Plush and air-conditioned agricultural markets, computerised transactions and farmers counting their earnings over a cup of coffee at swanky cafes — all these and more would soon be a reality in Gujarat.

The state Government has in principle given its approval to eight corporate houses to set up private mandis and buy directly from farms. This will bypass the Government-controlled Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) mechanism. The step follows amendment in the APMC Act last year that facilitated the entry of the private players in this sector.

The four corporate groups that would now set up private mandis are Premium Farm Fresh, Surat Agri Marketing Hub, Amrathaligushwar Cold Storage and Gujarat Agro Industries Corporation. “They have all been allowed to set up mandis on certain conditions. They would have to stick to Government rules and their facility should not be within a five-km radius of an existing APMC,” sources in the Agriculture Department said.

Four other players have also been permitted to buy directly from farmers, thereby bringing in corporate competition in the sector.

After Reliance, which has already registered two of its companies for buying and procurement purposes, Aditya Birla Group and Jayant Agro would operate in the state.

“Under the new set up, the private mandis — called Food Parks — would have processing units, grading, cleaning, washing and packaging systems for farmers. The objective is that competition should translate into benefits for the producer as well as the farmers — a phenomenon visible in some pockets of Gujarat where private procurement has already begun,” said M D Chauhan, Director of APMCs.

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