National policy framework on agriculture marketing lacks clarity on MSP: Punjab Agri minister

CHANDIGARH: Minutely studying every thread and fiber of National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing, Punjab is in no mood to leave any of its clauses unconsidered, and a team of officers and agriculture experts is even decoding the message in between the lines.

The Punjab Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister S. Gurmeet Singh Khudian, along with Punjab Mandi Board Chairman S. Harchand Singh Barsat and senior officers of the state government, today conducted a brainstorm session with Arthiyas and Rice Millers of the state seeking their valuable inputs and suggestions on the draft of this policy.

During the in-depth discussions that run for more than two hours, it was come to fore that the draft policy is totally silent on the Minimum Support Price (MSP), which is the most crucial for the state farmers and the clause regarding promoting the private markets will lead to overshadow the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) markets. They apprehend that once the APMC markets fall into disarray, it would lead to exploitation of the farmers and traditional traders.

The Agriculture Minister said that RDF and MDF is a crucial for maintaining Punjab’s extensive agricultural infrastructure, especially Mandi infrastructure and maintaining roads connecting these mandis to the villages.

The Agriculture Minister appealed to the Arthiyas led by Vijay Kalra and Ravinder Singh Cheema and Rice Millers led by Tarsem Saini to send their inputs and concerns to Punjab Mandi Board so that it could be incorporated in the reply to be sent to the union government.

S. Gurmeet Singh Khudian reiterated that Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Singh Mann led Punjab Government is committed to protect interests of the farmers of the state and will do everything possible to safeguard the farmers rights.

Additional Chief Secretary Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Mr. Anurag Verma, Chairman of Punjab State Farmers’ & Farm Workers’ Commission Dr. Sukhpal Singh, Principal Secretary Food & Civil Supplies Secretary Mr. Vikas Garg, Secretary Punjab Mandi Board Mr. Ramvir, Special Secretary Agriculture Mr. Harbir Singh, Director Horticulture Mrs. Shailender Kaur, Director Agriculture Mr. Jaswant Singh and Director Research, PAU Ludhiana Dr. Ajmer Singh Dhatt was also present during the discussions.