The Centre’s choice to permit Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs) to avail credit score from the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) has didn’t impress farmer leaders. They say the transfer is an eyewash to defuse the criticism the central authorities has confronted over the three agricultural legal guidelines, which they mentioned was a transfer to destroy the mandis.
On Friday, the Union cabinet had modified the principles of AIF and allowed APMCs to avail credit score underneath the scheme. Addressing the media, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar mentioned APMCs can be allowed to get credit score as much as Rs 2 crore for organising amenities like chilly storage, grading and sorting centres and so forth. This transfer will assist farmers get higher worth for his or her produce, mentioned Tomar.
Set up in May 2020, AIF is geared toward bettering amenities at farmgate and post-harvesting amenities. Long-term and medium-term debt amenities had been made accessible underneath the fund with an curiosity subvention of three per cent every year as much as a restrict of Rs 3 crore.
The fund was made accessible to Primary Agricultural Credit Societies, Marketing Cooperative Societies, Farmers Producers Companies, Farmers, Self Help Groups, Joint Liability Groups, Multipurpose Credit Societies, agri-entrepreneurs, start-ups and central, state or public- personal partnerships.
Wholesale markets or mandis are cooperative our bodies which management the commerce in agricultural commodities. These are market locations the place farmers promote their produce. Mandis have confronted criticism from many quarters for the maintain they’ve on agri commerce. Last yr, the central authorities had handed three agri legal guidelines, certainly one of which allowed for out-of-mandi commerce with out the supervision of APMCs.
Inclusion of APMCs now’s a bid to divert consideration from the criticism the federal government has been dealing with over the farm legal guidelines, mentioned farmer leaders. Former MP and farmer chief Raju Shetti referred to as this announcement one other technique to divert consideration from the continued farmers’ motion.
“Why was this fund not included in the budget? Inclusion of the APMCs is just an announcement to quell the farmers’ unrest,” he mentioned. Shetti linked this with the formation of a brand new Cooperation Ministry as a approach for BJP to take over the sector.
Ajit Nawale, chief of Kisan Sabha, the farmers’ wing of Left events, mentioned APMCs have already got sufficient funds. “This amount is paltry as compared to the other funds they have access to. The announcement hardly makes any sense,” he mentioned.
However, Yogesh Thorat, managing director of MahaFPC, mentioned the transfer was to develop a holistic chain for agri commodities. APMCs can be a part of the agri commodity worth chain by providing farmers means so as to add worth to their produce, he mentioned.
