What is the Central Agricultural Marketing Policy, why is it harmful for farmers?

The main demand was to repeal the agricultural law, but the legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) still stands there. Regarding this, the government bureaucracy says that if it is implemented, then the procurement will fall on the shoulders of the government, while this is not true. The farmers argue that whether the procurement is government or private (anyone buys), agricultural commodities should be sold at the minimum support price because it is determined by the government according to the cost. What is wrong in this? Everyone sells things, but when the crop is with the farmers, the traders lower the price and later sell it themselves at a huge profit. This is the reason why the problem of marketing arises, this is the reason why the policy of support price for agricultural commodities was implemented in the country. Now the government is constantly trying to get out of this by handing over agriculture and farmers to private traders. The government has once again come out with a draft on the marketing policy, ‘National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing’ on which comments and suggestions have been sought from the state governments and the public. Today we will discuss it. In fact, this time the central government wants to implement this policy from the states. When the new agricultural laws came, the biggest danger was the collapse of the government markets, because the slogan was ‘One country, one market’. This meant that the entire country is the market, the farmer can go anywhere and sell. This is now being taken in a different way, as it has been said to encourage private markets along with government markets. In this, the fee for opening a private market should be reduced, security, bank guarantee should be accepted. Along with this, direct purchase should be made, that is, purchase should be made from the farmer’s field and no market fee should be paid. Under this, silos, shellers, stores, factories or any other place that is outside the market should also be considered as a market. Along with this, it has also been said to increase the digital platform (eNEM) launched in 2016. The reasoning being given here is that with this, farmers will have more options, competition among buyers will increase, which will increase the profits of farmers. The thing to think about and consider is whether the buyers will also increase with the increase in markets? Currently, most of the agents have shellers who buy from the market, meaning whether they sell in the market or in the sheller, there is only one customer. Similarly, whether they go directly to the silo and sell or in the market, the buyer is the company with the silo. This is not expected to increase the income of farmers, but with the trade of grain being taken out of the hands of the agents, the opportunities for fraud will also increase, but the expenses of the companies will be saved on the market, just like farmers walk behind sugarcane millers for years. Rather, farmers will be forced to sell their crops at a loss by finding faults in them from all sides and discouraging them. The possibility of money transactions and disputes over the quality of the crop will also increase when selling in online markets.

If farmers, FPOs (Farmer Producer Organizations) sell directly to processing units or exporters, then they will not be charged any market fee. The logic is that the processing industry and exports will get a boost, and the market fee that will be saved will help the farmer get more money and his profit will increase. Who will pay the profit to the farmer? Market fee will be stopped, government markets will end and everything will come into the hands of private traders, the development of villages will stop. The only goal of the entire policy is to somehow or the other include private institutions in the markets. Public Private Partnership (PPP) in everything. Roads PPP Mode or BOT. Built in, as a result, the toll is more than the bus fare. Punjab had amended the MPMC Act in 2017, in which they had allowed private markets to open five kilometers away from the government market and had put some conditions. No one has built their own market under that act, then what is the meaning of PPP in the running government market? Traders want to grab the running system and business. They are looking for space for natural farming, organic farming, e-name etc. in the government markets. Why not run this private market, because e-name portal etc. are to be run by private traders only, this is not a matter for the common farmers.

There is a clamor to reduce the market fee in the government market. Will there not be a market fee in the private markets for the maintenance of the market. Private traders will also charge market fees from farmers, whereas silo owners do not charge fees but they charge more than the fees in the form of deductions. The trolley that has entered will not come out, no matter how much you cut it. Sugarcane also gets cut due to erosion. Policy makers advise farmers to store the goods and sell them at a higher price. They have also been asked to build stores, cold stores and silos. Today, 85 percent of the farmers in our country belong to the small and middle class and do not have the capacity to store the crops and sell them at a higher price. They have taken a limit from the agent or the bank and spent. As soon as the crop comes, they repay the loan and take another loan to sow the next crop. Even if the farmer keeps the crop for 2-3 months, the traders will not let the price increase as long as the crop is with the farmer. You must remember that when Punjab Agro had asked for red chillies, the farmers kept the chillies and later they were not allowed to dry them even in the vacant government market. When the markets themselves became private to the traders, then who has listened to the farmers?

Modern machinery-This policy states that new types of automatic machines will be brought at private expense for cleaning, grading and sorting. If automatic machines come, then the mandi workers will become idle. Today our situation is that

Similarly, the contribution of agriculture to GDP is less, but even today agriculture provides employment to the maximum number of workers. Where will these idle workers go?

Partnership of States – Agricultural Marketing Since it comes under the jurisdiction of the states, it has been said that the new policy should be implemented with the advice of the states. Therefore, the Union Ministry of Agriculture has advised to register a society of state agriculture ministers under the Society Act of 1860. Their chairman will be the agriculture minister of one of the states, who will be changed from time to time. This society will work in the same way as the GST Council works. In other words, the agriculture ministers of all the states will come together and decide how to improve the marketing of agricultural produce. To advise this committee, a committee of state marketing secretaries will be formed under the chairmanship of the Additional Secretary for Marketing in the Union Ministry of Agriculture. The secretaries are under the Central Government as soon as they come and most of them have a pro-corporate mindset. Result Both the above committees cannot deviate from the thinking of the central government. We have already seen this in the GST Council meetings.

The current situation of agriculture and farmers requires a policy that increases small industries for processing agricultural produce at the village level so that rural youth get employment. The trend of drugs should be reduced and there should be freedom from theft, robbery and beatings. Cooperative societies should be revived and many related works should be done by them. Punjab has provided legal facility to open private markets since 2017, if someone wants to open a market, then open it under that law. Corporates want to enter government markets and capture the running markets. Under this policy, the benefit of farmers is less, but the benefit of traders and corporates seems to be more. This seems to be another attempt to enter through the back door and capture agricultural produce.