Lok Sabha Question No. 533 (STARRED), answered on 2017-04-11
Subject: Sale of Agricultural Produce
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: ANUPAM HAZRA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, COOPERATION & FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 533

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 11 TH  APRIL, 2017

## SALE OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE

## *533.   DR. ANUPAM HAZRA:

Will  the  Minister  of  AGRICULTURE  AND  FARMERS  WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण ½ãâ¨ããè be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  a  number  of  farmers  are  compelled  to  sell  their  crops  immediately  after harvesting due to their financial instability and if so, the details thereof, State-wise;
- (b) whether there are differences in the agricultural production cost and the price of the agricultural  produce  immediately  after  harvesting  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the reasons therefor; and
- (c) the corrective measures taken/being taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

- कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण ½ãâ¨ããè (SHRI RADHA MOHAN SINGH) (a) to (c): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (c)  OF  LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 533   DUE FOR REPLY ON 11 TH  APRIL, 2017.

(a): As per the Report of the  National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) on key indicators of Situation  of  Agricultural  Households  in  India  NSS-70 th round  (January  2013-December, 2013), 51.9 per cent of the estimated 90.2 million agricultural households in the country were reported to be indebted to either formal or informal or both sources of credit. The average amount  of  outstanding  loan  per  agricultural  households  was  Rs.  47,000/-(approximately). Against  this  background  the  farmers,  85.01  per  cent  of  whom  are  Small  and  Marginal Farmers (SMFs), with limited or no holding capacity in terms of both physical infrastructure such as storage and financial access/stability, may resort to selling their surplus marketable produce, if any, immediately after harvesting.

(b): Immediately after harvesting, depending on the production scenario and the prevailing  market  situation,  there  may  be  situations  when  there  are  differences  in  the agricultural production cost and the prices of agricultural produce.  For instance, in case of a bumper  harvest,  there  could  be  a  glut  situation  vis-à-vis    static  demand  leading  to  fall  in market prices.  Conversely there could be a situation of scarcity following a natural calamity, in  which  case  the  crops  could  be  damaged  leaving  little  surplus  available  for  sale  in  the market.  In such situations, the farmers may find it difficult to recover even their agricultural production cost.

(c): The  Government  is  taking  several  corrective  measures  in  this  regard.  In  order  to enable SMFs to retain their produce and avoid distress sale immediately after harvest, Banks provide  post-harvest  loans  against  Negotiable  Warehouse  Receipts  (NWRs)  for  farm produce kept in warehouses accredited by Warehousing Development Regulatory Authority (WDRA), to SMFs having  Kisan Credit Card (KCC) at a concessional interest rate of 7 per cent per annum for  a  further  period  of   upto 6 months post harvest i.e  at the same rate as

-2- available to crop loan.  Further, to promote sale of marketable surplus, the Government has taken a number of measures. The Government declares Minimum Support Price (MSP) for 22  crops  and  Fair  and  Remunerative  Price  (FRP)  for  Sugarcane  with  the  objective  of providing  adequate returns which take into consideration cost of production, price trends in the market, inter-crop price parity etc.  The Government further also offers to procure food grains, cereals, pulses and oilseeds at MSP through its agencies such as Food Corporation of India (FCI), National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED), National  Cooperative  Consumers  Federation  (NCCF),  etc.  and  Cotton  through  Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) and Jute through Jute Corporation of India (JCI). The Government also  supports  procurement  of  perishable  crops  for  which  no  MSP  is  declared  by  State designated agencies, under the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) on the request of State Governments. However, farmers are free to sell their produce to the  Government procurement  agencies  at  MSP  or  in  the  open  market  as  is  advantageous  to  them.  The Government  is  also  promoting  reform  of  the  agrimarketing  sector  and  development  of alternate  channels  of  marketing,  so  that  farmers  may  get  optimum  prices  for  their  crops. Towards  this,  the  Government  has  recently  launched  an  electronic  National  Agricultural Market (eNAM) platform for online trading of agricultural produce across the country. So far 417 markets from 13 States have been integrated with eNAM.  It is targeted to bring onboard a cumulative of 585 markets by March, 2018.  Besides, farmer collectives such as Farmer Producers'  Organizations  (FPOs)  are  also  being  promoted  to  strengthen  the  negotiation power  of  farmers  and  fetch  them  the  benefits  of  aggregation  at  both  inputs  and  output management stages.

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