Centre asked to prod states on APMC reforms

The central government has been asked to exert pressure on states to implement reforms in the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act.

Addressing a CII meet on 'Reforms in APMC Act in southern states' here on Wednesday, Shankarlal Guru, chairman, International Society for Agricultural Marketing and chairman, expert committee on agricultural marketing, said the central government has already initiated some agricultural reforms, but since agriculture is a state subject, a lot more remains to be done before Indian agriculture is rid of the problems facing it.

Agricultural marketing should no longer remain a state subject under the Constitution, especially when the trade in agro commodities is governed by WTO agreements, he added.

One of the key measures taken by the central government is the drafting of the Model APMC Act.

It is imperative that all the states amend their respective APMC Acts in order to conform to the model act. Guru lamented that although the ministry of agriculture has circulated the model legislation to replace the existing APMC Acts, little or no progress has been made by states.

Contract farming is prohibited under APMC Acts. As the food processing industry can be sustained only by assured supply of quality agricultural produce, the best arrangement is to enable industrial food processing units to get involved in contract farming, he said.

Talking about priority accorded to the agricultural sector by states in the southern region, Shankarlal Guru said the share of agricultural outlay has been declining.

While Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry have made an attempt to redress this aspect as observed in the annual plan 2003-04, Kerala is yet to accorded agriculture the same priority.

"With the decline in public investment in agriculture, southern states should address it by encouraging more public-private partnerships in the sector," Guru added.

Explaining the current status of APMC reforms among the southern states, he said the APMC Act of Andhra Pradesh contains a provision (section 35), which authorises the state government to exempt any person from all or any of the provisions of the act.

"This gives an option to the government to allow private sector participation, however the same does not happen automatically but requires following a long process of notification."

Karnataka has amended the Karnataka APMC act, 1966 by inserting a new chapter 13(a) in order to allow establishment of an integrated produce market to be owned and managed by NDDB to market fruits, vegetables and flowers.

Kerala has initiated market intervention support for price stabilisation. this is in order to stabilise the price of agricultural products during the harvest season. The state also has set up a price support fund in the event of a steep fall in the prices of commodities.

Tamil Nadu has set up a horticulture development mission with a view to improving the production and productivity of horticulture crops and an agri-export zones and is continuing to establish agri-export zones across the state.