Agriculture which is the mainstay of our country always has the largest influence on the economy of our country,but over the years it has become difficult in helping the farmers increase their income . The executive order passed by the cabinet on 3rd June 2020 can prove as an “historic” step towards the development of the economic status of the farmers.
In this order minor changes were made to the Essential Commodity Act which will result in the removal of regulations on items such as potato and onions, enabling the farmers get a higher price and selling it at the price year marked by the government. The barrier free trade ordinance will allow farmers to directly build a connection with processors, aggregators, wholesalers, retailers and exporters , within and outside the state. Agriculture items like vegetables, oil, onion, potato have been removed from the Act which provides the farmer the opportunity to sell it in the price they want or offered. This will prove helpful to farmers to generate a greater profit. But the Essential Commodities Act can again come into force during emergency situations such as war, famine, etc. The need to bring about these significant changes to the Act was to engage more investments from the private sector and foreign direct investments (FDI).
The Essential Commodity Act prevented their active involvement, which was leading to the complete agriculture processing and marketing structure lacking in proper infrastructure and storage facilitates. This worsened the farmer’s condition and lead to huge loses during bumper crop periods also. So , lessening of the regulatory rules may bring about greater investment and development in food processing, cold storages and supply chains. The ‘Farming Produce Trade And Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance 2020’ will prove to be a boon for the farmers and remove their dependency on the government.
One Nation One market initiative will remove the state barriers and provide a single platform for the farmers of our country to carry about profitable and efficient marketing. Some loopholes and problems will obviously arise but if strict rules are made and proper implementation of these are carried out then farmers by themselves will be able to carry out a fair trade without the fear of being exploited by the multinational companies. Therefore, this ordinance can prove to be a major step towards doubling farmers income and making the backbone of our country stronger.
Pragnya Paramita , Feature Head (Eng) , SHYAMALA SUBARNA
