Letters: Fighting agrarian distress

With reference to “Ploughing private capital in agriculture” (December 26), in his Budget speech of 2017-18, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley termed mitigation of agrarian distress a “non-negotiable agenda for our government” and increased the total allocation for the rural, agriculture and allied sectors to ~1,87,223 crore, 24 per cent higher than the previous year. More farmer-friendly provisions were incorporated into the flagship Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. To further the role of the private sector in agriculture, he envisaged a “Model Contract Farming Act” that would provide statutory backing to a system of farming and marketing in which agro-processing/exporting or trading units enter into a contract with farmers to purchase a specified quantity and quality of one or more agricultural commodities at a pre-agreed price. The law, it was felt, would check the increasing exploitation of farmers by fly-by-night operators in the absence of any agency of the state for verification of the credentials/track record of the sponsoring companies.

The involvement of private companies in mitigating agrarian distress is a welcome reform to create a more conducive environment for farmers to produce, market and earn enough. The constitution of an appropriate and unbiased state agency for registration of contracting firm, recording of agreement, dispute settlement and protecting the interests of farmers and sponsors of contract farming will help farmers benefit from an agreed price for their produce, besides efficient resource management and knowledge of production. However, the sponsor company must be able to plan for the processing, marketing and exports based on agreed quantity and quality of the contractual price. The law shouldn’t become yet another policy tool for arm-twisting of private players on the pretext of upholding farmers’ interest. 

Shreyans Jain   New Delhi

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