NOTE ON 

 

AGRICULTURAL MARKETING DEPARTMENT

 

 

 

DEPARTMENT,  AT A GLANCE

 

                       

vOrganisation Structure                                                        

(a) Government Service                              Total Number

     (S.E, Addl. DsM, J.DsM, D.DsM,                            

     ADsM, E.E, D.E.Es & other Staff            526     

(b) Agri.Market Committee Service

     (Selection, Special Grades, Grade-I, II,  4645 

     III & Asst. Secretaries & other Staff     

   (C) Central Market Fund Service

      (E.Es, D.DsM, D.Es, A.Ds.M           493      

& other Staff

                                                      Total:   5664

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


1.         INTRODUCTION:

 

            A separate Department of Marketing was established on      01-02-1962 in Andhra Pradesh bifurcating from the Agriculture Department to enforce the provisions of the Agricultural Produce Markets Act and other schemes of the Department .  The Commissioner Director of Marketing is the Head of the Department.  It is under the administrative control of the Agriculture and Cooperation Department.  Every district is headed by an Assistant Director of Marketing functioning as a District Officer with regional Joint Directors and Deputy Directors of Marketing in the State.  All the field Officers supervise and monitor the enforcement and implementation of the provisions of the A.P. (Agril. Produce and Livestock) Markets Act 1966 through the Agricultural Market Committees in the State and other programmes of the Department.

 

 

2.         HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE A.P.

MARKETS ACT :

 

            Legislation on agricultural marketing has come into the State on the  recommendations of the Royal Commission on Agriculture of 1928.  The Nizam Government enacted the Hyderabad Agricultural Produce and Livestock Markets Act in 1930 and was enforce in Telangana area of the State.  The Madras Commercial Crops Act of 1933 was inforce in other parts of the State.  These two market legislations were inforce till 1966.  A comprehensive Markets Act has come  into force from 18-11-1966 in the State of Andhra Pradesh called the A.P. (Agricultural Produce and Livestock) Markets Act, 1966.  Markets Rules were framed under this Act called the A.P. (Agricultural Produce and Livestock) Markets Rules, 1969 with Bye-laws for each Market Committee in the State.  The objective of the Markets Act is to protect the interests of farmers in the sale of agricultural produce and to ensure remunerative price to them and to protect them from the clutches of unscrupulous traders.

 

3.         SALIENT FEATURES OF THE A.P. MARKETS ACT :

 

·         Declaration of notified area to regulate the sale and purchase of agricultural produce and livestock and its products              ( Section 3 of the Act. ).

·         Constitution of Market Committees to each notified area.  Each Market Committee  consists of 14 members headed by a 7Chairman.  All the members are nominated by the Government.  The term of Market Committee is 3 years.  The objectives of the Committee is to enforce the provisions of the Markets Act, Markets Rules and the Bye-laws and manage the markets in regulating the trade of notified agricultural produce. ( Sections 4,5 and 6 of the Act ).

·         Market Committees are empowered to issue licences to persons trading in the notified agricultural commodities and the licensed traders shall make their transactions in the markets / market yards only ( Section 7 of the Act ).

·         Market Committees are empowered to levy market fees at the rate of 1% advolerum from the purchasers of agricultural commodities.  Markets Fee is the major source of income to the Market Committees besides licence fees.  The income is self-generating to market committees.  All the market fees and other income are called Market Committee fund.  It is spent for development and maintenance of markets in the State and other ancillary activities related to agricultural production and farming community ( Section 12,14 and 15 of the Act. )

 

·         Each Market Committee contributes 10% of its annual income to a Fund called Central Market Fund.  This fund is utilised for grant of loans and grant-in-aid and other purposes of the Market Committees (Section 16 of the Act.).

 

·         No trade allowance is permitted in the sale and purchase of agricultural produce except prescribed in the Rules and Bye-laws. ( Section 17 and 17-A of the Act. )

 

·         Markets Act provides powers for search and seizure of the books of accounts etc. of the licensed traders (Section 17-C of the Act).

