The Centre’s determination to permit Agricultural Produce Marketing Societies (APMCs) to take loans from the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) has did not impress farmer leaders. He says the transfer is an eyewitness to the central authorities’s criticism over three agricultural legal guidelines, which he described as a transfer to destroy mandis.
On Friday, the Union Cabinet had amended the principles of AIF and allowed APMCs to take loans below the scheme. Addressing the media, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar mentioned that APMCs might be allowed to get loans as much as Rs 2 crore for establishing amenities like chilly storage, grading and sorting facilities and so forth. This step will assist the farmers to get higher value for his or her produce. Tomar.
Established in May 2020, AIF goals to enhance farmgate and post-harvest amenities. Long time period and medium time period credit score amenities have been supplied below the fund with curiosity subvention of three per cent each year to the extent of Rs 3 crore.
The fund was made out there to major agricultural credit score societies, advertising cooperatives, farmer producer firms, farmers, self-help teams, joint legal responsibility teams, multipurpose credit score societies, agri-entrepreneurs, start-ups and central, state or public-private partnerships was.
Wholesale markets or mandis are cooperatives that regulate the commerce of agricultural commodities. These are market locations the place farmers promote their produce. The mandis have confronted criticism from a number of quarters for his or her maintain on the agri commerce. Last yr, the central authorities had handed three agriculture legal guidelines, one in all which allowed commerce exterior the mandi with out the supervision of the APMC.
Farmer leaders mentioned the inclusion of the APMC is now a bid to divert consideration from the federal government’s criticism of agricultural legal guidelines. Former MP and farmer chief Raju Shetti referred to as the announcement one other solution to divert consideration from the continuing farmers’ motion.
Why was this fund not included within the price range? The inclusion of APMC is only a declaration to pacify the farmers’ unrest. Shetty linked this with the formation of a brand new cooperative ministry, permitting the BJP to take over the area.
Ajit Nawale, chief of the Kisan Sabha, the farmers’ wing of the Left events, mentioned the APMC already had sufficient funds. “This amount is very less as compared to the other funds they have. The announcement hardly makes any sense,” he mentioned.
MahaFPC Managing Director Yogesh Thorat, nevertheless, mentioned the transfer was to develop a holistic chain for agricultural commodities. He mentioned that APMCs might be a part of the agricultural commodity worth chain by providing farmers the means so as to add worth to their produce.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
