Lok Sabha Question No. 4467 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-03-23
Subject: Facilities for Agricultural Marketing
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Kaushal Kishore, Arjunlal Meena, P.P. Chaudhary, Feroze Varun Gandhi, Ranjeetsingh Naik Nimbalkar

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4467

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 23 rd  MARCH, 2021

## FACILITIES FOR AGRICULTURAL MARKETING

4467.  SHRI KAUSHAL KISHORE:

SHRI ARJUN LAL MEENA:

SHRI P.P. CHAUDHARY:

SHRI FEROZE VARUN GANDHI:

SHRI RANJEETSINGH HINDURAO NAIK NIMBALKAR:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Ministry is aware that farmers have to face inconvenience in order to weigh their agricultural produce and cover long distances to reach a weighing facility;
- (b) the details of the number of weighing facilities in the country, State-wise;
- (c) whether the Ministry is considering to issue guidelines to the States for decentralising  weighing  facilities  from  the  APMC  markets  and  providing  easy  access  to weighing facilities for agricultural produce by increasing the number of such facilities in the backdrop of the new Farm Laws; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी (SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

- (a) & (b): As  per  the  information  received from  most State Governments, necessary weighing  arrangements  are  available  at  the  concerned  APMC  Market  yards  where  the farmers can avail weighing facility and no such inconvenience to farmers is reported.  The details of weighing facilities as per information made available by majority of States, Statewise is given in Annexure-I .
- (c) & (d): No such proposal to issue guidelines to States for decentralizing weighing facilities from APMC markets is under consideration of Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare. However, the New Farm laws viz, 'The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion  and  Facilitation)  Act,  2020',  'The  Farmers  (Empowerment  and  Protection)

Agreement  on  Price  Assurance  and  Farm  Services  Act,  2020'  and  'The  Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020, provide an additional marketing/ trade channels to the  farmers  in  the  trade  area  outside  the  physical  boundaries  of  markets  and  deemed markets  notified  under  respective  APMC  Acts.  The  farmers  are  given  the  freedom  to choose any of the channels including APMC market yard for selling of their produce. As far as,  availability  of  weighing  facility  to  the  farmers  in  the  trade  area  is  concerned,  buyers normally  ensure  such  facility  to  the  farmers;  while  in  case  of  farming  agreement,  as decided in the agreement itself, sponsors/ buyers make available weighing facility to the farmers. Thus, farmers will not face any problem on this account. Government provides assistance  for    development  of  Agricultural  Marketing  Infrastructure  including  that  of weighing  facilities  near  to  farm  gate  outside  the  APMC  market  yards  through  various schemes such as Agricultural Market Infrastructure(AMI), Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF)  etc.  to  facilitate  farmers  for  weighing  their  produce  near  to  harvest  centre.  In  the APMC  markets,  the  market  functionaries  including  farmers  are  free  to  use  their  own weighing facilities for weighing of agricultural produce.

## ANNEXURE-I

| DETAILS OF WEIGHING FACILITIES AVAILABLE IN VARIOUS STATES   | DETAILS OF WEIGHING FACILITIES AVAILABLE IN VARIOUS STATES   | DETAILS OF WEIGHING FACILITIES AVAILABLE IN VARIOUS STATES                                                                                                                                                |
|--------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Sl. No.                                                      | State/Union Territory                                        | Details of weighing facility                                                                                                                                                                              |
| 1.                                                           | Andhra Pradesh                                               | 25 no. of weighing bridges and 3365 no. of weighing scales existing in Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) of Andhra Pradesh                                                                     |
| 2.                                                           | Assam                                                        | 24 no. of manual sets of weighing tools, 56 Nos. of electronic weighing scales and 9 no. of electronic weigh bridges are available in the Market Committees (APMCs) for weighing of agricultural produce. |
| 3.                                                           | Delhi                                                        | 4200 licensees in various mandies and generally all have weighment facility available with them.                                                                                                          |
| 4.                                                           | Goa                                                          | Weighing facility to farmers is available at all the Market Sub Yards in the State of Goa                                                                                                                 |
| 5.                                                           | Gujarat                                                      | 224 APMCs having 246 weigh bridges                                                                                                                                                                        |
| 6.                                                           | Haryana                                                      | 163 weighbridges installed.                                                                                                                                                                               |
| 7.                                                           | Jammu & Kashmir                                              | Most of the Mandis are equipped with weighing facilities that are complimented with many private players operating in the state and surrounding Mandis. 6 weighbridges are available.                     |
| 8.                                                           | Jharkhand                                                    | Weigh bridge in Jamshedpur and weighing Machine provided in all 28 APMC's.                                                                                                                                |
| 9.                                                           | Kerala                                                       | 4 wholesale Markets under the Department of Agricultural development and Farmers Welfare are equipped with electronic weighing balance.                                                                   |
| 10.                                                          | Karnataka                                                    | Weighbridges established in 89 main market yards/ sub-market yards.                                                                                                                                       |
| 11.                                                          | Maharashtra                                                  | 262 APMCs have installed electronic weighing facilities.                                                                                                                                                  |
| 12.                                                          | Madhya Pradesh                                               | 185 big weigh bridges and 6439 small weighing machines in mandi yards                                                                                                                                     |
| 13.                                                          | Nagaland                                                     | 20-30 Nos. of weighing facility                                                                                                                                                                           |
| 14.                                                          | Punjab                                                       | 63 Weighing bridges in Marketing Committee. 1625 weighing scales                                                                                                                                          |

|    |               | provided to APMCs for test weighment of farmer produce.                                                                                                                                                  |
|----|---------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 15 | Pudducherry   | 7 No. of Digital Weighing scale and 15 No. of weighing balance.                                                                                                                                          |
| 16 | Rajasthan     | 27 weighbridges are available                                                                                                                                                                            |
| 17 | Tamil Nadu    | Electronic weighing scale is provided to all 282 regulated markets functioning under 26 Market Committees. Weigh Bridge facility is provided with the total capacity of 2660 MT in 45 Regulated Markets. |
| 18 | Telangana     | 9580 No. of weighing scales in procurement centres across the state.                                                                                                                                     |
| 19 | Tripura       | Each Regulated Market has more than 1 weighing machine for use by the Local Farmers.                                                                                                                     |
| 20 | Uttarakhand   | 23 weigh bridge have been installed and are at the disposal of farmers' services in Uttarakhand.                                                                                                         |
| 21 | Uttar Pradesh | 372 weigh bridge are installed.                                                                                                                                                                          |

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