CONTRACT FARMING AGREEMENT
This Contract Farming Agreement (this "Agreement") is made at __________ on __________.
BETWEEN
__________, __________, of __________ (the "Sponsor");
AND
__________, of __________, mobile __________ (the "Grower").
The Sponsor and the Grower are each a "Party" and together the "Parties".
RECITALS
A. The Grower cultivates, or has the right to cultivate, the land described in Schedule I (the "Land").
B. The Sponsor wishes to procure the crop described in Schedule I grown to an agreed specification, and the Grower has agreed to cultivate that crop on the Land and to deliver it to the Sponsor, on the terms of this Agreement.
C. This Agreement is a contract for the cultivation and purchase of a crop. It is not a lease, and clause 9 records that no interest in the Land passes to the Sponsor.
NOW THIS AGREEMENT WITNESSES as follows.
- THE LAND AND THE CROP
1.1 The Land is described in Schedule I. The Grower shall cultivate __________ on __________ of the Land for the __________ season.
1.2 The Grower shall cultivate the crop using generally accepted good agricultural practice for that crop, following the technical guidance given under clause 2 where the Sponsor provides it, and shall not without the Sponsor's written consent grow the crop for any purpose inconsistent with this Agreement.
- INPUTS AND SUPPORT
2.1 __________
2.2 __________
2.4 The Grower shall permit the Sponsor's agronomist or field officer to enter upon the Land at reasonable times on reasonable notice to observe cultivation and advise on it, and shall keep such records of inputs applied and field operations as the Sponsor reasonably asks for.
- CULTIVATION, RESIDUE AND ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE
3.1 The Grower shall comply with every law applicable to cultivation of the crop on the Land, including the Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act, 2009 where the crop is paddy, and shall not use any pesticide, fungicide or other input banned or restricted by law or by any standard the produce must meet under clause 6.
3.2 The Grower shall not burn crop residue or stubble on the Land in breach of any direction, notification or order for the time being in force prohibiting or restricting it, and shall follow whatever residue-management practice the Sponsor's technical guidance recommends where the Sponsor provides one. The Grower shall indemnify the Sponsor against any penalty imposed on the Sponsor because of the Grower's own breach of this clause, and this clause does not make the Sponsor liable for the Grower's compliance.
- QUALITY AND QUANTITY
4.1 __________
4.2 __________
- PRICE
5.1 __________
- DELIVERY AND REJECTION
6.1 The Grower shall deliver the crop to __________, __________.
6.2 __________
- PAYMENT
7.1 The Sponsor shall pay the Grower for produce accepted on delivery within __________ days of that delivery.
7.3 If the Sponsor fails to lift produce that meets the standard in clause 4 within the delivery window in clause 6, or fails to pay within the period in clause 7.1, the Grower may sell that produce to any other buyer without being in breach of this Agreement, and the Sponsor remains liable for any payment already due.
- RISK, INSURANCE AND FORCE MAJEURE
8.1 __________
8.2 Ordinary production risk — pests, disease and weather within the normal range for the area and season — is the Grower's, and the Sponsor's obligation under this Agreement is to buy what is actually grown to the standard in clause 4, not to guarantee that any particular quantity will exist.
8.3 Neither Party is liable to the other for failure to perform because of a flood, drought, fire, earthquake or other event beyond its reasonable control that prevents cultivation or delivery of the crop, including a calamity officially declared for the area. A Party prevented by such an event shall notify the other within seven days. The Sponsor is not liable to pay for produce that was never grown because of such an event, and the Grower is not liable in damages for failing to deliver because of it; this clause does not excuse payment for produce already delivered and accepted.
- NO INTEREST IN THE LAND
9.1 Nothing in this Agreement creates any tenancy, lease, licence to occupy, mortgage, charge or other interest in the Land in favour of the Sponsor, and nothing in it shall be read as doing so however long this Agreement or any renewal of it continues.
9.2 The Sponsor shall not raise any permanent structure on the Land without the Grower's prior written consent; any structure raised with consent shall be removed by the Sponsor, and the Land restored, on expiry or termination of this Agreement.
9.3 The Land shall not be attached, sold or otherwise proceeded against for recovery of any sum due under this Agreement. The Sponsor's remedy for any sum the Grower owes it is a money claim against the Grower personally, not a claim against the Land.
- GROWER'S AND SPONSOR'S OTHER OBLIGATIONS
10.1 The Grower shall keep the Sponsor informed of any material threat to the crop — pest attack, disease or damage — promptly on becoming aware of it.
10.2 The Sponsor shall deal with the Grower in good faith in grading and rejecting produce under clause 6, and shall not reject produce on a ground not stated in the standard in clause 4.
- TERM
11.1 __________
- TERMINATION
12.1 Either Party may terminate this Agreement by written notice if the other commits a material breach not remedied within fifteen days of written notice to remedy it, or becomes insolvent.
12.2 Termination does not affect a Party's rights or liabilities accrued before it, including the Sponsor's obligation to pay for produce already delivered and accepted and the Grower's obligation to deliver produce already harvested to the standard agreed.
- DISPUTE RESOLUTION AND GOVERNING LAW
13.1 The Parties shall first attempt to resolve any dispute through the Contract Farming Facilitation and Coordination Committee, or other body of like function, constituted under any Punjab enactment for the time being in force for that purpose, where such a body is then operative for the area in which the Land lies. Where no such body is then operative, or a dispute referred to it is not resolved within sixty days, the Parties shall proceed under clause 13.2.
13.2 __________
13.3 The seat and venue of any arbitration under this Agreement, and the place of any court proceedings, is __________, and the courts at __________ have exclusive jurisdiction, subject to any arbitration agreed above.
13.4 This Agreement is governed by the laws of India as in force at the place where the Land is situated.
- GENERAL
14.1 This Agreement is the entire agreement between the Parties about the crop described in it and supersedes all prior discussions.
14.2 No amendment is effective unless made in writing and signed by both Parties.
14.3 If any provision is held invalid or unenforceable, the rest of this Agreement continues in effect.
14.4 Clauses 7 (as to sums already due), 9, 12.2 and 13 survive expiry or termination of this Agreement.
SCHEDULE I — THE LAND AND THE CROP
Village __________, Tehsil __________, District __________. Khewat/Khatauni No. __________. Khasra No(s). __________. Area under this Agreement: __________. Crop and variety: __________. Season: __________.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the Parties have executed this Agreement at __________ on __________.
SIGNED by the SPONSOR
__________
Signature: ______________________________
SIGNED by the GROWER
__________
Signature: ______________________________
WITNESSES
- __________
__________
Signature: ______________________________
- __________
__________
Signature: ______________________________