Need holistic approach, not rush job, on APMCs: Farmers

The State Government’s two amendments to farm-related laws claiming agri reforms may have led to statewide farmers’ protests, but a closer look reveals that the chemistry between farmers and traders and the functioning of the mandis need a more holistic approach by decision-makers to ensure prosperity and progress of the agricultural community.

The State Government brought in the Land Reforms (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020, and Karnataka Agricultural Produce Marketing (Regulation and Development) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020, claiming these to be reformist. But there are varying reactions from farmers on the functioning of mandis and Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) markets in different regions. This is why, though farmers at one APMC mandi are happy, their counterparts in another are not, despite statewide opposition to the amendments.

When Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa addressed farmers at Bengaluru’s Yeshwanthpur APMC Yard at the Kisan Samman Diwas event on Friday, several lamented that middlemen are ruining their prospects. One of them, Rangegowda, a farmer from Channarayapatna taluk of Hassan district, says that unless middlemen are removed from the system the farmers cannot prosper. “The middlemen decide the prices of our produce and they earn more than us. No farmer can sell his produce at APMCs without a middleman,” he adds.

But at the other end of the spectrum is Udupi, where farmers find it more remunerative to seek the help of middlemen to sell their produce for a better price in the open market than to sell it at minimum support price (MSP) fixed by the government at the APMC. Many who have worked with the system say the concept of APMCs works in places like Shivamogga, Hubballi, and Tumakuru, but in Udupi, farmers find it more profitable to sell the produce in the free market.

This is why the annual turnover of APMC in Udupi is Rs 2.5 crore and in Shivamogga, it is Rs 30 crore. Most growers of areca nut, banana, coconut and pepper work with middlemen who are local residents and sell it to them without approaching the APMC.K Shyamprasad Bhat, who earlier served as the president of Udupi APMC, says even before the new farm laws were promulgated, farmers of this region invented a profitable way to sell their produce than to wait for the MSP.

A farmer from Kodla village of Sedam taluk in Kalaburagi, Somanath Reddy, says they are now convinced that they can sell their produce at APMCs or even outside, wherever they are assured of profits, and that APMCs would function as usual. Farmers here have withdrawn their agitation.
But apprehensions continue to haunt farmers. Srinivas of Saradagi village in Kalaburagi said the government could have strengthened APMCs instead of allowing farmers to sell their produce outside APMCs, and that it is possible for the government to weaken the APMC system, compelling them to sell their produce to corporates.

In Mysuru, farmers aggressively debate that the amendment to the APMC act has made its APMC — the fourth highest in sales and revenue generation — stare at a bleak future as the amendments would not only impact the livelihoods of traders and middlemen dependent on APMC, but also farmers, while private players could exploit them with the profit-driven agenda. Shridhar Shetty, former president of Bantwal APMC in Dakshina Kannada, says APMCs comprised representatives of farmers and traders. Its functioning was determined by the erstwhile Karnataka Agricultural Produce Marketing (Regulation and Development) Act, 1966, which acted as a safety net for farmers, he adds.

“Farmers could register complaints with APMCs if any buyer underpaid or failed to pay the farmer. But under the new law, the market intervention scheme (MIS) is useless. It cannot be given to corporates as farmers fear it will be misused. APMCs are under government control and help in stabilising prices. When prices fall, funds under the MIS scheme are utilised so that farmers get a good price. But the new law helps corporates, who eye only profits and not worry about farmers. Let them bring changes in the existing APMC system. The farmers are adjusted to it. Let them open yards at panchayat level to reduce transport costs for farmers,” Shetty adds.

Roopesh Rai of Dakshina Kannada unit of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha says the new agri laws give corporates a free hand. “They will buy produce from farmers for a lesser price, store it, and sell it later at a higher price. They say farmers will be freed from middlemen’s clutches. But the middlemen are children of farmers,” he says. “We need positive changes in APMCs, which also generate employment. The government should fix prices for the produce. Tax collected in APMCs should be used to improve rural roads and compensate deceased farmers’ kin. Also, the government needs to improve the existing system instead of destroying it just to favour the corporates.”

With inputs from:
MG Chetan/Bengaluru; Ramkrishna Badseshi/Kalaburagi; Karthik KK/Mysuru; Divya Cutinho/Dakshina Kannada; Prakash Samaga/Udupi; G Subhash Chandra/ Chitradurga; BR Udaya Kumar/Hassan; Sunil Patil/Belagavi