Implementation of the model Agriculture Act in Gujarat is like setting the cat among pigeons as far as Agriculture Produce Marking Committees in the state are concerned.
APMCs across Gujarat are of the view that entry of private companies will impact their functioning.
However, major APMCs in the state have swung into action to take on private sector honchos. Host of them are on a modernisation and infrastructure upgradation spree to counter private sector attack.
APMCs in Ahmedabad, Unjha and Surat are busy sprucing up their facilities and improving service quality.
"Till now APMCs were functioning like typical government offices but they will have to be competitive if they want to survive when private players come into the sector," says Narayanbhai Patel, chairman of Unjha Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee, one of the biggest market yards in Asia.
Babulal Patel, chairman of Ahmedabad APMC, said APMCs would have to improve quality of their services. Private players will offer high quality services to farmers and traders and existing APMCs will have to be equipped with sorting, grading and packaging facilities.
"Initially, existing agriculture markets will face problems, but entry of private players will make them aware of the market needs and they will become quality conscious," he added.
Echoing similar sentiments, Nileshbhai Thorat, secretary, Surat APMC, said existing APMCs will have to become strong and service-oriented to face the challenge of open market.
Ramjibhai Ramani of Rajkot AMPC said advent of private companies will fuel competition in the market. AMPCs in major cities have already started taking steps to ramp up their infrastructure facilities.
The leader among them is Surat APMC, which has embarked on a Rs 500-crore (Rs 5-billion) modernisation and upgradation project. It will soon have terminal market and agro food park apart from state of the art sorting, grading, packaging and storage facility.
Similarly, Ahmedabad APMC has set up a grain market at a cost of Rs 25 crore (Rs 250 million) at Jetalpur in Ahmedabad. It is also mulling to construct a godown to store food grains. Unjha APMC also does not want to lag behind in upgradation race. It has taken up modernisation projects with an investment of Rs 14 crore (Rs 140 million).
