States to amend APMC Act: Centre

KOLKATA: States that have not amended the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees (APMC) Act but want to avail of funds from the Rs 15,000-crore national horticulture mission to develop food processing industry in their respective states have been advised by the Centre to amend the Act.

This is required by them as a condition for getting funds from the national horticulture mission (NHM), said Subodh Kant Sahay, Union minister of state for food processing industry.

Speaking at a seminar on ���Emerging Indo-US business opportunities in agri and food processing��� organised by Indo-American Chamber of Com-merce (IACC) on Friday, Mr Sahay said ���the Centre is not in favour of setting a deadline for laggard states in amending their APMC Acts along the line of the model Central Act, 2002. But it wants them to expedite the amendment process, he said.

This will help them get funds from NHM. Besides, it will allow contract farming and direct purchase of farm goods from farmers by big private companies for processing and direct retailing, which will usher in large scale investment from private players as well, Mr Sahay said.

So far, 18 states including Maharashtra, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Ra-jasthan have amended their respective APMC Acts, along the lines of the Central model APMC Act, 2002. West Bengal, which has not yet amended the Act, has allowed contract farming by few corporate houses, including Frito-Lay and Dabur.

Interacting with the West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who was also present on the occasion, Mr Sahay urged the CM to use the latter���s good office in bringing down VAT on food items, which is deter-mined by the empowered committee on VAT, headed by the state finance minister Asim Dasgupta. In this respect, he suggested the CM to pursuade the committee to peg VAT at 4% for processed food and zero duty for perishable items.

Welcoming investment from American companies in the state���s food processing industry, the chief minister reiterated that the state desperately needs investment from all quarters in its journey towards industrialisation. The state wants huge investment in the sector for value-addition in agricul-ture and employment generation in the state, Mr Bhatterjee said.

���Realising the need for large investments in agri-retail, the state govern-ment welcomes investment from Reliance Industries, Future Group and ITC in the segment. To know what its plan about India, we also talked to representatives of Wal-Mart,��� he pointed out.

Geoffery Pyatt, charge d��� affairs, US embassy, who was present in the seminar, urged the West Bengal government to encourage US collabora-tion in fostering technological development in agriculture in the state. ���Such collaboration can be fostered under the Agricultural Knowledge Initiative, which was recently signed between the two countries��� Mr Pyatt said.