 

·         There is a mandatory punishment of not less than six months of imprisonment which may extend upto one year and with a fine upto Rs. 5,000/- and both for violation of the provisions of the Markets Act. ( Section 23 of the Act. )

 

 

 

 

4.         AGRICULTURAL MARKET COMMITTEES ( AMCS ):

 

 

 

 

            Year                              Amount collected

                               (Rs. in crores)

1999-2000                                 163.34

2000-2001                                 207.00

2001-2002                                 168.30

2002-2003                                 202.98

2003-2004                                 196.76

 

 

 

 

 

Year                    Amount Spent

                           (Rs. in Crores)

 

1999-2000                                                                        57.47

2000-2001                                                                        51.37

2001-2002                                                                        40.91

2002-2003                                                                        34.47

                                                             2003-2004                                  133.86

                                                             2004-2005                                    81.00

                        (Sanctioned)

 

 

5.`        OTHER SCHEMES IMPLEMENTED BY AGRICULTURE MARKET COMMITTEES:

 

a)      Rythu Bandhu Pathakam ( Pledge Loan Scheme )

 

 

To prevent farmers from resorting to distress sales, Rythu Bandhu Pathakam has been introduced in the Agril. Market Committee to provide finance to the farmers against pledge of their produce. 

 

Features:

 

·         There is no budgetory restriction for giving advances under Rythu Bandhu Pathakam.

 

·         The Advances are limited to 75 % of the value of goods pledged subject to a ceiling of Rs.50.000/- per farmer.

 

·         Every farmer shall be eligible for the Pledge Loan subject to a maximum of Rs.50,000/- or 75% of the value of the produce pledged whichever is less.

 

·         Interest will not be charged on the loans sanctioned under Rythu Bandhu Pathakam for the first 90 days.

 

·         From 91st day onwards, simple interest is to be charged on the loans.

 

·         Pledge loan is sanctioned to farmers who store their produce in the Godowns of State/Central Warehousing Corporation where Agrl., Market Committees do not have their own godowns or due to non availability of space in their godowns. The Warehousing Corporations concerned shall have to give an undertaking to the Agricultural Market Committee that they will not allow the farmers to remove or sell the stocks without the specific and prior approval of the concerned Agricultural Market Committee.  Details of loans given are:-

 

Year                 Amount of loan given  No. of Farmers

                                                (Rs. in Crores)                          Benefited

                        1999-2000                     14.91                            5521

                        2000-2001                     17.01                            5640

                        2001-2002                     35.19                            9401

                        2002-2003                     73.66                            20414

                        2003-2004                     54.00                            22534

 

 

 

b)         Sale of Inputs:

 

            To make available the  quality seeds, pesticides and fertilizers to the farmers in the Market Yards, the Agricultural Market Committees have been permitted to take up the sale of quality seeds, pesticides and fertilisers on no-loss-no profit basis.  The details of performance of the scheme are :-

 

 

                        Year                             Sales           No. of  farmers

                                                (Rs. in Crores)           Benefited

                        1999-2000                     33.06                289951

                        2000-2001                     17.05                142482

                        2001-2002                     14.02                181158

                        2002-2003                     16.72                143822

2003-2004                     22.10                344288

 

 

 

c)         Cold Storage Units :

 

            A.P. Capital Intensive Subsidy Scheme for Cold Storages has come into force from 1-7-1999 and was in operation for a period of 2 years i.e., upto March 2001.  Subsidy was given to the private entrepreneurs to the extent of 25% of the fixed capital investment subject to a maximum of Rs.50 lakhs per unit of the cold storage set up by them.  Under the scheme applications were received from 70 Cold Storage Units.  The State Level Committee after thorough scrutiny has sanctioned subsidy to 39 units.  By construction of 39 cold storage units under the scheme, an additional cold storage capacity of 1,79,390 MTs. was created in the private sector of the State.  A total amount of Rs.12.80 crores was spent as subsidy.  The details of the units are :-

Sl.No

Name of the District

No. of Cold Storages    

Capacity Created

Amount released Rs.

