Farmers demand white paper on RMCs earnings

SAMBALPUR: Thousands of quintals of paddy have been damaged due to untimely rains in many areas across western Orissa. It is the farmers who are the worst hit when it comes to untimely rains. Their agricultural produce gets damaged in paddy fields or rot/germinate in market yards operated by regulated market committees (RMCs). These RMCs have been set up as per the provisions of the Orissa Agricultural Produce Markets Act, 1956. The main objective is to facilitate backward and forward market integration of agricultural produce, which ultimately leads to remunerative price realisation to the producers and availability of quality produce to the consumers.RMCs work as facilitators between the farmers and the procurement agencies and should provide facilities like market yards, weigh bridges, godowns and cold storage.However, the RMCs across the district are devoid of any such facilities. In 2004, a farmers body of Sambalpur had submitted a series of suggestions to the State Government for development of RMCs in the State. However, the suggestions are gathering dust even as 5,000 quintals of paddy were damaged in Kalahandi after being soaked in rain. The paddy was stacked in open.Demanding a white paper on the earnings of the RMCs, farmer leader Ashok Pradhan said that although they had submitted a copy of their recommendations to the Director (Agriculture), marketing-cum-member secretary, Orissa State Agricultural Marketing Board, besides the District Collector, no steps have yet been taken. He said that although RMCs were set up in the 60’s, it is only after 2000 that they started functioning.