On Friday, President Ram Nath Kovind promulgated 3 ordinances announced by the Govt earlier this week to usher in agricultural reforms for raising the income of the farmers & giving them more freedom to sell their produce.
The President promulgated Farmers' Produce Trade & Commerce (Promotion & Facilitation) Ordinance 2020, Farmers (Empowerment & Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance & Farm Services Ordinance 2020 & the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance Act, 2020.
An official release stated that the Central Govt has been making comprehensive interventions to impart efficiency & effectiveness to agricultural marketing, with the aim of raising the income of the farmers.
It said that recognizing the bottlenecks preventing the holistic development of marketing of the agriculture produce, the Government drafted & circulated the Model Agriculture Produce & Livestock Marketing (APLM) Act 2017, & also the Model Agriculture Produce & Livestock Contract Farming Act of 2018, for adoption by the states.
The release said that when the whole ecosystem of agriculture & its allied activities was tested during the COVID-19 crises, it reconfirmed the necessity for the Central Govt to speed up the reform process & to come up with a national legal facilitative ecosystem to improve intra-state & interstate trade of agriculture produce.
The release said that "The Government of India also recognized the need for the farmer to sell agriculture produce at a place of his choice at a better price by increasing the number of prospective buyers. A facilitative framework was also considered necessary for farming agreements".
It said the Farmers' Produce Trade & Commerce (Promotion & Facilitation) Ordinance 2020 will provide for the creation of an ecosystem where the farmers & traders enjoy the freedom of choice relating to sale & purchase of farmers' produce which facilitates remunerative prices through competitive alternative trading channels.
The release said that " It will promote efficient, transparent & barrier-free inter-state & intra-state trade & commerce of farmers' produce outside the physical premises of markets or deemed markets notified under various State agricultural produce market legislations".
It said that the Farmers (Empowerment & Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance & Farm Services Ordinance 2020 will provide for a national framework on farming agreements that protects & empowers farmers to engage with agribusiness firms, processors, wholesalers, exporters or large retailers for farm services & sale of future farming produce at a mutually agreed remunerative price framework in a fair & transparent manner.
Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar today wrote to all the chief ministers informing them of the ordinances & solicited their cooperation in the implementation of the reforms.
He stressed the need for their continued support in the development & growth of the agriculture sector in the new reformed environment, the release said.
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