Comments by "nrusimha11" (@nrusimha11) on "APMC laws had shackled farmers, Modi govt’s ordinance makes them as free as other sectors" video.

  1. Slightly off topic but the government should provide the infrastructure for farmer's markets (retail mandies) and for individual farmers to bring vegetables to people's door-steps. We had this in India when I was a kid. It is now all the rage in the cooler communities in affluent countries. Small thoughtful infrastructure investments can make life a little easier for these hard workers that break their backs to feed the country.
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  2.  जय हिंद  I respectfully disagree. An efficient marketplace is one key component of the objective function if farmers realize a greater fraction of the final value of food stocks sold than is now - in fact I think that is was the stated primary rationale for the new ordinance. However, the government can still promote efficient markets while being opinionated about what kind of agricultural activity they prefer. 'Enriched wheat fluor', the industrial cow, chicken and pig, feed corn, and 'value addition' though processed food are some of the bad consequences of not having an opinion and blindly trusting the invisible hand of the market to guide such activity. Unlike semiconductor or aircraft manufacturing, agriculture does not need big monopolies, it needs more cooperatives. This is not an argument against free markets or the need for technical innovation or improving efficiencies of workflow (my original comment). The long suffering Indian farmer badly needs them. But making greater economic activity the sole objective may be good for the government coffers but not necessarily good for society. May be we are saying different things.
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  3. 360 vision by planners can allow the design of retails channels that maximize local consumption of perishable foods. The less time and energy spent storing and moving perishable food over long distances, the more nutritious it will be. People should be willing to pay a premium to buy directly from small farmers for fresh nutritious food, without needing it to be first blessed by a super market.
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