Maharashtra to amend APMC Act

Baramati, Mar 10 (UNI) Maharashtra government will amend the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act during the Budget session of the state legislature, Minister of State for Agriculture Rana Jagjitsinh Patil today said.

Once the Act is amended, Maharashtra will be able to avail funds from the National Horticulture Mission spearheaded by Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to enable the state government undertake crop diversification into horticulture.

Amendment to the APMC Act is, however, a pre-condition for receiving financial assistance from the Horticulture department, Mr Patil said talking to reporters on the sidelines of the sixth 'Baramati Initiative on ICT and Development--The Potential of e-Agriculture'.

He said unseasonal rains in the past couple of days in the state has caused losses to farmers running into crore of rupees.

In Marathwada, the losses have been immense, he said.

The farmers have no risk cover or other support sytems, he added.

Mr Patil said farmers would be compensated on the basis of existing norms for the losses incurred by them on account of these unseasonal rains.

The minister said the farming community in Maharashtra were by and large not happy with the concept of contract farming. They need to be properly informed about its benefits, Mr Patil added.

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