(a) whether the Government has made amendments in the Agricultural Produce Market Committee Act (APMC), 1998;
(b) if so, the details thereof; and
(c) the various steps being taken by the Government for promotion and development of agricultural markets in the country?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE (DR. SANJEEV KUMAR BALYAN)
(a) & (b): Agricultural marketing being in domain of the State Governments, States are empowered to legislate their marketing Acts. The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, has accordingly, enacted the Delhi Agricultural Produce Marketing (Regulation) Act, 1998 and has not since made any amendments in it.
Recently, however, by exercising the powers conferred by sub-section (1) and (4) of Section 4 of the Act, Government of NCT of Delhi vide notification dated 02.09.2014 has ceased regulation of fruits and vegetables beyond the market yards/sub-yards in respect of three Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees viz. APMC Market of National Importance (MNI) Azadpur, APMC, Keshopur and APMC, Shahdara. In effect there is now no restriction on any one to engage in the marketing of fruits & vegetables, outside these market yards/sub-yards.
(c): In order to promote and develop efficient agricultural markets, encourage investment in development of agricultural markets and marketing infrastructure and encourage competition, Government is actively pursuing with the States/Union Territories to reform their respective Marketing Regulation on lines of the Model APMC Act/ Rules of 2003 and 2007 respectively. More recently, the Government issued advisories to all States/UTs to deregulate the marketing of fruits and vegetables outside the APMC market yards. Subsequently, the Kisan Mandi model has also been conceptualized by Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium(SFAC) and their expertise offered to other States/ UTs to tap demand for fruits and vegetables by sourcing these from Farmer Producer Organizations and Growers’ Associations.