(a) whether the Government is aware that there is a huge gap between the wholesale and retail prices of vegetables in various parts of the country, which not only hurt the farmers but also consumers; and
(b) if so, whether the Government has formulated any plan to resolve this problem, if so, the details thereof and the time by which it would be implemented?
MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
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(a) & (b): Agricultural marketing is a state subject and the Government of India provides support and assistance to States/UTs to promote marketing .The wholesale & retail prices of the agriculture produce including Horticulture commodities depend on variety of factors at any given point of time such as demand and supply of the produce, climate conditions, perishable nature of the produce and availability of transport. The quality parameter also plays an important role in the price of an agricultural commodity.
In order to resolve the issue of price , Government has taken several steps like promoting policy reforms and providing assistance for setting up marketing and value addition infrastructure, reefer transportation facilities mobilizing farmers into Farmer Producer Organization and linking them to markets.
Government of India has circulated a new model “The Agriculture Produce and Livestock Marketing (Promotion & Facilitation) Act, 2017” to States/Union Territories (UTs) for its adoption. The Model APLM Act, 2017 provides alternate marketing channels such as setting up of private markets, direct marketing, farmer-consumer markets, special commodity markets, declaring warehouses/silos/cold storages or such structures as market sub-yards to facilitate farmers in marketing their produce at competitive and remunerative prices. Model APLM Act, 2017 has recommended deregulation of marketing of fruits & vegetables outside the market yards.
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Besides, Government is implementing National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) scheme wherein online trading of agriculture and horticulture commodities is done for transparent price discovery for farmers for their produce through competitive online bidding system. Already trading parameters for 150 agricultural commodities including 75 horticultural commodities such as fruits & vegetables, spices, flowers etc have been given.
Further, Government of India has been promoting schemes such as Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana-Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied Sector Rejuvenation (RKVY-RAFTAAR), Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure (AMI) scheme, Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) and Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana (Scheme for Agro-Marine Processing and Development of Agro-Processing Clusters) which aim at promoting modern infrastructure including that of post-harvest and marketing infrastructure and cold chain infrastructure for agriculture marketing in the country.
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