New Delhi: During the farmers’ agitation against the three farm laws in 2020, many experts who were in the favour of the laws had cited Bihar’s abolition of the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act as an example to bolster their argument for deregulating the farm markets.

An analysis done on part of a recent draft national policy framework for agriculture marketing said that after abolition of the Act in 2006, the APMCs in Bihar have been in a “deplorable” condition, reported Business Standard.

The draft talks about an urgent need to improve the agriculture marketing ecosystem in Bihar as it will help tap the immense potential for processing of fruits, vegetables and ‘makhana’ (fox nut) in the state. As a result, farmers will get better return, and the move will also create job opportunities in the rural sector.

Back in 2006, at the time of the repeal of the Act in Bihar, around 95 APMCs were functioning under the state agriculture marketing board. After the abolition of the APMC Act, 41 of these APMCs, which were running in rented premises, stopped functioning. The remaining 54 APMC markets are in “deplorable” condition, says the draft.

The Wire had earlier reported that since the abolition of the APMC Act in 2006, majority of farmers in Bihar are left at the mercy of middlemen and local traders who rarely offer them a profit, let alone buy their crops at the minimum support price (MSP).

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