Retail in agri-marketing still a no-no,Act untouched

State agriculture marketing minister Mortaza Hossain said under no circumstances the existing agriculture marketing policy will be changed. “What kind of reform does the Centre want?” he asked. “There is no clear guideline on that and the draft policy does not have the minimum clarity required.”

Earlier,there was pressure to implement contract farming,which the state government opposed. “We will never allow foreign retailers or national retail majors to enter the agriculture produce market as it will eventually kill the farmers,” said Hossain.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has tried several times to attract investments in the state from retail majors. But his efforts did not bear fruit as the Forward Bloc controlled agriculture marketing board did not allow the entry of retail majors. Several retail majors including Reliance Fresh,Walmart and Future group were opposed entry. Even Metro Cash and Carry,which runs its business in B2B model,received resistance from the Bloc. The company was given the APMC license after the chief minister intervened.

“The chief minister wanted to streamline the supply chain by removing the middlemen,” said a senior official of the state agriculture department. “But the Bloc-backed middlemen resisted his efforts and at present,they have taken a stand not to allow any agri-retail major in the state.” Tarun Roy,state secretary,Krishak Sabha — the CPM-backed farmer’s organisation — said: “We do not have any problem in reforming the agriculture marketing policy. But the inclusion of contract farming cannot be encouraged.” As far as retail majors are concerned,they can be allowed entry if they purchase the produce directly from farmers at market price. “But often,they don’t do it,” he said.