Bills will provide sustainable, profitable future for farmers, say stakeholders

The Federation of All India Farmer Associations (FAIFA), which represents farmers and farm workers of commercial crops, has said that the three farm Bills will give farmers the freedom to trade across States.

“It will also empower farmers to turn into traders of their own produce and be in control of the process. The new set of bills approved by the government will go a long way in ensuring farmer prosperity and doubling of income,” B. V Jaware Gowda, President of FAIFA, has said.

“Farmer’s Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, will help build a One-India-One-Agriculture-Market and will help in unlocking the vastly regulated agriculture markets in the country.

It will open more choices for the farmers, reduce marketing costs and help them in getting better prices for their produce. With a separate dispute resolution mechanism in place, it will effectively help abolish the cartelisation,” he said.

Providing infra

Ram Kaundinya, Director-General, Federation of Seed Industry of India, said, “They (the Bills) will give farmers the freedom to sell and their produce in the mandi and will definitely help them to discover better prices from the parallel private mandis which will be allowed now. Simultaneously, the government may make a robust implementation of the new rules by covering all the loose ends while encouraging the mandi system to upgrade their infrastructure. On-site warehouses with warehouse receipt systems should be set up in mandis so that farmers are not forced to sell under distress. A national register of all private buyers with validated identification and financial capacity may be created . There is also a need for a major effort to build capacity among farmers and FPOs to conduct their commercial deals profitably. They have to be trained in basics of making contracts, agricultural commodity markets, price forecasts for their produce and similar skills. Digital proficiency is to be built among FPOs and farmers.”

Post-harvest area

Amit Vatsyayan, Partner, Government and Public Sector, EY India, while speaking about the impact of these Bills on stimulating growth of the sector, said: “These will ease the flow of investments, creation of critically needed post harvest infrastructure and open up market access for farmers for better profits. Rigorous implementation of the reforms will be key to demonstrate impact on farmers income.”