 

 

 

in M.Ts

In Lakhs

1

Vizianagaram

1

      10,000

50.00

2

Visakhapatnam

4

      23,000

137.93

3

East Godavari

3

      12,100

62.07

4

West Godavari

2

        7,450

49.70

5

Krishna

4

      20,400

178.32

6

Guntur

10

      40,200

300.47

7

Prakasam

2

        7,000

64.44

8

Nellore

1

        3,200

32.00

9

Ranga Reddy

4

      21,500

157.57

10

Nizamabad

1

        6,400

32.21

11

Warangal

4

      14,400

103.26

12

Khammam

3

      13,740

111.90

 

Total:

39

   179,390

1279.87

 

d)         State Grading Laboratories on Agmark :-

 

            The Marketing Department has established grading laboratories in the State  for undertaking grading in Agmark under the supervision of a Chief Chemist at Guntur. The following places are having the laboratories:
  1. Guntur
  2. Vijayawada
  3. Samarlakot
  4. Proddutur
  5. Hyderabad

 

e)         Soil Testing Laboratories :

 

Government have sanctioned 55 Soil Testing Laboratories in the Market Yards in the State in the Revenue Division Headquarters at a cost of Rs.6.21 Crores.  Out of 55 Soil Testing Laboratories, 52 are functioning in various Agrl. Market Committees with the staff of Agriculture Department and 3 in the premises of Agriculture Department.  The respective Agricultural Market Committees are meeting the cost of the chemicals etc., to test the soil samples.

 

f)          DAATT Centers(22)

           

            One DAATT (District Agricultural Advisory and Transfer of Technology) Center is established at District Head Quarters market committee (except Hyderabad District) in collaboration with ANGRAU for the benefit of farmers between 1995-96 and 2001-2002 .  Necessary accomodation is provided by Agricultural Market Committees to these centers for the scientists.

 

g)         Market Interventions :

 

Though the Agricultural Market Committees cannot do market interventions directly when there is a glut in the markets, the Department is providing funds to agencies like A.P. MARKFED, A.P. OILFED, A.P. TOBBACCO GROWERS UNION, District Collectors and so on for undertaking market interventions to commodities like Maize, Chillies, Tobbacco, Tomatoes, Onions etc., to protect the interest of farmers.

 

h)         Assistance to other Departments for the benefit of the farmers:

 

Government have provided AMC funds to several sister-

departments to assist the farmers.  The details are :-

 

·         PR & R&B Departments were provided with Rs.200.00 crores for laying and strengthening of rural link roads.

·         About Rs.90.00 crores were given to water conservation programmes under Neeru–Meeru.

·         APCOB was provided with Rs.207.00 crores towards  interest waiver of loans of the farmers.

·         Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Horticulture etc., Departments were provided with about Rs. 200.00 crores for creation of infrastructure and subsidy for farmers.

 

6.         TRAINING PROGRAMMES :

 

Training classes are organised to farmers at all Market Committees to educate the farmers on the crops to be raised, application of manures and pesticides, storage problems of food grains and other allied subjects with the cooperation of other concerned Departments such as Agriculture Department/APAU/ Horticulture Department etc. So for, 6.50 lakhs of farmers have been trained. The training is basically on agricultural operations in Kharif and Rabi seasons. The number of programmes are 4 per year. These programmes are being conducted every quarter to educate the farmers on crop pattern with the help of Agriculture Department to impart training for 300 farmers at a time in the jurisdiction of every Market Committee.

