Upset over low rates for groundnut, farmers protest

Nagpur: Angry over low rates quoted for groundnut, farmers stopped the auction at the agriculture produce marketing committee (APMC) yard in Katol, over 80 kms from the city, on Monday. Farmers thronged to the APMC office alleging that traders were trying to buy their stock at rock bottom prices. The auction resumed only after police intervened.
“There is an oversupply of groundnut in the region, which has brought down the rates.A price of Rs3,000 a quintal was quoted, which irked the farmers who staged protests. The rates closed at Rs3400 on Monday after touching a high of Rs5,400 a quintal,” said a member of APMC Katol, on the condition of anonymity. Similar scenes were witnessed at the Kalamna APMC yard, last week. There was also a tiff between orange growers and traders. Business has come back to normal at Kalamna, but sources say more such tiffs cannot be ruled out.
Trader and brokers blame such incidents to the recent amendment in state’s APMC Act. The old system of the commission agent or broker charging a cut from the farmers for their produce has been done away with. There are three players in farm produce business — farmer, commission agent or broker and trader. Farmers bring the produce to the APMC yards and the agents arrange the auctions in which the traders bid.
Earlier, the agents used to charge a 6% commission from farmers after the produce was sold through the auction. Majority of the times it was the agent who made the payment first on behalf of the trader who bid in the auction. Now the agent cannot charge a commission from farmers. It is the trader who pays the commission.
The objective was to ensure that farmers get full price for their produce, however, the move has backfired say APMC sources.
“Now since the trader has to bear the commission, he quotes a lower rate considering the additional outgo. So ultimately the farmers suffer,” said Raju Deshmukh a broker at APMC Kalamna. Things will get worse when the rates of a commodity will go down and more such incidents are expected, added a source
Rajesh Chabrani a director at APMC Kalamana said if the government wants to do away with commission it should be for the entire country. Now the trader who will have to pay the commission at Nagpur, will also be charged a similar cut when he sells the produce in markets outside Maharashtra. This shrinks the margin for a trader. A source at a APMC in Yavatmal district said despite the law the practice of charging commission from farmers has not completely stopped. Many agents, who also double as lenders, charge the commission as an adjustment towards dues owed by the farmer.