Promotion and Facilitation of Trade and Commerce of Farmers’ Produce
“Farmers’ produce” means-
(i) foodstuffs including cereals like wheat, rice or other coarse grains, pulses, edible oilseeds, oils, vegetables, fruits, nuts, spices, sugarcane and products of poultry, piggery, goatery, fishery and dairy intended for human consumption in its natural or processed form;
(ii) cattle fodder including oilcakes and other concentrates; and
(iii) raw cotton whether ginned or unginned, cotton seeds and raw jute;
Legal Framework
Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020
Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Rules, 2020
Authority – MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE & FARMERS WELFARE GOVT OF INDIA
“Trader” means a person who buys farmers’ produce by way of inter-State trade or intra-State trade or a combination thereof, either for self or on behalf of one or more persons for the purpose of wholesale trade, retail, end-use, value addition, processing, manufacturing, export, consumption or for such other purpose.
“Farmer” means an individual engaged in the production of farmers’ produce by self or by hired labour or otherwise, and includes the farmer producer organisation;
Sec 3- Freedom to conduct trade and commerce in a trade area
Subject to the provisions of this Act, any farmer or trader or electronic trading and transaction platform shall have the freedom to carry on the inter-State or intra-State trade and commerce in farmers’ produce in a trade area.
4- Trade and commerce of scheduled farmers’ produce
(1) Any trader may engage in the inter-State trade or intra-State trade of scheduled farmers’ produce with a farmer or another trader in a trade area:
Provided that no trader, except the farmer producer organisations or agricultural co-operative society, shall trade in any scheduled farmers’ produce unless such a trader has a permanent account number allotted under the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961) or such other document as may be notified by the Central Government.
(2) The Central Government may, if it is of the opinion that it is necessary and expedient in the public interest so to do, prescribe a system for electronic registration for a trader, modalities of trade transaction and mode of payment of the scheduled farmers’ produce in a trade area.
(3) Every trader who transacts with farmers shall make payment for the traded scheduled farmers’ produce on the same day or within the maximum three working days if procedurally so required subject to the condition that the receipt of delivery mentioning the due payment amount shall be given to the farmer on the same day:
Provided that the Central Government may prescribe a different procedure of payment by farmer produce organisation or agriculture co-operative society, by whatever name called, linked with the receipt of payment from the buyers.
5- Electronic trading and transaction platform [ Trading Platform]
(1) Any person (other than individual), having a permanent account number(PAN) allotted under the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961) or such other document as may be notified by the Central Government or any farmer producer organisation or agricultural co-operative society may establish and operate an electronic trading and transaction platform for facilitating inter-State or intra-State trade and commerce of scheduled farmers’ produce in a trade area:
Provided that the person establishing and operating an electronic trading and transaction platform shall prepare and implement the guidelines for fair trade practices such as mode of trading, fees, technical parameters including inter-operability with other platforms, logistics arrangements, quality assessment, timely payment, dissemination of guidelines in local language of the place of operation of the platform and such other matters.
(2) If the Central Government is of the opinion that it is necessary and expedient in public interest so to do, it may, for electronic trading platforms, by rules-
(a) specify the procedure, norms, manner of registration; and
(b) specify the code of conduct, technical parameters including inter-operability with other platform and modalities of trade transaction including logistics arrangements and quality assessment of scheduled farmers’ produce and mode of payment,
for facilitating fair inter-State and intra-State trade and commerce of scheduled farmers’ produce in a trade area.
6- Market fee under State APMC Act, etc., in trade area
No market fee or cess or levy, by whatever name called, under any State APMC Act or any other State law, shall be levied on any farmer or trader or electronic trading and transaction platform for trade and commerce in scheduled farmers’ produce in a trade area.
7- Price Information and Market Intelligence System
(1) The Central Government may, through any Central Government Organisation, develop a Price Information and Market Intelligence System for farmers’ produce and a framework for dissemination of information relating thereto.
(2) The Central Government may require any person owning and operating an electronic trading and transaction platform to provide information regarding such transactions as may be prescribed.
Explanation. – For the purposes of this section, the expression “Central Government Organisation” includes any subordinate or attached office, Government owned or promoted company or society.
“Trade area” means any area or location, place of production, collection and aggregation including-
(a) farm gates;
(b) factory premises;
(c) warehouses;
(d) silos;
(e) cold storages; or
(f) any other structures or places, from where trade of farmers’ produce may be undertaken in the territory of India but does not include the premises, enclosures and structures constituting-
(i) physical boundaries of principal market yards, sub-market yards and market sub-yards managed and run by the market committees formed under each State APMC Act in force in India; and
(ii) private market yards, private market sub-yards, direct marketing collection centres, and private farmer-consumer market yards managed by persons holding licenses or any warehouses, silos, cold storages or other structures notified as markets or deemed markets under each State APMC Act in force in India;
