New laws have beneficial provisions, will not hurt Tamil Nadu farmers: CM

Says the laws will iron out issues relating to contract farming and have provisions to fetch a better price for the cultivator

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami today said that his Government support the three farm Bills brought in by the central government as farmers in the State will not be impacted by the three laws as there are many beneficial provisions for cultivators.

The three Bills--The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, The Farmers' (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020--passed in the Lok Sabha recently are beneficial to the Tamil Nadu farmers, Palaniswami asserted.

He said: “Unlike the Leader of the Opposition (M K Stalin), I know about farming and farmers' welfare.”

“The provisions of the proposed law will not affect the farmers of Tamil Nadu. Hence the state government has not opposed it. The situation in Punjab is different and is not comparable,” he said.

The Chief Minister said that procurement for the public distribution system would continue and that the proposed laws do not mandate farmers to have a Permanent Account Number (PAN).

Explaining the provisions of the Farmers' (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill 2020, he said contract farming in cocoa, sugarcane and poultry sectors is already being done in the state.

The proposed law will enable proper implementation of contract farming.

The law that encourages contract farming does not have any provision compelling or affecting the farmers, said the Chief Minister.

He added that farmers will get the contracted price for their produce and if the market price is higher than the contracted price, there is provision in the law for the farmers to benefit.

The central government’s law will reinforce a similar law brought in by the state government in 2019, he said.

The contract farming will also ensure the food processing industries to get an assured quality raw material. The food processing industries will increase employment opportunities in rural areas, he added.

Speaking about the provisions of the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill 2020, Palaniswami said the proposed law provides the freedom to the farmers to sell their produce anywhere and with competition they can profit.

That apart, there is the possibility of the existing infrastructure getting upgraded.

The proposed law will not impact the Minimum Support Price (MSP), Palaniswami said adding that the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2020 enables streamlining of stockholding limit when prices of horticulture or agriculture produce increases by 100 and 50 per cent respectively.

Consumers and the farmers would benefit and there is no truth that corporates would resort to hoarding, he said.