Govt. Proposed To Allocate Rs 5000 Cr. For Improving Warehouse Capacity

New Delhi

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has proposed several measures to help improve marketing and storage of produce to ease supply-side constraints on food articles.

He has proposed integrating markets across the country, with the Center to work closely with states to reorient the latter respective Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Acts to provide for establishment of private market yards and markets. States will also be encouraged to develop farmers markets in town areas.

In another important move, the minister proposed allocation of Rs 5,000 crore in 2014-15 for increasing ofwarehousing capacity, for increasing the shelf life of perishable produce. Another Rs 5,000 crore has been added to the corpus of the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund.

The proposal to have a national market is very good but now the focus should be to develop or strengthen a price discovery mechanism for farmers, Vijay Sardana, convener of the Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture Foundation, said.