 

Training to farmers at AMCs

Year                             No. of farmers

                                                            trained

 

                        1999-2000                     2,48,363

2000-2001                                           2,65,114

2001-2002                                            2,65,000

2002-2003                                             1,23,950

2003-2004                         8,9022

                                                                       

            Each market committee is permitted to spend Rs.95,000/- per year for conducting four training programmes i.e., pre-khariff, 1st interaction, pre-rabi and 2nd interaction. The total expenditure for all these programmes is Rs.2.77 crores is met by the market committees.  This programme is organized in collaboration with Agriculture Department

 

As a part of Human Resources Development, a Training Institute of the Department is functioning at Hyderabad to meet the training needs of the staff and other functionaries throughout the year.

 

7.         COMPUTERISATION OF AMCS :

 

            The details of computerization programmes of the Department are :

 

Ø       82 Market  Committees have been computerised in 1st phase by ECIL.

Ø       54 more Market Yards were computerised by DMI, Govt. of India in collaboration with NIC.

Ø       The details of arrivals and prices of various commodities are being reported  to Head Office through this network.

Ø       The information received is being daily updated in the departmental website http://market.ap.nic.in The site also contains information pertaining to Department.

Ø       50 major market yard are provided with Automatic Audio Video Display Announcement System which displays the arrivals and prices of commodities of different market yards.

Ø       Other information benefiting the farmers such as education, health, soil conditions, etc., is also displayed through the above Announcement system.

Ø       It is proposed to computerise all the 299 Agricultural Market Committees in the State.

 

 

 

 

8.         RYTHU BAZARS:

           

            In order to serve the interests of both producers and consumers, the Government have set-up Rythu Bazars through the Department.  The details are :-

           

Objectives

Ø       To avoid middle men in the sale of Vegetables.

Ø       107 Rythu Bazars with structures established spending Rs.11.13 crores.

Ø       Each Rythu Bazars has an Estate Officer, Horticulturist with minimum staff.

Ø       On an average 14000 Qtls. of vegetables costing Rs.11.00 Crores  are sold every day / month.

Ø       Mobile Rythu Bazars are also being introduced.

Ø       Supply to Govt. Hostels in R.R. District and Hyderabad.

Ø       Expenditure on Rythu Bazars : Rs. 25.00 Crores

 

Rythu Bazar Charter :

1.         Providing common marketing place for farmer and

consumer.

2.         Participatory marketing system by farmer and Consumer

3.         Ensuring fair price both for farmer and consumer.

4.         Elimination of middle men and exploitation.

5.         Provision of Market Information System.

6.         Providing horticulture extension works

 

 

 

9.         BUDGET OF THE DEPARTMENT :

 

            There are three Budget Estimates in the Department namely Government, Central Market Fund (CMF) and Agricultural Market Committees.  The Government budget consists of expenditure on Govt. staff met from the Consolidated Fund of the State.  The budget of the CMF service staff and expenditure is met from CMF approved by Government.  The budget of AMC staff and other expenditure on markets is met from the funds of AMCs approved by the Commissioner and Director of Marketing.  The details are :-

 

Govt. Budget

                                                                                    (Rs. In Lakhs)


CMF Budget

                                                                                    (Rs. In Lakhs)


AMCs’  Budget                        

                                                                                    (Rs. In Lakhs)


ACTION PLAN:

 

The Action Plan of Marketing Department for future includes  strengthening of infrastructure in the market yards; modernization/ computerization of market yards; provision of digital weighing machines in all major market yards; coverage of more villages under link roads scheme; extension of Rythu Bandhu Scheme to cover small and marginal farmers; the spread of Rythu Bazaar facilities; and creation of awareness of FAQ standards among farmers; and formulation of a micro-level plan on area, production, marketable surplus and value.

 

FUTURE PLANS :

 

1.                   Development and strengthening of market yards and to bring more market yards under regulation.

2.                   Daily collection and display of price data through web based technology.

3.          Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) to provide data on Market Yard information to be developed with the help of  N.I.C.

4.         Touch screen KIOSKs to be installed at major market yards for dissemination of  information for the benefit of farmers.

5.         To develop infrastructure for prawns and fish Marketing

6.                   To help export of fruits.

7.                   To organize contract farming for developing medicinal plants, hybrid vegetable etc.