The Agricultural Marketing Act, 2018 has been notified on 27 August 2020 to regulate agricultural commodity marketing in Bangladesh and issued Agricultural Marketing Rules 2021. The Agricultural Marketing Policy, 2021 aims to ensure fair prices for consumers and maximum benefits for farmers through the modernization of the market. The policy has been designed with specific goals and targets to modernize the marketing system of agricultural goods. It focuses on how the market of agricultural goods can be monitored and how farmers can be provided the highest benefits. Steps will be taken to fix and implement the minimum and maximum rational prices of agricultural goods, and a total of 19 targets have been set in the policy. The policy also speaks of enhancing links between farmers and markets, strengthening information management, improving marketing infrastructures, promoting an e-agricultural marketing system and digital markets, strengthening community, group and contract-based marketing, and developing the overall supply chain.
The law specifically defines "market" as "market" means the 'hat' or 'bazar,' referring to Section 2(12) of the State Acquisition and Tenancy Act, 1950. It also includes such places, supermarkets, shops, or web-based shops where agricultural produce, agricultural materials, and processed agricultural produce are purchased and sold. The term "agricultural marketing" encompasses functions relating to transport, preservation, classification, standardization, processing, and purchasing and selling of agricultural produce and materials from producer level to consumer level. The term "market functionary" refers to mediators of sale or purchase of agricultural produce and materials, including wholesalers, aratdars, stockists, commission agents, brokers, weighmen, samplers, forias, or beparis providing related services.
The law has provisions for declaring a notified market under Section 5-Declaration of Notified Market, Licence, Management, etc. The government may, by notification in the official Gazette, declare any market to be a notified market effective from a specified date for the purchase and sale of agricultural produce and materials. Notified market actors must secure a licence under Section 2 and operate under prescribed rules for functioning as a market functionary in any specific notified market. No person shall operate any warehouse or cold storage for business purposes without securing a licence under this Act (Section 6-1) issued by the Director General. Exporters, importers, dealers, millers, suppliers, processors of agricultural produce and materials, and anyone related to the contractual cultivation system must secure a licence for their respective functions (Section 7-1). The preservation and management of the produce stored in any warehouse or cold storage shall be controlled and conducted as prescribed by rules (Section 11).
The owner of a warehouse or cold storage and the stocker shall be bound to supply the produce stocked in the warehouse or cold storage per the demand and direction of the government to deal with any emergency or crisis (Section 12). To carry out the purposes of this Act, the Department of Agricultural Marketing shall perform several functions, including management of information on agricultural marketing, formulation and implementation of pricing principles for agricultural produce, taking effective measures for the development of agricultural marketing and commerce, and providing necessary support for creating linkages between the agricultural produce market and farmers for proper supply. The department is also responsible for conducting economic research on the production, marketing, and trade of agricultural produce, extending modern marketing systems through close connections with farmers, agricultural traders, processors, exporters, and traders' associations, and constructing market infrastructure, including warehouses and cold storage facilities.
Additionally, the department will monitor the activities related to storing or warehousing agricultural produce and materials, ensure quality, handle expiration and packaging, and conduct purchases and sales by proper weighing. It will also determine and implement the lowest and reasonable prices of agricultural produce, assist in price addition and processing, support the growth of domestic and export markets, and promote agro-based industry and trade, including the development of contract-based marketing systems. Furthermore, the department will enroll market traders, agricultural trader institutions, associations, organizations, agro-based institutions, and cooperative societies as prescribed by rules, and may constitute federations and consortiums of agro-based institutions at national and district levels. The department will inspect and monitor the quality of agricultural produce stored for sale at supermarkets, ensure prices are fixed, and provide advice to concerned parties.
