‘Amendments to Essential Commodities Act welcome’

MADURAI

Agrofood Chamber of Commerce and Industry welcomed the amendment to the Essential Commodities (Amendment) bill, 2020, as it led to the removal of cereals, pulses and staples from the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.

In a press statement, Chamber senior president S. Rethinavelu said the Essential Commodities Act and the Agricultural Produce Marketing (Cess and Regulation) Act were once imposed by the Centre to deal with the situation wherein one produce would be in abundance in a State and in scarcity in another.

He said now India had increased its production of rice, wheat and pulses by manifold.

“We thank the Centre for taking out commodities like cereal, pulses, oil seeds, edible oil, onions and potatoes from the list under the Essential Commodities Act, allowing farmers and traders to buy and sell outside their Agricultural Produce Marketing Companies. Farmers can save on cost and effort, particularly on transportation. Providing for contract farming by fixing prices before crops are sown will help protect farmers and traders from falling prices,” he said.

The government had said the minimum support price (MSP) would continue. The MSP should be the floor price or the the lowest price at which a product could be sold, for farmers selling outside the APMCs, he said.