The Government of India under the leadership of Narendra Modi has passed The Indian farm reforms in 2020 refer to three agricultural bills passed by the Indian Parliament in September 2020. The bills collectively seek to provide farmers with multiple marketing channels and provide a legal framework for farmers to enter into pre-arranged contracts among other things.
On 20 September 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to the bills as a watershed moment in the history of Indian agriculture that will empower crores of farmers. A dynamic and futuristic bill will allow poor farmers to sell their yield directly to the big cooperates and anyone across the country without a middle man. Earlier The middlemen make the deal with the farmers and buy his hard work at very less then makes multiple times of profit while selling back to the cooperates.
For example, If a potato is sold for 100 Rs by a supermarket, the a high probability the farmer just received 10 percent or even less at times. Just to make it clear, if Super Market keeps his margin of 10-12 rupees per Kg of Potato, he paid 80 Rupees to a middle man. What if this supermarket with many branches across the country can buy Potatoes directly from a farmer? This will reduce the price for the end-user while bringing more than 100 or even a 600 percent increase in profit for the farmers than what it was before. There are many direct benefits for the Indian Farmers and this could a new revolution to make farmers a profitable business.
India’s GDP will see a huge jump once the Indian Agri sector becomes profitable. The new Bills will encourage organizations, individuals, and farmers to stock select Agri commodities to increase profits. The government will likely rely on private players for storage. Privatization of Agri warehousing is expected to solve the storage problem while increased buying from non-government players — enabled by the Farm Bills — will eventually bring down the surplus production of food grains.
Farmers in north India have been gripped by an almost irrational fear about the future local mandis. To set the record straight, those aren’t going anywhere. The Farm Bills haven’t replaced mandis but merely added other channels for farmers to sell. Efficient supply chains are almost imperative given India’s post-harvest loss stands at 40 percent annually. Perishables are the worst hit, with losses amounting to a staggering Rs 13,300 crore.
The Farm Bills will allow deep-pocketed private players to fix this pain point with state-of-the-art infrastructure and advanced farm-to-table processes.
The free market benefits not only farmers but also aggrotech start-ups. They will no longer be restricted by state-level bureaucracies and the License Raj of local APMCs, which would often impede their growth and scalability.
There are so many benefits for Indian Farmers in this bill. Thanks to the bill the Famers can directly negotiate the price with the buyer. AND, most importantly He can sell his produce anywhere in the country. Increasing his choice and opportunity to gain more.
I wonder why farmers have to protest agitating against this bill which is a game-changer for many poor farmers and the Argri based industries.
Sources: Government of India, yourstory, Wikipedia, Social Media