The new farm reforms are expected to change the way agricultural produce is being marketed and is seen as a progressive step freeing farmers from the middlemen and restrictive trade practices. While there are protests in agriculture-dependent states like Punjab and Haryana, the reforms could also have a mixed impact in Goa.
The bone of contention is farmers being allowed to sell their produce outside government-regulated markets, or Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs). This means Goan retailers could source their requirements directly from farmers in other States. The neighbouring States and markets like Belgaum and Kolhapur have been major suppliers of vegetables and other essentials through its 'mandis'. Eradicating the APMCs would give Goan vendors direct access to farmers across the borders, a move which was tried recently.
Many Goans sourced farm produce directly from farmers in Belgaum when the 'mandis' were hit badly by the Covid-19 outbreak forcing a brief closure.
The new reform could usher in a win-win situation for the buyers and the exporters because both are free from regulated selling-points. The farmer tends to save on transportation costs too. Also, the end consumer could get a reprieve over escalating costs of vegetables. However, where does the local Goan farmer stand? In an unregulated price mechanism, the small-time local producer could find it difficult to sustain himself because he is not an exporter. At a Covid time when farming was emerging as a go-to occupation, these reforms could have a crippling effect on those seeking to venture in the field. The volatile and uncontrolled market will only come to haunt the local producer leaving him exposed to the vagaries of pricing.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has envisaged doubling of farmers' income by 2022, based on bringing sweeping changes. Breaking down cartelised operations is one of them. However, this move will have far-reaching consequences politically. In India, around 48 per cent of India's population has been dependent on agriculture for livelihood. Moreover, it comes at a very crucial time of a pandemic where the focus is on agricultural produce.
The Congress may have been stoutly opposing the bills in both Houses of Parliament, but if we may recall, it was the grand old party which had promised reforms on similar lines in its 2019 election manifesto. Similar to what the Modi government has done, the Congress had promised to bring about changes in the APMC Act and remove trade barriers for agriculture produce across states and countries. Congress had pledged to farmers from villages and small towns that they will be able to sell without any restrictions.
The government's move to pass the farm bills is met with stiff opposition for its key allies like Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), mainly for political reasons. Lest we forget, it was in 2001 that SAD had set up an agricultural reforms committee in Amritsar seeking to remove restrictions on the trade of agricultural produce. Amid the political turmoil, the farm bills will establish a new order, and only time will tell if the farmer is the real winner.
