Govt of India gears up for contract farming as panel meets

A high-powered committee of state ministers in charge of agricultural marketing deliberated on issues related to improve the condition of farmers, speed up agricultural marketing reforms and recommend to the government the implementation of the Model Act (state Agriculture Produce Marketing Development and Regulation Act, 2003) in all states on an urgent basis in a meeting held at Jaypee Hotel here today.

The meeting was attended by more than six state ministers in the committee, including Uttarakhand Agriculture Minister Trivendar Singh Rawat.

Chairman of the committee Maharashtra Minister Harshwardhan Patil said the committee would recommend to the government the implementation of the Development and Regulation Act, 2003 in all states for state agricultural produce marketing reforms, and suggesting nationwide barrier-free market to benefit the farmers directly.

Patil also said the focus of the meeting was to speed up the process of reforms and facilitate investment by the private sector in the development of marketing infrastructure.

He also said decreasing the interference of middlemen and facilitating direct marketing to increase the profits of farmers from their agricultural produce were also discussed extensively in the meeting.