July 09, 2007	Monday	Jamadi-us-Sani 23, 1428

THE Frontier Assembly has unanimously adopted a legislation-North West Frontier Province Agriculture and Livestock Produce Markets Act, 2007, enabling the provincial government to regulate the purchase and sale of agricultural and livestock produce in the province.

The new bill, yet to be approved by the NWFP governor, will repeal the Agriculture Produce Markets Act, 1939.

The government considers the new legislation a vital development at policy level for formalising the agricultural and livestock produce markets, which currently are operating without any proper rules and regulations.

A senior official in the NWFP Agriculture Department explains that the 1939 law, which is still intact, did not provide any solution to the problems of the modern age and needed to be updated.

In his views, "at present the agricultural and livestock produce markets are running without any formal procedures and are managed by ineffective management committees. The government has limited role to play in price determination of produce, which is the prime cause of market manipulation. The existing system, where mainly the middlemen determine prices, is exploitative for both the farmers and the consumers. However, now the new legislation, if approved by the governor, will end such practices and offer a win-win situation for all the stakeholders," the official remarked..

According to the new bill, tabled by the provincial minister for agriculture in the provincial assembly, the government will notify 'market area' for the purposes of the act and specify the agricultural or the livestock produce or both, over which control is to be exercised.

In the 'market area' for any agricultural or livestock produce, no authority or person will be entitled to set up store or establish or use any place for the purchase and sale of agriculture produce.

Under the new law, if a person works as a dealer in a notified market area without a licence, he will be liable to imprisonment for a term which may extend up to three months or fine which may extend up to Rs3,000 or both.

The market committee for every notified market area will consist of 10 to 17 members as the government may in each case determine. It will consist of representatives of the government, growers, authorised dealers, brokers and consumers.

The market committee will enforce the provisions of the new law providing facilities for the purchase, sale, storage, pressing and processing of agriculture produce or purchase and sale of livestock produce.

The committee will issue licences to brokers, measurers, surveyors, warehousemen, etc.

No broker, measurer, surveyor, warehouseman, changer etc, unless duly authorised by licence, will be allowed to carry on his occupation in a notified market area.

A market committee may appoint a sub-committee consisting of not less than two and more than five of its members for the conduct of any work or to report on any matter.

It may also employ such persons as may be necessary for the management of the agriculture produce market including seasonal and part-time staff.

A separate fund called the Market Committee Fund will be set up, wherein all money received by the committee will be deposited. All the expenditure incurred by a market committee will be defrayed out of the fund. The account will be audited by a charted accountant on yearly basis.

According to the official, the law 1939 also has the provision for setting up such fund; however, the committees often use it for the welfare of stakeholders because it has no proper rules and regulations.

The funds will be utilised for the acquisition of land for markets, construction and repair of buildings, provision of facilities for the markets, construction of cold storage, warehouses and godowns, holding melas, exhibitions of agricultural or livestock produce and training of the members.

The government will set up an institute for the training of members and staff of market committees, dealers, processors and other market functionaries and for the promotion of research in agricultural or livestock produce, its marketing and allied subjects.

While the government terms the law a major step towards regularising hundreds of illegal markets, a majority of the growers' associations are concerned about the new legislation.

They say the increasing influence of the government over market will strangulate the markets for all the stakeholders and could discourage private sector development.

Ikramullah Khan, president of the Anjumn-i-Kashtkaran Tobacco argues: "The entire world is moving towards trade liberalisation and efforts are being made to remove irritants in the free trade and make the markets more efficient. But the case in NWFP is altogether different, where the government wants to further squeeze the market through such type of legislations."

Mr Khan says that the growing cost of inputs because of duties and taxes has slashed significantly the profit margin of agricultural outputs, which will further go down after the implementation of the new legislation that involves a number of levies and fees to be charged from the growers.

The NWFP governor should not sign the bill approved by the provincial assembly because it has been prepared without any consultation with the stakeholders, he says.

The standing Committee of the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) on Fresh Fruits and Vegetables is also not happy over the passage of such bill.

Haji Alif Jan, chairman of the committee, says that the new bill is in conflict with the basic concept of market liberalisation because it gives the government greater role in market regulation.