The first meeting of the new Modi Cabinet on Thursday approved Rs 1 lakh crore fund for disbursement among farmers through Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMCs) to provide a medium to long term debt financing facility for investment in viable projects for post-harvest management infrastructure and community farming assets through interest subvention and financial support.
The scheme, Rs 1 lakh crore fund, will be provided by banks and financial institutions as loans to primary agricultural credit societies (PACS), marketing cooperative societies, farmer producers organisations (FPOs), self-help groups (SHGs), farmers, joint liability groups (JLG), multi-purpose cooperative societies, agri-entrepreneurs, start-ups, aggregation infrastructure providers and Central/State agency or local body sponsored public-private partnership projects.
Loans will be disbursed in four years starting with the sanction of Rs 10,000 crore in the current year and Rs 30,000 crore each in the next three years.
The fund was announced in the Union Budget, but it was approved on Thursday with some modifications.
Amid the ongoing farmers’ protest, the Government also asserted that the procurement system on the minimum support price (MSP) and APMC market yards will stay and rather be strengthened.
The decision has come amid decision of farmer unions to intensify their strike during the Monsoon Session of Parliament. This is the first major decisions after mega reshuffling of the Modi Cabinet to woo the protesting farmers. The Government has once again appealed to farmer unions to end their protest and resume talks on provisions of three new farm laws, but ruled out repeal of these Acts.
Addressing a Press conference following the first Union Cabinet meet after the rejig, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar assured that APMCs will continue to be strengthened.
“APMCs will not be done away with. It was earlier said APMCs would be strengthened. Efforts will be made to provide more resources to the APMCs. After the implementation of farm laws, APMCs will receive crores of rupees from the Centre’s Infrastructure fund, which will strengthen them and will be useful for more farmers,” Tomar said.
The decision to include APMCs under the agriculture infrastructure fund was first announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on May 15, 2020. This was made official after the Union Cabinet meeting on Thursday.
“I want to appeal farmers’ unions to think seriously on these issues and end the protest. They should adopt the path of dialogue. And the government is ready for discussion,” the Minister said while replying to a query. “There was apprehension that MSP will be scrapped. However since farmers’ protest began, the procurement of foodgrains as well as pulses and oilseeds has risen,” Tomar said.
Farmer groups have alleged that these laws will end the mandi and MSP procurement systems and leave the farmers at the mercy of big corporates, even as the Government has rejected these apprehensions as misplaced.
“For APMCs, interest subvention for a loan up to Rs. two crore will be provided for each project of different infrastructure types such as cold storage, sorting, grading and assaying units, silos, etc., within the same market yard,” the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement.
