Farmers are having difficulty selling their crops in the lockdown. The Gujarat government has taken an important decision in the interest of the farmers in this difficult time. The state government has amended the APMC Act by issuing an ordinance. Farmers will now be able to sell their produce anywhere in the state. The Secretary to the Market Committee will be appointed by the State Government. And this will be an executive committee of 6 people. The government had issued the ordinance as the assembly session was closed. The new decision of the government will increase the competition and get more price for the farmer.
Earlier, the government had decided to provide relief to farmers from the lockdown. But even in APMC, farmers are having difficulty in selling crops at present. A better day for farmers could come when the government reformed the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee. Farmers will now be able to sell their produce anywhere in the state. Earlier, farmers had to sell their produce at the nearest APMC. However, under the new amendment, farmers will be able to sell goods in government as well as private yards. With this decision of the state government, farmers will now be able to sell their crops at higher prices in private market yards.
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There are currently 224 APMCs in Gujarat. APMC also levies a cess of 0.5 per cent on the sale of goods. It will not even feel like a cess on selling goods in a private yard. Last year, APMC had a turnover of Rs 35,000 crore. And Rs 350 crore were recovered by the cess. Prior to the amendment to the law, APMC also regulated crops sold outside the marketyard but now APMC will not be able to regulate crops sold on private yards.
