K'taka govt. to bring amendments to APMC Act: Kumaraswamy

Bangalore, June 20 (UNI) Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumarswamy today said the state government would bring in amendments to the state Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act and it would introduce a Bill in this regard in the coming session to remove the exploitation of farmers by middlemen.

Talking to newspersons after a meeting with the officials on farmers issues here, he said the amendments would enable the farmers to sell their produce directly without interference by the ''dalals''.

He said the government today set up a 12-member Working Committee to submit a report to the government on planning district wise weather based cropping pattern, implementation of the new Agriculture policy, fixing of scientific price for the produce, setting up godwons, cold storages, food processing units and creating marketing facilities to help the distressed farmers within 15 days.

The committee would be headed by Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Principal Secretary M R Srinivas, he said.

Stating that the state government has already decided to set up an agriculture and horticulture federation on the lines of Milk Federation he said the government would also bring in a new action plan for the welfare of the farmers in the wake of increasing suicides.

The Chief Minister said the government had decided to appoint an agriculture expert in each Panchayat in the state to create awareness among farmers about weather based cropping pattern.

UNI