The report said, "Eighty-two per cent of the farming community in India is constituted of small and marginal farmers who are resource-poor and not aware of the pros and cons of the speculative price discovery in forward market trading, hence unable to take its advantage." The Parliamentary panel's views gain significance ahead of the government's review of suspension of futures in four farm commodities. On May 7, the government had suspended futures trading in soyoil, chana, rubber and potato for four months, and had said it would review the situation before lifting the suspension. Forward Markets Commission (FMC) chairman B C Khatua had said last week that as there was no case for further extension of the ban, the exchanges would be able to launch contracts in the four commodities from September 7. The Parliament panel, meanwhile, called for expediting setting up of a stronger forward markets regulator for commodities, which would have powers on the lines of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). Last year, the government had moved an ordinance giving more teeth to farm futures regulator FMC. The ordinance, however, lapsed early this year and the bill to amend the Forward Contracts Regulation Act is yet to be passed. The panel has recommended giving fertiliser subsidy directly to farmers, instead of producers. "Farmers should be given fertiliser as well as water and power subsidy directly, rather than producers and suppliers." Currently, government subsidises the cost of production to ensure farmers get fertilisers at fixed retail prices, much lower than the actual output cost. The panel also called for inclusion of more crops under the minimum support price regime. Currently, government fixes support price for 24 crops. The panel said tubers, banana, red rice, green coconut and more such perishable crops should be brought under the support price mechanism to widen the country's food security basket. It also called for review of the method of fixing the support price.
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