The Hindu Business Line : `States must formulate rules to woo pvt investment in agriculture'

The Centre on Thursday asked all the States that were amending the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act to formulate rules and procedures in a way to attract higher flow of private investment into the agricultural marketing sector.

"The amendment of the APMC Act would only be meaningful if further steps are taken for formulating rules and procedures to implement procedures. There is an urgent need to bring accountability and transparency in the regulatory environment," said Ms Radha Singh, Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, at the `Agri Marketing Summit 2006' organised by the Confederation of the Indian Industries (CII) here.

Ms Singh said the implementation of the Act would create an appropriate environment for private sector investment. Nineteen States have amended their respective APMC Act. She pointed out that the regulation aimed at protecting producers and ensuring better prices to farmers has largely outlived its utility.

She also put thrust on the need to frame an appropriate agriculture pricing policy since variations of producer's and retailer's prices existed for different States. The Secretary said lack of marketing infrastructure and in some cases high market charges were responsible for wide price variations of agricultural produce across the country.

Market complexes

The Government is also all set to start work on terminal market complexes on the `hub and spoke' format within two weeks, said Ms Singh said. "These terminal market complexes will be professionally run, profitable and viable to their managers. They will have enough space for small producers to have a fair play and which will encourage the small players to participate either at the hubs or the spoke complexes that will be the collection centres. This will be an important step forward in agricultural reforms," she added.

The Secretary also promised that the Government will take up issues relating to the lack of marketing infrastructure, ensure a level playing field for farmers by fostering competition among buyers, increase production efficiency in agriculture, provide adequate post-harvest facilities and improve credit availability, she said.

Meanwhile, Ms Dina Umali-Deininger, Lead Agricultural Economist, World Bank, said that better marketing efficiency led to rural growth and reduction of poverty in rural areas. "This needs a strong commitment from both the Government and the private sectors and leads to closer links between farmers and the market." She added that efficient and competitive markets help in the growth of the rural sector by improving food security, value addition to agricultural produce, better diets and higher incomes. In order to increase the marketing cost, the gap between the market infrastructure and services need to be addressed, Ms Deininger said.

"An effort should be made to link the farmers with the supply chains," said Ms Deininger. She emphasized that issues related to closer markets, better facilities and honest traders need to be addressed.

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