-The Business Standard States need to create alternative marketing structures for farm produce since middlemen also provide vital services that are otherwise unavailable to the farmer   One of the issues often raised in the context of high food inflation is the pressing need to change the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC), the marketing boards established by state governments. The earlier United Progressive Alliance government had asked the Congress-ruled states to remove fruit...

-The Hindustan Times Wastage of all kinds of food during farm-to-fork journey and also because of mindless indulgences by people with dispensable income whenever they visit supermarkets remains a global curse. It is known that over one-third of India's fruit and vegetables valued at over Rs. 13,000 crore is wasted annually in the absence of adequate refrigerated storage infrastructure and logistics deficiencies. The other villain is the anachronistic distribution system, favouring middlemen...

-The Business Standard Of all the measures in the final Union Budget and Rail Budget for 2014-15, the micro-interventions that address food inflation by dismantling supply-side barriers are the most important. They carry added significance in a year when the monsoon has been deficient in a wide swathe of the western and northern parts of the country. The promise to bring down the hold of wholesale warlords in the Agricultural Produce Marketing...

-The Business Standard Easing of APMC regime, farmer-consumer contact, other proposals seen as positives To ease supply-side constraints on food articles, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has proposed several measures to help improve marketing and storage of produce. Taking cues from the Bhartiya Janata Party's election manifesto, he has proposed integrating markets across the country, with the Centre to work closely with states to reorient the latter's respective Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Acts,...

-Down to Earth Jaitley continues with UPA schemes on agriculture, allocates more funds The maiden budget of finance minister Arun Jaitley is disappointing for farmers as it has nothing in its kitty to address the increasing farm stress and resolve the ongoing agrarian crisis in the country. The much-awaited budget of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) neither talks about assured farm income nor gives any remedy to reduce farm...