Fertile ground for national agri mkt as govt allocates Rs 200 cr

In deft move to integrate over 500 mandis or regulated wholesale markets in the country without waiting for states to amend their APMC laws, the Centre on Thursday announced the creation of national electronic common agriculture market with an allocation of Rs 200 crore spread over three years starting from 2015-16.

Reforms to Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee Act (APMC) have been on for the last several years but despite best efforts, states have either not implemented it or have done so piecemeal.

The government also announced an ambitious Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY), with an outlay of Rs 50,000 crore spread over 5 years also starting from 2015-16, which seeks to converge investments in irrigation at the field levels under one roof. For the current fiscal, an allocation of Rs 5,300 crore has been made for the same.

By the proposal on common national agriculture market scheme, the central government will financially support those states which allow their mandis to participate in the electronic platform, provided they fulfil three critical criteria.

The first condition is mandi reforms: Having in place e-auction platform for price discovery of agricultural produce, provide a single licence that is valid across the state and a single point levy of market fee.

The Centre would provide the trading platform and also give assistance of Rs 30 lakh for meeting the infrastructural expenses. The Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) will develop the common electronic platform.

"We don't want each state to develop a separate software as it would be difficult to integrate. So, we have decided to provide a single software. Several states have expressed interest," Agriculture Secretary Siraj Hussain later said at a conference organised by Assocham.

However, the assistance won't be available for private mandis even though they can access the e-platform.

Initially, the Centre will identify 50 mandis across five states, who will granted the allocation.
PRIME THE PUMP

• The government's plan may benefit irrigation companies and water pump makers
• Shares of Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd, an irrigation-equipment maker, climbed 2.4% to Rs 71.2 in Mumbai trading Thursday, the highest price in four months
• Yuken India, a pump maker, rose 5.9% to Rs 263.5, the biggest jump since May 11