Hyderabad: New laws will pave way for farmers' prosperity

Hyderabad: The three farm laws enacted by the Central government are beneficial to the farmers in enhancing farmers' incomes through creating new markets in addition to the existing APMC markets. Among these laws, the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act is more important and will help increasingly attract private investment in agricultural market infrastructure, according to Dr V K Singh, Director, CRIDA (ICAR-Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture). Dr Singh was addressing a seminar on 'New Farm Laws: Issues and Concerns for Agriculture Development, Livelihood and Food Security in Telangana State' organised by Crida in association with Telangana Economic Association (TEA) in Hyderabad on Saturday. He said the second law, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, will safeguard farmers' interests and ensure grievance redressal mechanism. The third law, the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, will enhance investments in postharvest and storage infrastructure.

Prof Linga Murthy, the TEA president, explained the pros and cons of the laws and stressed the need for wider discussion about the laws. Prof E Revathi, Director, Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS), focussed on the status of agricultural market reforms in Telangana and explained the need for reforms which should be more inclusive in nature to benefit small farmers.

Dr Satya Sai, CGM, NABARD, Mumbai, emphasised the need for understanding the laws in systems perspective including all stakeholders from farmers to ultimate consumer. He observed that any change or new laws would face some resistance from some sections of the society and emphasised on consideration as well as resolution of the current issues of farmers.

Prof Ramesh Chand, Member, NITI Aayog, in his keynote address, informed that during the framing of the new farm laws, deliberations were held with all stakeholders, and inputs were taken from all sections of the society and political parties. He mentioned that the laws are beneficial for the farmers by providing new markets in addition to the existing APMC markets, attracting new investments, and helping in reducing market fees across all commodities and states. The laws no way intervene in government policy of food grain procurement at Minimum Support Price.

Dr A Amarender Reddy, Principal Scientist, ICAR-CRIDA, acted as the coordinator of the seminar. Prof Muthyam Reddy, Vice-President, TEA, and Dr Shiva Reddy, Secretary, TEA, and scientists from Crida and members of TEA participated in the meeting.