Struggling under the dual pressure of achieving a 5% growth in agriculture and meeting chief minister Mayawati?s directive to double the income of farmers in two years, the Uttar Pradesh government is exploring the option to revive its 3-year-old plan of engaging the private sector in agriculture marketing.

The government is giving final touches an amendment of Uttar Pradesh Krishi Utpadan Mandi Act and will get it passed in the Assembly session in August.

Speaking to FE, a state government official in the know of the development said infrastructure in agri marketing needs rapid imrovement and strengthening. ?The amendment is a near repeat story of 2007. Through this amendment, the government would seek private investment for putting in place private mandis, which will give more power to the farmers and get them better prices.

At present, there are only 350-odd government man-dis, while the demand is for 2,500 such mandis all over the state. Since the government does not have the finances to set up additional mandis, the private sector can chip in,? he said.

Through this initiative, the private sector will provide better seeds, fertilisers and pesticides as well as arrange for finance and crop insurance for the farmers to help them overcome the hazards of crop loss.

The policy is basically aimed at ensuring an all-round development of the farm sector in a state where almost 80% of the farmers are small and marginal and around 70% of the rural families has less than one hectare of land. The policy is also aimed at saving the farmers from being exploited by middlemen and to enable them to get competitive prices for their produce. Besides, there will be single point approval of licences and single point tax collection.

The policy would also encourage the private investors to invest in food processing, storage, packaging, transportation, distribution and export, while the role of the state government would be limited to that of a facilitator.

The impact of private sector entry will be widespread. The farmers will not have to worry about transporting their goods to faraway mandis and won’t have to sell them at uncompetitive prices for the fear of having to transport it back to the villages. Private mandis at closer proximity will come up and therefore remove the existing middlemen in agri trade. ?At present, there is a 5-level chain between the farmers to the consumer. With private mandis coming up at closer distances, both the farmers and the consumers will benefit and the private sector will also save on the high commission that it pays the middlemen. The government, too, will have less to worry about,? he added.

However, the only hitch for the government in preparing the proposed amendment is the contract farming clause. It is yet to make up its mind regarding it and hectic efforts are on to chalk out a final amendment after weighing the pros and cons. When contacted, top officials of the agriculture department remained tight-lipped.

Acknowledging the fact that the government was working on repackaging and launching the Mandi Act, Anil Shukla, head, CII- Uttar Pradesh, said it was a welcome move and it will go a long way to help empower the farmers. ?Almost 35-40% of our produce is lost due to lack of good transportation and storage facilities. Once the private sector comes into agri marketing, both the productivity and profitability of the farmers will increase. The industry needs to work on addressing the fears of the farmers and eliminate the risk to their livelihood,? he said.

The few specific areas where the industry has been asked to provide help are capacity building of the farmers in terms of knowledge support, upgraded technology, provide them with proper seeds, devise methods for increasing their awareness and train them.

It may be mentioned that Chief Minister Mayawati had announced the new Agriculture Infrastructure and Investment Policy soon after she came to power with a thumping majority in 2007.