Congress move on mandi reform a bold & timely move: Experts

Congress party's decision to delist fruits and vegetables from APMC Act in its 12 ruling states would break the monopoly of wholesale traders and allow new players, including farmers, to sell their produce directly at mandies and help reduce prices, experts said.
Describing the Congress party's decision as "bold and timely move", Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices (CACP) Chairman Ashok Gulati said: "Congratulations to Rahul Gandhi and his party. This sends a message that they mean business and they are back into reforms."
CACP is a statutory body that recommends minimum support price of agricultural commodities to the government.

Gulati noted that amendment to the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act would result in some "quick gains" as it would bring down various mandi charges and encourage new players enter the wholesale business without licence.
However, Gulati said that the long term gain would accrue only when modern retailers and processors set up back-end infrastructure and supply chain facilities.
He mentioned that the move would help in containing price rise in fruits and vegetables. However at present, their prices have already declined steeply.

"The fruits and vegetable inflation in December-January data would be lower irrespective of APMC Act," he added.

Echoing similar views, farm expert Vijay Sardana said, "It is a good development. If this is implemented, it will break the monopoly of state sponsored traders and bring competition and ensure free trade."
It will also reduce transaction cost and manipulation, benefiting both farmers and consumers, he said and advised Rahul Gandhi to improve agriculture extension services so that farmers get timely inputs about market trends and grow crops as per the market demand.
The decision to delist fruits and vegetables from APMC Act during the meeting of Chief Ministers of 12 Congress-ruled states with the Party's Vice President Rahul Gandhi.