Swarajya's video: Why Farmers Protest Now When Punjab Contract Farming Act Is In Existence Since 2013 Analysis E122

Between the Punjab Contract Farming Act 2013 and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act 2020, another law on contract farming — the State/UT Agricultural Produce & Livestock Contract Farming and Services (Promotion & Facilitation) Act, 2018 — also known as Model Act 2018 was legislated by the Union government. Experts said that of around 20 states that had already amended their APMC Acts by 2016-17 under the provisions of the Centre’s Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act-2003, nearly 14 had notified the rules related to contract farming even before Model Act 2018 was notified. Experts say that with Model Act 2018 already in place, there was no need to bring the new law in 2020. Rather, some amendments could have been made to the earlier law to make it more farm-friendly. Then the government should have waited a few years to observe how the states were making or implementing the provisions of the law. Now the 2020 Act on contract farming will supersede the 2018 law. Keeping the 2018 law as base, some states had enacted own legislations on contract farming. Now, such laws will also stand null and void. Experts observed several similarities between the 2020 Act and Centre’s Model Act, 2018. The provision titled ‘Object and period of agreement’ in the 2018 Act mentioned leasing of farm land. The professor, with three decades’ experience in the subject of ‘contract farming’, added that in the Centre’s 2020 Act, there is a term called ‘farming agreement’, which is used and being confused with other arrangements like sharecropping or leasing pacts. “The confusion has led to the Rajasthan Amendment Bill, 2020, assuming that sponsors can lease farm land,” he said. Subscribe to Swarajya on YouTube. Get a Swarajya subscription: https://subscriptions.swarajyamag.com/join-us Website: https://swarajyamag.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/SwarajyaMag Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/swarajyamag