Bengaluru: The farm bills passed by the Indian Parliament last month have come as a boon for the farmers. 

In a corroboration of this fact, as reported by a popular website, Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) are easily bypassing APMCs to find suitable buyers. 

 

As an example, the website states that in one case, Jai Sardar FPC had bought maize from farmers in Buldhana district of Maharashtra.

The FPC then sold the maize to a private company in Bihar's Muzaffarpur. The FPC then rewarded the farmers by sharing a part of its profit with them.

"We decided to share some of the profit with the farmers who had sold their maize to us and distributed a bonus of Rs 10 per quintal to the farmers. The amount is small but is a gesture of appreciation", the FPC's founder Ashish Nafade was quoted as saying by the website. 

It is interesting to note that Israel ambassador to India Ron Malka had jumped into the issue, adding that the farm laws will only empower more farmers.

"Once the Indian market is open and every farmer can sell to anyone they want...they can adopt these platforms (developed by Israel) by making necessary adjustments for local market conditions.”

He is of the view that the farmers still need to acquire more knowledge about the laws. And once they do it, it would be easy for them to bargain.

"It will take some time to do some adjustments as the current system has been in place for a long time, but once the dust settles and we get a new equilibrium, it will be for the benefit of farmers, customers and of course the overall Indian economy," he had said.

Here are a few characteristics of the bills: 

1.     Farmers can sell/purchase farm produce outside registered 'mandis' under the states' APMCs.

2.     To promote barrier-free inter-state and intra-state trade of farmers' produce

3.     To reduce marketing/transportation costs and help farmers in getting better prices

4.     To provide a facilitative framework for electronic trading