NATIONAL SEMINAR ON REFORMS IN LAND
POLICY BEGINS
The Agriculture Ministry has taken the
initiative to draft a model law on agricultural marketing to provide
legal support to contract farming agreements. The Union Agriculture
Secretary, Shri R.C.A. Jain said this while delivering the key-note
address at the national seminar on Reforms in the Land Policy here
today. Shri Jain said that a need has been felt for evolving an
institutional mechanism to record the contractual arrangements ,
promote and strengthen confidence between the parties and help solve
any dispute arising out of non-performance of the contract. The
produce covered by the agreement should be allowed to move freely
from the farmer’s field without the necessity of going through licenced
traders and regulated markets. Incidence of taxes on the procurement
of agriculture produce under the program needs to be waived or minimized.
The Agriculture Secretary said that contract farming has considerable
potential in our country, as small and marginal farmers can be empowered
for accessing modern technologies and farming resources including
market support. Advocating the lifting of ban on leasing of land,
he said that this would result in better utilization of available
land and labour. He pointed out that in many areas, restrictive
tenancy laws have resulted in land owners leaving their land uncultivated
due to the fear that they may otherwise lose the land. The Agriculture
Secretary also suggested floating of a land share company in which
farmers of all categories may become share-holders in proportion
to their size of holdings. The farmer may take his own land and
additional land on lease from the company for cultivation by paying
a fixed rent. This is likely to accelerate the pace of agricultural
as well as non-agricultural development in rural areas. Shri Jain
also suggested allocating sufficiently sized homestead and garden
plots to the poorest of the rural poor. This will enable them to
grow vegetables and horticultural crops to supplement their incomes.
In his inaugural
address, the Union Rural Development Secretary, Shri M.Shankar
said that the initiative for land reforms has to come mainly from
the States. It is not possible to have a national policy which
takes into account the difficulties of all the States. Stressing
the need for computerization of land records, he said that the
success of the States like Karnataka and Goa needs to be replicated.
In his address, Chairman
of the Rural Development Institute, Seattle, Professor Roy Prosterman
analysed the experience of various Asian countries in the field
of land reforms. The Institute has conducted research in land
reforms in India and in several other countries in the world.
The one-day Seminar
is being attended, among others, by Secretaries of Agriculture,
Rural Development and Revenue Departments of States and experts
in the field of land reforms. It has been organized jointly by
the Union Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Union Department
of Rural Development and Rural Development Institute, Seattle.
