Why Farmers are Against the National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing

Published : Jan 02, 2025 17:56 IST - 15 MINS READ The National Democratic Alliance 3 government is beset by unresolved agrarian issues. The latest run-in involves a National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing circulated by the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare. The vision of the draft policy framework is to build a “vibrant marketing ecosystem where farmers of all categories find a market of their choice to realise the best price for their produce, to be accomplished through improved efficiency, enhanced competition with multiple marketing channels and no monopsonic market structure, transparency, infrastructure, and adoption of innovative digital technology and also agri value chain based marketing.” Its stated mission is to bring in efficiency and competition. It claims to provide a standardised policy and proposes an “empowered agricultural marketing reform committee” of state agricultural marketing ministers on the lines of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on GST. The draft policy states that proposed committee would strive to “bring a law for agricultural marketing, uniform market fee, and other issues for the benefit of farmers and barrier-free agri trade with an approach of ease of doing trade”.