High-Level Centre–State Meeting Sought for Farmers’ Welfare and APMC Modernisation Marketing Minister Jaykumar Rawal Urges Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan

New Delhi, Aug 2025 : Maharashtra Marketing Minister Jaykumar Rawal has urged Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan to urgently convene a high-level meeting of Central and State ministers to address farm produce management, ensure fair remuneration for farmers, modernise storage facilities, and develop the infrastructure of Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs).

During his meeting with the Union Agriculture Minister in Delhi on Friday, Shri Rawal also proposed formulating a central scheme with concrete measures to safeguard farmers’ economic interests and enhance agricultural efficiency.

He pointed out that agricultural production of crops such as onions, pulses, oranges, pomegranates, bananas, and flowers has increased significantly in Maharashtra and across the country. However, due to inadequate market mechanisms and a lack of scientific storage facilities, farmers often do not receive fair prices. Post-harvest losses caused by insufficient infrastructure negatively impact farmers’ incomes and the overall efficiency of the agricultural sector.

To address this, Shri Rawal proposed introducing special support schemes to ensure fair prices for produce, developing decentralised scientific storage facilities, cold chains, digital inventory management, and efficient logistics systems. He stressed the integration of market information systems to provide farmers with timely updates on production and price trends, enabling policymakers to make informed decisions.

For APMC modernisation, Shri Rawal suggested creating a central scheme that includes covered auction platforms, grading and weighing systems, cold storage, dry warehouses, packaging centres, and waste management facilities. He also recommended incentives and technical assistance to set up small agro-processing units and farmer-centric facilities in unused APMC spaces. Additionally, he called for subsidies and capacity building to connect APMCs with digital platforms such as e-NAM.

Shri Rawal said such a meeting could produce a concrete roadmap to safeguard farmers’ interests. He expressed confidence that these measures would make agriculture more sustainable and strengthen India’s leadership role in the global agricultural market.