Reforms needed

  • Reforming APMC
    • With these reforms, the government has also set in motion plans to dismantle the decades-old monopolies of state-run APMCs, that were often blamed for unfair trading, and had become a barrier for farmers to get a fair price on their produce.
    • There is an urgent need for abolishing or reframing the APMC Act and encourage direct buying of agri-produce from farmers/farmer producer organisations (FPOs).
    • The companies, processors, organised retailers, exporters, consumer groups, that buy directly from FPOs need not pay any market fee as they do not avail the facilities of APMC yards.
  • Designating warehouses as markets
    • The warehouse receipt system can be scaled up.
    • The private sector should be encouraged to open mandis with modern infrastructure, capping commissions.
  • Logistics transformation
    • To sustain the demand for agricultural commodities, investments in key logistics must be enhanced.
    • Moreover, e-commerce and delivery companies and start-ups need to be encouraged with suitable policies and incentives.
    • The small and medium enterprises, running with raw materials from the agriculture and allied sector or otherwise, also need special attention so that the rural economy doesn’t collapse.
  • Institutionalizing farm labour
    • To obviate the immediate concerns of the scarcity of farm labour, policies must facilitate easy availability of machinery through state entities, Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) or custom hiring centres (CHCs) with suitable incentives.
    • It is also suggested to explore leveraging NREGS funds to pay part of the farm labour (with farmers paying the balance wage amount) to lessen the monetary burden on the farmer while ensuring wage employment to the landless labourers and workers.
  • Expanding institutional lending
    • As the Kharif (rainy/wet) season is fast approaching, institutional lending of crop loans should be expanded and facilitated for smooth (and sufficient) flow of credit to borrowing farmers.
    • Agri-inputs – seeds, fertilizers, agro-chemicals, etc. – have to be pre-positioned for easy availability. The private sector must play a significant role in necessary policy support.