Shri T. Nand Kumar, Secretary, Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Shri Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Chairman, CII National Council on Agriculture, Shri Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, Confederation of Indian Industries, Shri Gokul Patnaik, Chairman, CII National Task force on Agri Marketing, leaders and representatives from Trade and Industries and officials from Government of India, State Governments and distinguished invitees ladies and gentlemen,
I am extremely happy to be here with all of you to inaugurate the Agri Marketing Summit on a subject that is of vital concern to all of us and is very timely. India has emerged as leading producers of rice, wheat and pulses. India has the largest livestock in the world while being the largest producer of milk, second largest producer of fruits and vegetables and third largest producer of food grains. We have several competitive advantages in agriculture comparable to those of any other country in the world. First, it has regions, which are climatically favorable for cultivation of variety of crops. Second, the country already possesses the largest acreage of irrigated land in the world with a sizable potential still to be tapped. Third, the country has an abundance of available skilled, educated, technical and scientific manpower. India has thus, the potential to become a global leader in agriculture.
Agriculture marketing is a State subject, therefore, the wholesale trading of agricultural commodity is regulated through State Agricultural Produce Marketing (Regulation) Acts in the respective States. In India, more than 620 billion tonnes of farm output is traded through a network of more than 27,357 wholesale and Primary Rural Markets and about 7139 Regulated Markets scattered across the States. However, many of the regulated markets lack proper infrastructure and facilities in tune with changing times and increased levels of production in the absence of competition. This has been further accentuated by weak backward linkages to the production centres. The supply chain remained fragmented for agri commodities perpetuating a high percentage of loss making it unprofitable and unviable.
My Ministry is committed to bring about major reforms in the agriculture sector in consultation with State Governments. The aim is to build on the successes of the modern technology in agriculture to create higher levels of surplus for processing and export and take our farmers higher up the value chain to increase their income and make them globally competitive. Towards this direction, several reforms have already been initiated in laws dealing with agriculture namely, the APMC Act., the Essential Commodities Act., and the Forward Contracts Act. Integrated Food law and law dealing with Negotiable warehousing receipt system have been amended keeping in view the changing needs of farmers, consumers, trade and industries. The focus of reforms in State APMC Act. includes provision for creation of an enabling environment to attract Private Sector investment to market infrastructure, for enabling direct marketing of produce by farmers and contract farming while protecting interests of farmers.
Development of agricultural marketing infrastructure in the country is necessary to provide higher value to farmers’ crops, quality raw material for agro-industries and food to consumers at reasonable price. The investment from private sector will play dominant role in different parts of food value chain. The government has taken a number of reform initiatives viz launching of NHM for development of need based infrastructure with end to end approach and enhancing horticultural production and productivity. A reform linked Central Sector Scheme of Development/Strengthening marketing infrastructure Grading and Standardization is being implemented in those States which have amended their APMC Acts. to provide for market reforms.
The Government have recently revised the guidelines for setting up state of the art Modern Terminal Markets Complex for perishable like fruits and vegetables in Public Private Partnership mode with subsidy provision under National Horticulture Mission. We have already provided in-principle approval for setting up of Terminal Market Complex at four places i.e. at Babangaon in Thane District near Mumbai in Maharashtra, at Perundurai in Erode District in Tamil Nadu, in Patna in Bihar and in Sambalpur in Orissa. Already bids are underway in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Bihar.
This Summit has been organized to identify and discuss the issues affecting the efficiency of agri markets and competitiveness of Indian agriculture and the measures to be taken to enhance efficiency and productivity. I am looking forward to your specific suggestions in strengthening the agri market systems, identifying commodities that have the potential to compete in Global markets, the policy measures needed to support integration of domestic farm production with emerging global markets including food parks and agri export zone and the role of Public Private Partnership in the development of agri infrastructure to enable the farmers to improve their income.
Thank you.
