MP ready to tackle delayed monsoon, says Kamal Nath

New Delhi: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Saturday said that the state government had already started distributing suitable varieties of seeds to farmers to tackle the delayed onset of monsoon with the help of agricultural universities and had updated its district disaster management plans to deal with an adverse situation.

Addressing the fifth Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog, Kamal Nath said that in order to ensure that farmers get remunerative price for their produce, structural reforms were urgently needed, particularly in farm markets.

He said that APMC Act needed to be modified so that states had farmer centric systems. Nath also stressed the need for adopting a mechanism by which import and export of farm commodities was seamlessly taken care of to benefit the farmers.

Nath said that electronic National Market (e-NaM) should have an e-payment system in the absence of which several states were facing lots of difficulties, while the grievance redressal mechanism too needed to be addressed. "The quality of produce should be treated uniformly in mandis," Kamal Nath said.

Describing conservation of rainwater harvesting as imperative for sustainable development, the Chief Minister said the demand for water for human and industrial consumption would increase in proportion to an increase in population.