Government Plans ‘One Nation One, Market’ Model For Agriculture Sector

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is working on improving the notoriously inefficient farm produce markets by creating a common agricultural market. This move hopes to improve lives of a lot of farmers.

According to a report in Livemint, the Centre is planning to replace existing fragmented and over-regulated markets for agricultural produce and allow farmers a wider choice of markets beyond the local mandi or wholesale markets.

“Our goal is to create a one-nation, one-market model for farmers, similar to what GST (the goods and services tax) is to taxation... a model of creative disruption for an efficient marketing system,” said Ashok Dalwai, additional secretary at the Agriculture Ministry and head of the committee that drafted the new model law on marketing of agricultural produce.

The new model law on agriculture marketing adds a range of reforms to the required amendments for joining eNAM (National Agriculture Market). It withdraws the power to issue trading licences from the mandis – managed by a board of traders – and vests it with the state’s director of agriculture marketing.

States such as Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra and West Bengal have amended their APMC (Agricultural Produce Market Committee) laws, allowing the setting up of private market yards and direct sale of produce by farmers.

Similarly, 21 states have allowed a single-point levy of market fees across the state, allowing a trader to purchase produce from a farmer anywhere within that state. And 15 states allowed the delisting of fruits and vegetables from APMCs, making it possible for farmers to sell these outside regulated markets.

Agriculture marketing is a state subject, and the Centre can only propose a blueprint. The eventual roll-out will depend on the state governments.