President Ram Nath Kovind on June 5, 2020 promulgated the The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, 2020 with an aim of giving a boost to rural economy and to help farmers.
Features of the Ordinance
1. A farmer may enter into a written farming agreement in respect of any aiming produce and such agreement may provide for the terms and conditions for supply of such produce, including the time of supply, quality, grade, standards, price and such other matters.
2. No farming agreement shall be entered into by a farmer under this section in derogation of any rights of a share cropper (share cropper” means a tiller or occupier of a farm land ).
3. The minimum period of the farming agreement shall be for one crop season or one production cycle of livestock, as the case may be, and the maximum period shall be five years.
4. The price to be paid for the purchase of a farming produce may be determined and mentioned in the farming agreement itself.
5. Under a farming agreement, the delivery of any farming produce is to be (a) taken by the Sponsor at the farm gate, he shall take such delivery within the agreed time; (b) effected by the farmer, it shall be the responsibility of the Sponsor to ensure that all preparations for the timely acceptance of such delivery have been made.
6. No farming agreement shall be entered into for the purpose of any transfer, including sale, lease and mortgage of the land or premises of the farmer; or raising any permanent structure or making any modification on the land or premises of the farmer.
7. A State Government may notify a Registration Authority to provide for electronic registry for that State that provides facilitative framework for registration of farming agreements.
8. A dispute arising from any farming agreement shall be first referred to the conciliation board formed as per the provisions of the fanning agreement and every endeavour shall be made by such board to bring about settlement of such dispute.
