Lok Sabha Question No. 409 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-05
Subject: APMC Agri Markets
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: DUSHYANT CHAUTALA

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

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.409

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE  5 TH  FEBRUARY, 2019

## APMC AGRI MARKETS

409.   SHRI DUSHYANT CHAUTALA:

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

- (a) whether it is a fact that agri markets established under Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs) are less in majority of the States across the country, if so, the details thereof and the total number of markets functioning under APMC in all the States including the State of Haryana; and
- (b) whether it is also a fact that only 5 per cent of the APMC markets have cold storage facilities  and  weighing  facilities  are  available  in  only  49  per  cent  of  the  markets,  if  so,  the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF  STATE IN THE  MINISTRY OF  AGRICULTURE AND  FARMERS  WELFARE

कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंालय म राय मंी ( SHRI GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT)

- (a): Yes,  Madam. National Commission on Agriculture (1976) and National Commission on Farmers (2006) in their reports have recommended an average geographical area to be served by one market as 80 Sq. Km.

As  on  31.03.2017,  there  are  6630  numbers  of  Agriculture  Produce  Marketing Committee  (APMC)  markets  in  the  country  with  an  average  geographical  area  served  by each APMC to be 496 sq. km. Haryana has 281 APMCs in the State.

In order to improve market density in the country, the Government has announced in Union  Budget  2018-19  to  additionally  develop  and  upgrade  existing  22,000  rural  haats located near to farm gates into Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs) to work as centers of aggregation and direct purchase of agricultural commodities thereby substantially improving market access for farmers.

(b): No formal study has been carried out in all APMCs to assess the percentage of cold storage and weighing facilities in these markets. However, a questionnaire based survey was conducted  in  limited  number  of  markets  by  Directorate  of  Marketing  and  Inspection,  an attached office under Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW), in 2015. Based on the response received from 1525, markets it is observed that cold storage facilities and weighing facilities existed in 15% and 49% of the markets respectively.

In  order  to  improve  the  marketing  infrastructure  including  storage,  cold  storage  and weighing  facilities  in  markets,  the  Government  is  implementing  various  schemes  such  as Rashtriya  Krishi  Vikas  Yojana-Remunerative  Approaches  for  Agriculture  and  Allied  Sector Rejuvenation (RKVY-RAFTAAR), Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure (AMI) sub-scheme of Integrated Scheme for Agricultural Marketing (ISAM), Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) and Pradhan  Mantri  Kisan SAMPADA Yojana (Scheme for Agro-Marine Processing and Development of Agro-Processing Clusters).

Further,  to  facilitate  farmers  to  receive  competitive  and  remunerative  prices  in transparent manner, the Government is implementing National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) Scheme.  Under  the  scheme,  financial  assistance  is  provided  to  APMCs  for  installing electronic  weighing  scale  in  addition  to  computer  IT  equipments,  assaying  equipments, cleaning/ sorting/ grading equipments and bio- composting units.

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