxes levied by mandi’s will capped.

In order to bring down the price dispersion and made auctioning a transparent process the Govt. has cone up with E-NAM project, it is a virtual market or a trading platform which will connect buyers and sellers from different parts of the country. It will give best price discovery to the farmers.

But those the project started in 2016, only 585 mandis in 16 states and 2 UT’s are part of E-NAM. There are more than 22,000 Gramin Agriculture markets which are to be connected with E-NAM.

The Government is promoting the Contract farming as it brings investment in the Agriculture sector, experience the private sector and provides edge against fluctuating market. Hence, consumer purchase fresh products and lesser price.

The Government has come up with Model contract Farming Act, 2018, Important provisions are:-

1. Alternate mechanism of dispute resolution are present under the new law with farmers considered weaker of the 2 parties.
2. A registration committee headed by an officer would be constructed in every district and tehsil. The officer will be responsible for registration of companies which could be done through online medium as well.
3. No permanent structure can be constructed by the Company on the farmer’s field.
4. APMC mandis will be by-passed
5. Farmer produced companies can undertake the contract on behalf of the farmers.
6. Losses if any during harvest, due to adverse weather conditions will be covered under insurance revealing in that district.