Jharkhand with nearly 76 per cent population residing in rural areas and driving their livelihood directly or indirectly from farming and majority of them are small and marginal farmers is moving towards contract farming system. After amending the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee Act the Government is all set to play a facilitator between international and national agriculture marketing companies and farmers.
leaping on this front the Agriculture Department is making itself ready to publish tenders inviting companies to invest in this field. As per the guidelines fixed, the Government would just keep itself confined to the role of a watchdog after the agreement is signed.
“The Government has given its permission to ahead with contract farming practice in Jharkhand. The Agricultural Produce and Marketing Committee Rules (APMC) have been amended through which the contract farming is allowed. This would enable farmers to get in touch with entrepreneurs. They would come together while the Government would play a facilitator,” Agriculture Secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni told The Pioneer when enquired about this.
The Secretary further underlined the role of the Government in the practice which would allow a company to direct the landholders to do farming as per its needs and requirements and business interest. The company would indeed supplement the farmers with inputs required for farming, modern techniques etc in lieu of a fixed price and quality of the produce for a period.
“Government would be there to ensure that no one is cheated and all provisions of the agreement signed between the company and the farmer or group of farmers are adhered to. Also, the Government is there to institutionalise the things which were missing before,” added Kulkarni.
The task in Jharkhand is considered difficult, precarious and unattractive for both the parties as farm size is too small in the State to suit contract farming. Out of total cultivable area of 37.78 lakh hectares the net sown area stands anywhere near to 25.57 lakh hectares with cropping intensity at 116 per cent. Also main crops in the State have been paddy, maize, oilseeds which do not attract nuances of contract farming.
At the same time, climatic condition and soil texture of the State is considered fix for mass level vegetable cultivation which can generate sufficient interest among agriculture business giants. “Major problem has been smaller farm size which also often distracts bank credit. Moreover with the infusion of a big contractor and after getting the system intitutionalise, credit issue could also be solved,” said the Secretary.
Rough roadmap outlined for the task suggests that it would be tripartite agreement between the Government, company and farmer or group of farmers. “Considering the farm size in the State, the interested company may need large number of farmers to come together and sign contract with it. The contract would be for a fixed period of time and the company would provide guarantee for taking back the produce on an already reached price and the Government would ensure this as third party,” said SAMETI Director Jatashankar Chaudhary highlighting need of regulations to ensure quick remedy against contract violations which is a precondition for successful contract farming operations.
With this Jharkhand has entered into a league of several States having this system in place that means a near complete privatisation of the agricultural market. This is aimed primarily to brush aside current middleman practice which eats up major share of profit in agri-business.