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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Farmers won't be able to sell you veggies any time soon -Chittaranjan Tembhekar

Farmers won't be able to sell you veggies any time soon -Chittaranjan Tembhekar

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published Published on Jan 14, 2014   modified Modified on Jan 14, 2014
-The Times of India


MUMBAI: Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan seems to be dithering on whether or not farmers should be allowed to sell their crop outside the agriculture produce marketing committee (APMC) setup.

This means, consumers may not be able to get their hands on reasonably-priced vegetables and fruits brought in by cultivators in the near future. Chavan said the government needs more time to discuss the issue with various stakeholders.

"Since our country has adopted a liberal economy, we need to deliberate if farmers should be permitted to circumvent the existing wholesale or agriculture produce marketing committee (APMC) market system," said Chavan.

"The state is not planning to completely abolish the broker and the trader in the APMC arrangement. We want to take stakeholders into confidence," he added.

Consumers' dream of buying fresh vegetables and fruits brought in by farmers from their gardens at cheaper rates avoiding the 'costly' route is still away. How to offer farmers a choice of direct sell of their agriculture produce (such as vegetables and fruits) to consumers or allow them to fully avoid the wholesale markets is still an issue before the state despite facing criticism over heavy price rises in the recent past.

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said his administration was discussing with the stake holders as to how to give a choice of direct selling of vegetables to farmers. "Since our country has adopted liberal economy, it is needed to be discussed whether to allow farmers to avoid the existing wholesale or agriculture produce marketing committee (APMC) market system," said Chavan. He said state was not also intending to completely abolish the broker and trader system in the APMC and was intended at taking all stake holders into confidence.

Chavan addressed a presser along with Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar on Sunday. "We had held a meeting of all the states in this connection five years ago and asked them to offer farmers total freedom to market their produce. Maharashtra made some amendments but need to make some more changes for greater clarity in the policy," Pawar said. Currently, the APMC administration offers mobile vans to farmers so that they can sell their produce, but the existing infrastructure is insufficient to cater to the farmers' needs.

When asked as to how state would implement on this choice in the absence of infrastructure,

Chavan admitted that the state would have to create storage centres and facilities to cater to the farmers' needs. "We are taking efforts to expand and strengthen the APMCs' infrastructure like godowns, storage areas and facilities to disinfect the produce," the CM said. He assured that the production of milk would increase in the future. "Since milk powder is being exported from the country, it is affecting the stock of milk. If this trend continues, then it might result in people getting smaller quantity of milk," he warned. Recently, Chavan had called upon all the dairy organizations to form a cooperative like Amul in Gujarat so as to bring certainty and uniformity in production and rates.

Similarly how to stop growing shortage of milk in the state due to increasing production and export of milk powder is another cause of worry for the DF government indicating rise in milk prices ahead.


The Times of India, 13 January, 2014, http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2014-01-13/mumbai/46148749_1_agriculture-produce-marketing-committee-apmc-administration-farmers


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