(1) A farmer may enter into a written farming agreement in respect of any farming produce and such agreement may provide for--
        (a) the terms and conditions for supply of such produce, including the time of supply, quality, grade, standards, price and such other matters; and
         (b) the terms related to supply of farm services:
     Provided that the responsibility for compliance of any legal requirement for providing such farm services shall be with the Sponsor or the farm service provider, as the case may be.
     (2) No farming agreement shall be entered into by a farmer under this section in derogation of any rights of a share cropper.
     Explanation.--For the purposes of this sub-section, the term "share cropper" means a tiller or occupier of a farm land who formally or informally agrees to give fixed share of crop or to pay fixed amount to the land owner for growing or rearing of farming produce.
     (3) The minimum period of the farming agreement shall be for one crop season or one production cycle of livestock, as the case may be, and the maximum period shall be five years:
     Provided that where the production cycle of any farming produce is longer and may go beyond five years, in such case, the maximum period of farming agreement may be mutually decided by the farmer and the Sponsor and explicitly mentioned in the farming agreement.
     (4) For the purposes of facilitating farmers to enter into written farming agreements, the Central Government may issue necessary guidelines along with model farming agreements, in such manner, as it deems fit.