𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐬 & 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐅𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬

Pros:

* The farmers had moved towards a freer & more flexible system

* Selling produces outside the physical territory of the Mandis will be an additional marketing channel for the farmers

#SpeakUpForFarmers #FarmBills2020

* The new bill has not brought any major drastic changes, only a parallel system working with the existing system. Prior to these bills, farmers can sell their produce to the whole world, but via the e- NAM system

* The amendment to the Essential Commodities Act which is one of the three bills under protest removes the scare or fear of the farmers that traders who buy from farmers would be punished for holding stocks that are deemed excess and inflicting losses for the farmers.

* The bills ensure that the farmer or the producer is given the same attention as production is and the farmer gets the stipulated price for crops so that farming survives.

* System of MSP will remain” and “government procurement will continue”

* In the existing APMC system, it is mandatory for farmers to go through a trader (via Mandis) so as to sell their produce to consumers and companies and they receive Minimum Selling Prices for their produce.

Contd...

It was this very system that has influenced the rise to a cartel led by traders and uncompetitive markets due to which the farmers are paid MSP (a very low price) for their produces.

𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙁𝙖𝙧𝙢 𝘽𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙨:

* The Farm Bills hampers with the monopoly of APMC (agricultural produce market committee) mandis, thereby allowing sale and purchase of crops outside these state government-regulated market yards or mandis.

* The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill does not give any statutory backing to MSP. The farmers have nothing to do with the legal system but everything to do with the MSP, a price at which they sell their produce,

Contd...

there is not even a mention of either “MSP” or “Procurement” in the said bill.

* The government declares MSPs for crops, but there has been no law mandating their implementation.

* The only crop where MSP payment has some statutory implementation is sugarcane for which FRP is determined. This is due to its pricing being governed by the Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966 issued under the Essential Commodities Act.

* The new bills are placing farmers and traders at the mercy of civil servants, rather than of the courts.

𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬-

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧:

The simplest solution against the protest of the farmers with respect to the farm bills can be including statutory backing to the minimum selling prices and procurement in the new bill to eradicate the fear of the farmers.

Giving farmers the choice to sell without the help of middlemen will be of great use only if there are roads that link villages to markets, climate-controlled storage facilities, the electricity supply is made reliable and available to power those facilities,

contd..

and food processing companies who compete to buy their produce.

The CACP who recommends MSP along with Central ministries & State Governments itself is not any statutory body set up by the Parliament. It is only a government policy that is part of administrative decision-making.

The government declares MSPs for crops, but there is no legal implication. The government can procure at the MSPs if it wants to thus the system of MSP will remain and government procurement will continue.

This fear had to be clarified even further and farmers should be guided well in this regard.

PS:
More than 90% of farmers have been out of the ambit of the MSP-based procurement system. Only 6% of farmers have access to the MSP-based procurement system.