The West Bengal government may allow farmers’ cooperative to participate in contract farming if there is a consensus among farmers about the issue. Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, in his Budget speech, has asked state governments to reform the Agriculture Produce Marketing Act (APMC) urgently to improve the supply chain.
Mortaza Hussein, state minister of agricultural marketing, said, ?We have told the Centre that if farmers are willing to form cooperatives to participate in contract farming, we can explore such possibilities. Most of the farmers have very small landholding and it is difficult to start contract farming with such small tracts of land.? The state is also open to include self-help groups in the process of contract farming.
In a recent meeting with the Union agricuture minister Sharad Pawar, state government officials said it requires a clear-cut formula for compensation to farmers before it thinks of amending the APMC Act.
?Farmers have been asking us about the benefits they will get from that and we are clueless about what the Centre has in mind. We cannot give it a nod unless we can allay farmers’ fears regarding contract farming,? Hussein said.
According to state government’s estimates, almost 125 lakh tonne of vegetables are grown in a year and 30% of that go waste as there is neither a proper storage facility nor an advanced marketing mechanism. Earlier, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had said that the old system of marketing cannot be continued and there has to be a change in the system. But so far the government is yet to implement any change.
Meanwhile, the present APMC Act of the state has pushed away retail majors like Reliance to expand in the state. Bijou Kurien, president and chief executive (lifestyle) of the Mukesh Ambani led company, recently said that the political philosophy of the state has prevented the company from expanding in West Bengal. Back in 2007, the company had planned to invest around Rs 2,000 crore in 145 grocery stores, six processing centres, nine distribution and 23 collection centres.
Most of the industrialists in the food processing business and farm-to-table segment in the state are of the view that political opinion of the Left Front towards modern retailing is the biggest hindrance towards implementing APMC Model Act in tune with what has been suggested by the Centre. According to them problems like smaller landholding will not actually come in the way of amending APMC Act.