Pune: The Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) in Parbhani was warned by the District Deputy Registrar (Cooperatives) of action against its directors, if it fails to follow procedures to ensure that the farmers are paid standardised rates and if the produce is sold without being standardised by APMC.
This decision is important in the wake of the recent strike by traders against a proposed law to prosecute them for not paying farmers the Minimum Support Price (MSP).
Mangesh Surawase, Deputy Registrar (Cooperatives) for Parbhani district, issued the warning to the APMC. There have been reports of traders buying FAQ (Fair and Average Quality) moong dal at non-FAQ rates of Rs 3,500 to 4000 per quintal, which are much below the declared MSP.
MSP has to be paid to the FAQ agri produce. The traders in the Parbhani APMC were reportedly taking non-FAQ declarations from farmers and purchasing the produce at lower rates against which activists of the Shetkari Sanghatna had protested on Friday.
After the protests, along with the protesters of the Shetkari Sanghatna and Rashtrawadi Kisan Sabha, the Deputy Registrar went to the shops of the APMC agents and traders, where it was found that the shops were buying FAQ quality produce by declaring it non-FAQ because it had small amount of stones, stubble and leaves, etc, in it. Some blank declarations too were found to have signatures of farmers. Seeing that this is a serious issue, the Deputy Registrar immediately held a meeting with farmers and traders.
During the meeting, the Deputy Registrar asked the APMC to keep a register of all the produce that has been brought to the market. The APMC was also told to appoint a third party grader to grade and standardise the produce. The traders were asked to buy produce only if it has been standardised and retail traders were limited to buying not more than 50 kg of any produce from the farmers. Surawase said that on failing to do so, there will be action against traders and the directors of the APMC.
