A one day strike by the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees of Gujarat on 18 March, 2008 protesting against taxing of marketing yards in the recent budget is much more than to do with any taxation. It is more to do with transparency.
According to Vasantbhai Patel, a farmer who had a big spat with Kalol APMC says the marketing yards actually are political backyards where farmers with affiliation to opposition parties are marginalized.
"I would say APMCs are not marketing yards but killing fields of farmers where the prices and the quantity are decided by a certain group and not unanimously. If I do not sell my produce to the APMC where I am the member, they ensure that I do not sell my products to other places as well. I have no option but to surrender," Patel remarked.
So taxation will have to automatically bring in transparency and accountability. "Tax can only be filed on audited accounts and when you get the accounts audited, the skeletons will begin to tumble," Patel said.
Since several APMCs are under different political control, the ruling BJP has put its Unjha MLA, Narayanbhai Patel, who also happens to be the chairman of Unjha APMC, to consolidate the party's position in all APMCs under the umbrella of an organization named Gujarat Niyantrit Bazaar Sangh, which again is chaired by Patel.
The blame is that the reason for taxation is to promoted private players than farmer's co-operative. "Absolutely rubbish," said Jeetubhai Patel, another farmer who is into contract farming in Mehsana. "How does it matter to them who the buyers are? In fact they should be happy that the farmers are getting better price. Ultimately they buy the product from us at a cheaper rate and resell at a higher rate to the private players only. If we can do it directly, what pinches them?" he asked.
He believes APMCs have been the biggest problem in development of agriculture and bankruptcy of farmers. "Earlier, it used to be our lifeline. We used to get every help from APMCs and its members including advises, what should be the ideal crop pattern and also a good price. Now it is nothing but a profit making firm and accountable to no body, not even to the courts," he thundered.
Not many, though, are taking the allegations in its face value. "There are disgruntled people in every sphere and we are no exception. I would say no other organization has helped farmers the way APMCs did and even today we exist for the farmers," said Ramniklal Panchal, a trader in Kadi.
