Devendra Fadnavis to head chief ministers' panel on agriculture reform

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will be the convenor of the high-powered committee of chief ministers tasked with suggesting ways to undertake structural reforms in agriculture to boost farmers’ income. The committee will submit its report in the next two months.

According to an official statement, the panel will also consist of chief ministers of Karnataka (H D Kumaraswamy), Haryana (Manohar Lal Khattar), Arunachal Pradesh (Pema Khandu), Gujarat (Vijay Rupani), Uttar Pradesh (Yogi Adityanath) and Madhya Pradesh (Kamal Nath). Union minister for agriculture and rural development Narendra Singh Tomar is also a part of the team.

NITI Aayog's Ramesh Chand will be the member secretary of the panel which will suggest modalities for adoption of a time-bound implementation of the new model APMC Act and model Contract Farming Act.

The panel will also examine various provisions of Essential Commodity Act (ECA), 1955 and suggest changes in it to attract private investments in agricultural marketing and infrastructure.

It will also suggest mechanisms for linking of market reforms with e-NAM, GRAM and other relevant centrally sponsored schemes. Apart from these, the committe has also been tasked to come up with policy measures to boost agriculture exports, raise growth in food processing, attract investments in modern market infrastructure, value chains and logistics.

The panel of chief ministers will also suggest measures to upgrade agriculture technology to global standards and improve access of farmers to quality seed, plant propagation material and farm machinery.

The decision to form the panel was taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the fifth meeting of the NITI Aayog governing council last month.

Farm sector growth faltered in the first tenure of the Modi government due to rising production and falling prices.