Lok Sabha Question No. 2748 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2015-12-15
Subject: Sale Price of Agricultural Produce
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: PRATAPRAO GANPATRAO JADHAV, RAKSHA NIKHIL KHADSE, JASVANTSINH SUMANBHAI BHABHOR

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

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2748

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE  15 TH  DECEMBER, 2015

## SALE PRICE OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE

2748.    SHRI PRATAPRAO JADHAV: SHRIMATI RAKSHATAI KHADSE: SHRI JASVANTSINH SUMANBHAI BHABHOR:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE ‡ãðŠãäÓã एवं किसान िल्याण ½ãâ¨ããè be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware that the farmers are not getting the benefits of increased price of agricultural produce including fruits and vegetables due to middlemen/commission agents;
- (b) if so, the details thereof alongwith the reasons therefor;
- (c) whether  it  is  a  fact  that  the  commission  agents  demand  various  charges  on account of road clearance, payment to police, etc. besides deduction of transportation charges,  handling  charges  and  crate  charges  from  farmers  and  sell  the  agriculture produce  in  the  market  at  a  price  five  to  six  times  higher  than  the  price  paid  to  the farmers; and
- (d) the  remedial  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  safeguard  the  interest  of  the farmers?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF  STATE IN THE  MINISTRY OF  AGRICULTURE AND  FARMERS  WELFARE ‡ãðŠãäÓã एवं किसान िल्याण ½ãâ¨ããÊã¾ã ½ãñâ Àã·¾ã ½ãâ¨ããè ( SHRI MOHANBHAI KUNDARIA )

- (a) & (b): Regulation  on  marketing  of  notified  agricultural  produce  including  fruits and vegetables is enforced by States through Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) under provisions of their Agricultural Produce Marketing (Regulation) (APMR) Acts. Due to imperfections in the present agri marketing system which is characterized by, inter alia, inadequate marketing infrastructure and  long fragmented   supply-chain, agricultural  commodities  are  subjected    to    multiple  handlings    before  they  reach  the ultimate    consumers resulting in high post-harvest losses, enhanced consumers'  price and price gap between   farm gate and retail.

(c): Such  undue  collections,  if  any,  by  commission  agents  from  farmers  are  not reported.

(d): In  order  to  safeguard  the  interest  of  farmers,  States  have  reportedly  taken various measures  like  constant vigil by APMC  officials on  transactions, proper documentation thereof and stringent action on erring/defaulting commission agents as per rules.

Furthermore, Central Government  is pursuing with the States to reform their agri marketing  laws  to ,  inter  alia, promote  direct  purchase  of  agricultural  produce  from farmers at their farm gate and setting up of farmers' market, wherein farmers can sell their  produce  directly  to  consumers  without  involvement  of middlemen.      Additionally, the  Central  Government  also  advocates  deregulation  on  marketing  of  fruits  and vegetables outside the APMC market yards to enable alternate marketing channels to come up.  More recently, Government has approved a scheme 'Promotion of National Agricultural    Market    (NAM)    through    Agritech  Infrastructure  Fund  (ATIF)  to  facilitate on-line  trading  of  agricultural  produce  through  common  e-market  platform.  This  is expected to  safeguard  the  interests  of  farmers  through, inter-alia, greater  operational efficiency,  transparent auction system, reduction in information asymmetry,  improved price discovery,  integration  of ultimate buyers with farmers/sellers, e-payment, etc.

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