The Director General or any authorized employee, or any member of the District or Upazila Agricultural Marketing Coordination Committee, may require any information, including market information, from market functionaries, agricultural traders, owners of warehouses or cold storages, entrepreneurs of supermarkets, and agro-based industries, which they are bound to provide (Section 17). For carrying out the purposes of this Act, the government may constitute various committees, including the National Agricultural Marketing Coordination Committee, District Agricultural Marketing Coordination Committee, Upazila Agricultural Marketing Coordination Committee, and the Market Based Management Committee, with rules prescribed by the government (Section 14).
Under Section 15 (1), for dealing with any emergency or crisis, the government may, by notification in the official Gazette, declare one or more agricultural produce as notified grains for the entire country or any specific area for a specified period. The law specifies punishments for violations. Under Section 19 (1), any person who operates any function without securing a licence under Sections 5, 6, and 7, hands over a licence, collects extra charges, interrupts the Department of Agricultural Marketing, fails to provide required information, does not exhibit prices, mislabels agricultural produce, uses harmful chemicals, sells underweight produce, or creates artificial crises, shall be deemed to have committed an offence under this Act and can be punished with imprisonment for up to one year, a fine not exceeding one lakh taka, or both. A subsequent conviction for the same offence may result in double the punishment.
The following goods fall under the purview of the Act: (a) Cereals: Paddy, Rice, Wheat, Potato, Maize, Foxtail millet (kaun), Chana, Barley; (b) Cash crops: Jute, Tea, Cotton, Tobacco; (c) Pulses and Plaids: All kinds of pulses and plaids (with husk and without husk); (d) Oil seeds and oil: Rye and Mustard, Sesames (til), Linseed, Ground nuts, Coconut, Castor seed, Sunflower, and all kinds of edible oil, including Soya Beans; (e) Sugarcane and Molasses: Sugarcane and all kinds of molasses; (f) Fruits: All kinds of fresh and dried fruits; (g) Flowers: All kinds of fresh and dried flowers, Cactus, Deciduous trees; (h) Vegetables: All kinds of vegetables; (i) Animals and livestock products: Cows and cow meat, Buffalos and buffalo meat, Camels and camel meat, Goats and goat meat, Lamb and mutton, Duck, hen, quail and pigeon meat, Egg, Dairy and dairy products, Fur, Raw and semi-processed leather, Bone and bone dust; (j) Fish: All kinds of fish (fresh, dried, salted, and frozen), Shrimp, Crabs, Tortoise, Crocodiles, and other aquatic plants and animals; (k) Spices: Onion, Turmeric, Ginger, Garlic, Cumin and Black cumin, Coriander, Chili (raw and dried), Black pepper, and all kinds of other spices; (l) Other agricultural produce: Betel-nut, Betel leaf, Swan wood, Fuel wood, Bamboo, Salt, Sugar, Foul, Jute products, Coconut stew and stew products, Tamarind and tamarind seeds, all kinds of husk, Golpata, Cane, Wooden furniture, Honey, Green coconut and Coconut, Wax; (m) Processed agricultural produce: Chira, Muri (puffed rice), Semolina, Semai, Flour, Corn-flour, Liquid or Juice of all kinds of agricultural produce, Pickles, Bason (flour of pulses), Chips, and any other processed agricultural produce.
The market defined in this law, referring to the State Acquisition and Tenancy Act, 1950, is a physically located market and is different from the market defined in The Competition Commission Act 2012 under Section 2 (s), which describes a "relevant market" as one that consists of goods or services exchangeable by consumers based on characteristics, price, and intended use, and an area where competition conditions are homogenous and distinguished from neighboring areas. To regulate the market, authorities will need cooperation from the Competition Commission formed under the Competition Act.
The authority has already issued the Agricultural Marketing Rules 2021 concerning the registration of different business establishments and the structure of the National Agricultural Marketing Coordination Committee. The regulator may issue additional rules for the full implementation of the law. The law has wide coverage, and the notified market will be well regulated and fully controlled under the law. However, we have yet to see the implementation of the law, and its comprehensive nature raises concerns about the government's capacity to enforce it effectively.
The writer is a Non-Government Adviser, Bangladesh Competition Commission 
